Quebec company touts seal meat

Jonas Gilbart likes his seal steaks rare on the inside with a hard sear on the outside.

“I love the taste and I love the nutritional benefits,” he said of a meat choice that’s still outside the food comfort zone for most Canadians.

Gilbart’s helping lead a new campaign for Quebec-based supplier SeaDNA touting seal as “the Canadian superfood” with a “unique and inviting taste” similar to beef.

“It comes from our backyard, it’s sustainably harvested from our waters and monitored by our government,” Gilbart said from Montreal.

“Everything is on the up, and because of the stigma attached to the industry over the years, it probably doesn’t get the recognition it deserves.”

SeaDNA’s processing sites in Newfoundland and the Magdalen Islands supply flippers and seal cuts across Canada. Several restaurants in Quebec and Atlantic Canada feature seasonal dishes.

A few eateries are featuring seal on the menu year-round, including Caribou Gourmand in Montreal. It offers harp seal tataki, where the meat is briefly seared, sliced thinly and served in a beer reduction with “young sprouts and lichen.”

Cooked seal is often compared to a sort of fishy liver. Gilbart said the milder taste of raw preparations often surprises first-time consumers.

SeaDNA’s campaign says seal meat is leaner than domesticated beef and chicken, and has no added hormones or antibiotics.

The company’s products were used in a menu item that stirred controversy last month when Toronto restaurant Kukum Kitchen offered seal tartare.

An online petition attacking the commercial seal hunt was met with a counter petition defending Indigenous traditions.

The restaurant’s Aboriginal chef, Joseph Shawana, said he spent months doing research and chose an ethical supplier.

Reaction in support of Kukum Kitchen is a sign of shifting awareness, Gilbart said.

“Canadians are more knowledgeable about the truth of the industry. This is a regulated hunt like anything else.”