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Captive killers: The truth about killer whale captivity

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EIC
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By Jennifer-Chow
Those who grew up in Vancouver likely had their first killer whale experience as children: pressed up to the glass window of a tank in Stanley Park, watching the massive black and white creature swam around. Breathless in awe that something so big, something so beautiful could be so close, they may have tapped the glass in hopes of connecting to the whale. But does the killer whale belong in there? Does a large, intelligent, echo-locating predator of the sea — an alien world to us — belong in what is essentially a swimming pool, just because we want to bring them into our own world of land?

Vancouver Aquarium’s killer whales were all captured in the wild as young whales. The last two killer whales, Bjossa and Finna, were from Iceland. Though the experience of seeing a killer whale through the glass was no doubt exhilarating in some way, for some there is a lingering thought: it is right for these creatures to swim around and around in a tank all day, in a foreign environment? Is this really the only way to bring them into our world?

We know killer whales for their distinct black and white pattern, their grace, their perceived intelligence, and the circus tricks they are put through. Aquariums and marine parks have kept killer whales now for nearly 50 years. Supporters of aquaria affirm that the practice of keeping killer whales captive is essential to conservation, research and public education. At the same time, many people — from animal activists to wild orca researchers — question the ethics, safety and overall vitality of the captive industry.

The captive orca industry began not far from here, off the coasts of B.C. and Washington. In 1964, the Vancouver Aquarium harpooned a killer whale with the intention of using it as a model for a sculpture. But the whale didn’t die from the harpoon and was eventually towed to a pen at the Burrard Drydock where the orca was exhibited until he died 87 days later. The next year, Ted Griffen of the Seattle Aquarium captured a calf that had gotten tangled up in fishing nets and named him Namu. During these early years of orca captivity, people discovered that the animals were not threatening, and did need to be shot on the spot or feared; rather, they were playful, gentle, and smart creatures. This, in combination with their iconic colouring, made the public fall in love with the lure of the killer whale. And so, the orca display industry began.

In 1976, Washington State — where many of these orcas have been captured — banned live captures, due to their effect on the already small orca population. Although British Columbia didn’t ban live captures until 1990, they effectively ended after 1976. After wild orca captures ended off the Pacific coast, Iceland became the place to capture killer whales. However, that too eventually came to an end at the close of the 1980s.

Those who grew up in Vancouver in the 90s will probably remember Bjossa and Finna, the last orcas to live at the Vancouver Aquarium. Finna died in 1997 — leaving Bjossa alone. In April 2001, Bjossa was sent to SeaWorld San Diego, where she died that October. After Bjossa, the Vancouver Aquarium stopped displaying killer whales, due to public pressure and the difficulty in obtaining them. To many in Vancouver, this was bittersweet. Killer whales in Stanley Park had become an institution, yet there was an acceptance that Bjossa would be in a place that was just slightly less foreign for her — where there were more of her kind; as humans, we understood the need for company and sympathized with it. Since then, the Vancouver Aquarium continues to research orcas in the wild, and still has captive beluga whales and pacific white-sided dolphins.

With live captures banned in most parts of the world, and highly frowned upon in others, nearly all new captive killer whales are now bred in captivity. Captive killer whales come from different origins, whether it be Icelandic, Pacific and Resident (fish-eating), or Transient (mammal-eating in the wild). These types and groups never interact in the wild, yet in captivity, there are killer whales bred from these different groups, creating hybrid whales that cannot naturally belong anywhere except a tank. With Tilikum as SeaWorld’s main sire (13 out of 19 captive killer whales owned by SeaWorld are related to Tilikum, according to the blog The Orca Project) and a limited genetic pool of captive killer whales worldwide, there is also a strong potential for widespread inbreeding in the near-future, if it hasn’t happened already.

Tilikum is more infamous for being a literal killer whale. On Feb. 24, 2010 he killed his trainer, Dawn Brancheau by grabbing and drowning her. This was not the first time, either: Tilikum was also involved in the 1994 drowning of Keltie Byrne at the Sealand of Pacific in Victoria, B.C. (which closed shortly after). Whether these attacks were the result of curiosity, menace, instinct, or a combination, we may never know. Although Tilikum was captured in the wild, aggressive incidents are not limited to wild-born killer whales. Keto is a captive-born killer whale on loan to Loro Parque, a marine park in the Canary Islands along with several other young SeaWorld whales.  On Dec. 24, 2009 Keto rammed his trainer, Alexis Martinez to death underwater. Unlike Tilikum, who is known to be dangerous due to past history, Keto was cleared to be safe enough to work with in the water and as a captive-born whale, never hunted, saw killer whales hunting or was taught to hunt. The tank is all Keto knows and will ever know.

