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Would you eat 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.

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.

Sheryl Fink, a spokeswoman for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said SeaDNA's campaign is just the latest bid over the last 30 years to commercially market meat that is typically wasted.

"It's a hunt for fur," she said in an interview. "The markets for meat just haven't taken off and it hasn't been for a lack of trying. I think it's just a lack of demand and a lack of interest."



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