[Sca-cooks] Sperm Whales

[Nanna Rognvaldardottir]

Stefan wrote:
>
> There is evidence of whales being hunted and eated in period. Do we
> have any idea when the sperm whales were first hunted for this
> spermaceti? Or perhaps in period these whales were considered edible
> and were hunted for food as well as for this oil?

The Basques were hunting whales for their oil from the 14th century
onwards - not sure about sperm whales, though, but by the 16th century they
had developed a technique for rendering whale blubber into oil aboard ship,
eliminating the need for a land base, so they could go on whaling trips for
many months at a time. They were hunting whales around Iceland and
Newfoundland at that time.

As to the edibility of sperm whales - well, I come from a whale-eating
nation and everyone agrees that sperm whale meat is indigestible, I think
mostly because it is so fatty - permetrated with whale oil, so to speak.
Tastes awful and very hard to keep down. Or inside, at least. Meat from
beached sperm whales may have been eaten during famines in earlier times - I
remember a story about a 19th century farmer who got some sperm whale meat
and cooked it and had his least favorite son eat some of it because he
didn't  want to risk one of his dogs.

> How were whales hunted in period? I guess going after them in a longship
> type vessel isn't any more hair-raising than in a whaleboat, but not
> something I would willingly do.

Around here, the smaller whales, like minke and pilot whales, were sometimes
caught in nets or driven to the shore and stabbed. But most of the whalemeat
that was eaten came from large whales that had beached themselves.

Nanna
(and in case anyone wants to know, no, I don't eat whale meat. Not minke
whale, at least. Not any more. Got an overdose of it during my university
years, when it was practically the only meat I could afford. Whalemeat two
or three days a week and guillemot or puffin on Sundays.)