Seal...

In my culture class we talked about the reindeer in Norway and how vital they were to the Saami people. During the lecture our professor shared a brief overview on the process of obtaining the meat and skin from the reindeer that would be traded for other goods. She then mentioned that during our break we were going to have a surprise snack.

Of course my immediate thought was reindeer, but once our break came I found out my guess was wrong. Our professor prepared seal for us! In addition to the meat, she provided potato cakes or lefse, chives, and sour cream. Seal is not a common form of meat in Norway, but the country still hunts seal in addition to whale.

Dried seal meat with sour cream and chives on lefse

After putting together my snack, I forced myself to take the first bite. The seal was smoked so at first it tasted like a deer or beef jerky; however, after a couple of chews, the seal tasted very bloodly. I ate the rest of my snack, but the rest of the day my tummy was a little uneasy. I kept thinking about the little seal that I ate.