Lincoln Tan: Spare a thought for the poor bunnies

In the past week Japan has again copped worldwide condemnation for its stand on hunting whales, with New Zealand among the anti-whaling nations attacking its "research programme" as a cynical ploy to kill these majestic creatures for food.

It's easy for people in this country to criticise the Japanese for having an appetite for whale meat. But from the Japanese point of view, eating whale is no worse than eating beef, lamb or chicken.

"I cannot understand what the fuss is all about," said Wakako Koarashi, manager of Ariake Japanese Restaurant and Sushi Bar, one of Auckland's oldest Japanese restaurants.

Koarashi has never eaten whale meat but she grew up in a society that viewed eating whale meat as normal.

"I would consider it as traditional Japanese food," she said. "Whale is not what people eat every day but it is a delicacy and it is part of our Japanese heritage."

Whether eaten raw, deep fried, cooked in soy sauce and ginger, or chargrilled in a burger, many Japanese people have a taste for it, especially the elderly.

When food was scarce during World War II, whale was one of the few sources of protein available, and in the 1960s it was even served for school lunches.

Many grew up with whale and rice as their staple diet.

The harpooning of whales by the Japanese began in the 12th century, and the whaling industry has become a tradition and a source of pride for many Japanese. So an attack on whaling is seen as an attack on Japanese tradition.

Daiki Mori, 68, a visitor from Tokyo, says whale meat is one of the few things seen as truly "Japanese" in a country that is dependent on imports to feed its people.

While he grew up eating whale, Mori says he could never bring himself to eat rabbits, like many rural Kiwis.

"How can Kiwis bring themselves to shoot and kill the small bunnies and make them into soup?" he asked. "Rabbits, like cats and dogs, are pets to cuddle, not to eat. Not like whales."

He also thinks that breeding animals on a farm to be slaughtered for food is even more cruel than hunting, saying it is worse to kill something you raise.

He thinks New Zealand and other anti-whaling nations are hypocrites.

Mori criticises Western farming methods, citing the practice of cramming chickens into tiny wire cages that make it impossible for the birds to stretch their wings, and pigs, which are considered far more intelligent than dogs, being kept in conditions where they will never get a chance to use their brains - in crates so narrow they cannot turn around or walk more than a step forwards or backwards.

Wakako Koarashi is against whaling but does not support the style adopted by New Zealand and the media.

She thinks the activists and protesters are attention-seekers, and the media is fanning the situation at the expense of the Japanese.

It is funny how one person's dinner can be viewed as offensive by someone from a different culture.

When I mentioned to a Hindu friend in Singapore that I was migrating to God's own country, New Zealand, he shot back saying it was more correct to describe New Zealand as a country that "ate gods".

He said he considered cows sacred, and because he deems the slaughter of cattle offensive he would never come to New Zealand for a visit.

Food plays a central role in many Asian cultures, so much so that when we greet each other, we say "have you eaten?" rather than "how are you?"

But what Asians like to eat can differ greatly to what Westerners would consider palatable.

In some restaurants in Asia, what is on the menu may be enough to sustain an entire series of the reality television show Fear Factor.

Having been exposed to a wide range of food in Singapore, I thought I could eat anything until I was brought to a street stall during my military service attachment to a camp in Kanchanaburi, near the Thai-Myanmar border.

Among other wild dishes on the menu were uterus soup, deep fried goat testicles, cow wombs and bull penis stew.

A few years later, on assignment in Dalat, I stayed with the Melanau tribe of East Malaysia and was introduced to a diet of sago worms - a fattier, juicier version of the huhu grub - eaten live.

Gross? I think so too, but to these people, the penises, testicles and sago worms were delicacies to be savoured.

Who is to judge whether the food eaten by someone from another culture is wrong.

The perceived racism and the moral high ground taken by anti-whaling nations have made the Japanese, including some living here, even more passionate on the issue to back their country in preserving a tradition.

Perhaps if less emotion is involved in the arguments, and hard facts are used to back claims of Japanese cruelty and sustainability to these whales, New Zealand and the likes of Greenpeace could win more friends and influence more people.

But I hope Kiwis will think twice before they criticise a Japanese for eating a whale burger.

The next time you sink your teeth into a chunky steak, think how a Hindu would feel about you eating an animal linked to his god.