What to do during a blizzard...cook up some polar bear steaks!

Well today was my first real taste of bad weather here in Cape Dorset.  There have been the occasional foggy or snowy days that quickly wore off about midday, but nothing really extreme or long lasting.  Actually the weather has been quite warm, windless and clear most days.  Well this all changed this morning when I woke up and was informed that there has been a blizzard warning issued for our area.  The blizzard is scheduled to start this evening and last until Monday night or Tuesday morning.

The wind has been howling at 60 miles an hour and throwing snow around all day.  It is amazing to see the landscape change so drastically in just a few hours.  Where there had once been snowmobile tracks and foot paths to follow on smooth ground, there are now piles of snow and exposed rocks.  When the wind buffets you around and blows the snow across your path, it is easy to understand how people can become disoriented and lose their way.

With the bad weather, we decided to stay in tonight.  Krisanne and I were given a polar bear roast by a neighbour and decided to try cooking it up.  The polar bear was caught by one of my student's mother on thursday.  The bear was skinned behind the Co-Op store and hunks of meat were passed out to community members passing by.  When we were given the meat we were informed that we needed to boil it from 2-4 hours before eating.  We were also told that it had a texture like beef but tasted like fish.

So we boiled the meat, which made the whole house reek like rancid gamey meat.  We changed the water a couple of times and this seemed to help the smell.  After the boiling was over, we decided to create a chowder with some of it, since we were told it tasted like fish.  After we got the chowder going we decided to taste some of the boiled meat.  We were all amazed to discover that it did not taste fishy at all, but just like roast beef with a gamey after taste.  The chowder however, smells and tastes very fishy, but also with a gamey after taste. Thus we have all agreed and concluded that polar bear meat, when in liquid smells and tastes like fish, but when cooked and out of liquid tastes like meat.

I am not sure how I feel about having accepted the meat and cooking it.  Part of me was very curious, just like with the frozen raw caribou and walrus.  Another part of me feels extremely guilty as polar bears are a protected animal and there are strict hunting laws attached to them.