Captive killer whales live in highly unnatural settings. Any enclosure would be comparably small for an ocean creature, and furthermore, orcas rely on sound; the echolocation that they naturally use in hunt and exploration doesn’t work so well when surrounded by concrete walls. It is very difficult to know if a killer whale’s habitat can be even marginally simulated in captivity. Although it differs population by population and type by type, resident killer whales live in kin-based family groups for life. But in captivity, killer whales from completely different pods, types, and populations are often grouped together, and may not even understand each other due to different dialects. SeaWorld in particular constantly moves their whales around its parks and often breeds killer whales at younger ages than they normally would in the wild.

While some research can only be conducted on captive orcas, very few are used for research purposes. Besides, it is difficult to know if captive killer whales are truly representative of their species. Most facilities that house captive cetaceans claim that it helps public education and thus, appreciation and conservation for these animals in the wild. But is this the only way to inspire awe towards nature? Though most aquariums have educational value, many marine parks do not. In the book Death at SeaWorld, a panel consisting of whale biologists and other scientists found that SeaWorld’s educational material was incomplete and inaccurate. SeaWorld’s shows, such as The Shamu Experience, Believe, and the current One Ocean, are productions that focus on entertainment, spectacle and human emotion, rather than on education. While it may emphasize a bond between humans and whales, it neither reflects nor helps whales in the wild at all. Although some aquariums may do a bit better in terms of education and showcasing natural behaviours, most marine park shows are essentially aquatic circuses.

Within the last few decades, many of the killer whales that have captured our imagination have captured it not because we saw them swimming in a tank, but because they were free. Keiko, the whale that played Willy in Free Willy, was eventually released into Icelandic waters and lived semi-independently until he died in 2003. In 2002 the young, misplaced lone calf Springer also captured the public’s imagination with the idea of rescuing and reuniting her to family and keeping her “free” and wild.  She was successfully relocated from Puget Sound and reunited with her pod. Meanwhile, at around the same time, there was another young, misplaced lone calf, known as Luna. Luna died in 2006 in a deadly encounter with a tugboat. While Luna’s story didn’t have the same happy ending as Springer’s, he also inspired people to think and care about killer whales, despite never having lived in a tank. For both Springer and Luna, captivity was considered unjust, reflecting the changing public attitudes towards captive killer whales. Now killer whales were no longer merely a circus animal — they belonged in the ocean.

It may be easy to say “free the whales,” but as Keiko has demonstrated, things aren’t so simple, and it doesn’t necessarily have a storybook ending. The wild isn’t a blissful or safe place, either. Yes, in some respects the tank is safer. But releasing captive killer whales requires a lot of time and money for something that doesn’t guarantee safety. As it stands, many captive whales are not fit for release for medical reasons. Some of them have missing teeth (or in some cases, almost no teeth) and need to have their mouths flushed daily to prevent infection. Oftentimes, their teeth have had to be drilled as a result of gnawing on gates, threatening other whales, or other reasons.

Since setting all whales free is neither realistic nor entirely humane, many anti-captivity groups have clamoured for performing animals to be retired into large sea pens with the possibility of venturing out, much like Keiko. Many working animals are retired after a good life’s service of work, such as retired horses living out their days in fields, or retired circus and zoo elephants that go on to live out their days in elephant sanctuaries; despite being far from the native habitat, these sanctuaries offer relative free-roaming in a large area and the opportunity for more natural social groups. Of course, the aquaria industry does not support retirement.  There are groups, including OrcaLab, a wild orca research centre, that call for the retirement of Lolita into a Sea Pen in her native waters. At over 40 years old, Lolita is the second oldest killer whale in captivity and is the last surviving whale captured from the currently endangered Washington State area. However, for killer whales, along with other whales and dolphins, the retirement concept is just that: purely conceptual.

With Bjossa long gone and only one killer whale (Kiska) remaining in Ontario’s Marineland Canada, it is likely that the era of the captive killer whale will be phased out in Canada soon; the Vancouver Aquarium and Marineland Canada still house other species of captive dolphins and whales, however. The number of captive killer whales worldwide is limited and, short of capturing more from the wild, it is possible that captive displays may not have a future.

Regardless of what happens, the concept of captive orcas is not going away immediately. The root of the problem is the attitude towards captive orcas as assets; simply a way to make money. Facilities that house them should focus less on entertainment, and more on education and research. At the same time, they should be offered a life as natural as possible, with minimal social changes and, if possible, tanks that reflect their natural habitat. An even better option for keeping killer whales would be a semi-wild setting in sea pens. Formerly captive and captive-bred whales could come and go as they please, and still maintain association with humans if they wish. This way, visitors could also have a “guaranteed” whale watching experience, much like in an aquarium, but in a more natural habitat.

Gone would be the  days when you could walk up to window, watch a massive black and white killer whale swim by you, and catch a glimpse into their world. But it’s not their world, it’s ours. With technology rapidly progressing, maybe we’ll one day find a way to bring ourselves into their world without interfering with them. Killer whales are the experts of their ocean habitat, their pods’ culture, their way of life. It seems at once so alien and yet so familiar to us humans — kinship, dialect, unique rituals, violence and gentleness; yet there is so much that we still don’t know.

