Iqaluit's Seal Caf gets cooking

A Qubcois chef is trying to spark interest in a rare ingredient.

Rjean Vigneau is a seal hunter in the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

He recently shared somedishes at Iqaluit's first Seal Caf.

While seal meat is already a tradition for Inuit people, Vigneau is taking the cuisine in a new direction. His approachis more rooted in gourmet cuisinethan the traditional Inuit way or the maritimehome-cookingtradition of flipper pie.

"Tonight we are having people taste seal products in ways that people are not used to. Charcuterie, cooked and smoked," he said.

People at the event tried seal pate with pork and duck fat, smoked seal with cream cheese and even a seal pate with mango chutney.

Well-known Inuit culturalist Aaju Peter organized the caf.

She says the enjoyment of seal meat has been unfairly maligned as a result of animal-rights' groups opposition to the seal harvest.

This week Peter invited Vigneau and photographer Yoannis Menge to Iqaluit after visiting the Magdalen Islands for a local festival called the seal celebration

She says the Seal Caf is an example of Inuit, Francophone and East Coast cultures discovering common ground.

In this case, a love for a uniqueCanadian harvest.