Japan has recently seen a spike in bear attacks in residential areas to the extent that Self-Defense Forces personnel were deployed to assist, along with media reports indicating a record number of deaths and injuries from wild animal encounters.
Against this backdrop, Nishimeya village in Aomori Prefecture, in the north of Honshu Island, started making dishes prepared with bear meat, promoting it as a local specialty, NHK World reported.
The village features a facility that processes culled bears into edible meat and leather goods, whereas several residents use traps to protect crops from these animals. On Nov. 23 and 24, Nishimeya hosted a tasting event at a roadside rest area, featuring bear meat skewers that went viral on social media.
One of the tourists noted that the meat didn’t have an odor and tasted good, and emphasized that this was a «good way of preventing culled bears from being wasted.» According to the cooks, to remove unpleasant smell, the meat had to age.
Bear meat is generally considered healthy and delicious, yet one should be careful when cooking, since the bears can carry Trichinella spiralis — the parasites that can infect humans with trichinosis — so it’s recommended to thoroughly cook the meat, ensuring its internal temperature of 165°F (approx. 74°C) is maintained for a minimum of 3 minutes in the thickest section of the meat.
Previously, Kursiv.media covered how saiga, the Kazakh wild antelope hitting the shelves of grocery stores and markets, can be cooked.
