Robben essen | Mangiare foche | Seals eating

Bavarians do not worry, I’m not talking about your beloved striker here.
I’m talking about actual seals: the beloved, cute, little animals.
In one of my musical peregrinations through the web I recently discovered Tanya Tagaq, an Inuit throat singer who collaborated, among others, with Bjork.
She has recently put out a new album called Animism and is touring around. Besides her music, I was struck by her performances which are very sensous and sensual, and yet quite unsettling because she looks and sounds more than one.

But this is not the reason why I’m mentioning her here – or not directly.
The reason is that she has recently supported the Inuit campaing in favour of eating seals.
Seals are for Inuit a traditional, healthy and sustainable food: they hunt them, eat them and use their skin for clothes and other artifacts. Since she is becoming a quite known, especially in her native Canada, her support for seals eating has sprouted quite a controversy.

The interesting part for us is that she is able to argue the reasons why eating seals is good – not for everybody, of course, but for her people and for the environment where they live. And, at the same time, as an animist, she is able to express respect, love and thankfulness for the dead animals – and living ones too.

By following Tagaq’s thread I also discovered: “The Politics of Food“, a series of short-docustories about food controversies produced by Vice/Munchies.

Hope you enjoy …

alvise

… but in case you prefer something else, Tanya Tagaq as has also a recipe for caribou.

Tanya Tagaq’s sealfie