It pays to be dominant

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EIC
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How to avoid an accident, or at least make sure you get paid

By Paul Hurst
Photos by Rool Paap

Please remain calm. You’ve just had your first car accident, and without a doubt it’s traumatic. I hope and pray you’ve not been hurt. Fortunately, most accidents don’t involve injuries.
Dealing with ICBC can be very intimidating, if not scary. You might be worried that your claim will be denied, or that you’ll be found at fault.

Some people knowingly fib when they buy their insurance, e.g., they claim they’re only using it for pleasure, when in fact they drive to work five days a week, every week. As an adjuster, I had to be a bit cynical and suspicious. I’ve seen just about every trick in the book, so I got pretty good at telling when someone wasn’t being totally honest. Fortunately, the vast majority of people are honest.

The basic idea is that of the two cars in an accident, one is considered “dominant” based on its relative position to the other “subservient” car. If you are going straight down a road, you are initially dominant. Cars behind you are subservient. The driver of the car behind can control how close it gets to you. Thus, in a rear-end collision, the car behind is normally 100 per cent at fault.

If you change lanes, or change directions, you stop being dominant and become subservient, generally speaking.
Here are three ways to avoid an accident, or at least reduce your chances of being found at fault.

1. Don’t tailgate.
Although this seems obvious, many people do it, hence why rear-end accidents are one of the most common types. The two-second rule is good, but I’d give it three or four seconds.

2. Don’t speed.
Missing whatever T.V. show you think is absolutely essential to your survival will not, in fact, affect your chances of survival, but speeding might. The biggest killer of university students is accidents; car collisions top this list. You are supposed to be intelligent — act like it.

3. Don’t rush left-hand turns.
This one is not so obvious. People seem to have the mistaken idea that they must turn before the light turns red, so they make their left turn when their light is yellow. Sometimes, there is some brain-genius coming in the opposite direction, who runs their yellow. A crash results, because you were turning left in front of them.
In cases like this, fault can be hard to determine, as dominance is in question. For example was the yellow light a “stale” amber? If you wait until your light is red, then any car coming from the opposite direction will have to run their red light in order to hit you. Make your turn after they have stopped for their red light, and all is hunky dory. You are now established in the intersection, and have right of way. The cars coming at right angles to you must yield; a green light means “proceed if safe to do so.” Since you are now legitimately trapped in the intersection, it is not safe for them to proceed, and you have the right of way.
Now you can make your left turn, and you will not miss your favorite episode of Roly Poly Olly.

The comeback of fur

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EIC
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Can fur be ethical if it’s the by-product of the meat industry?

By Rachel Braeuer

Photos by Matt Kowal

Mention fur and you’ll have most people seeing red, either from outrage or from the paint that PETA has used to mark their couture jacket or boots. The fashion industry has come a long way since the the 50s when a fur coat was a necessary status symbol. Most often you’ll find synthetic fur lining most boots and hoods but this year in its September issue of biblical proportions, Vogue turns the spotlight to real fur. Some might be offended, but in a culture of carnivores the use value in fur moves beyond creating clothing and on to making use of industrial waste through upcycling.

Vogue poses ethical fur as a possible solution to the waste by products of the meat industry, technically making it a form of upcycling. Upcycling is a relatively new phenomenon that uses industrial remnants to make ingeniously new but texturally old consumer goods. Vogue isn’t talking about mink or fox or any other kind of fur where the animal is raised and slaughtered or hunted solely for the purpose of using its skin to make clothing. Instead, they focus on taking leftover animal fur scraps from the meat industry and turning them into useful, albeit expensive, articles of clothing. Maybe it’s just the already-wealthy selling refurbished scraps, which they got for pittances, to us at a ridiculous profit, but at least they’re doing something with the piles of waste that we turn a blind eye to when any fetish capitalist item is fabricated.

It’s ridiculous that a glossy image of some model posed in a shearling coat makes me uncomfortable, even if I know the fur used was going to be thrown out anyway, a by-product of the meat industry in Turkey. But if I watch a hot dog eating contest, I feel more discomfort over people shoving phallic-shaped meat tubes into their mouths than I do about the actual excess and waste. We don’t need animals to live. However accustomed we are to quick and easy animal protein, it’s completely viable to live off of plant-based protein. In a world where mass meat farms wreak havoc on the environment, is killing an animal to eat and wear it any worse than killing it to eat it and discard the skin like it’s garbage?

In this waste-glorifying culture, it seems like the ideal model is to promote consciousness of creative ways to repurpose waste. In the U.S., overhunting of alligators in the 1960s led to dwindling numbers, finding gators a place on the endangered species list in 1967. Government officials developed an egg-culling program that advocated farming rather than hunting, with alligator farmers receiving eggs at $12 each. These farmed gators are raised for their meat and their hides, with their jawbones predominantly used as front-yard tree decorations (if reality television is a reliable source). Enclosures are kept in top condition, and avoid extreme overcrowding to ensure that their skins get as few scratches and scars as possible for a reptile with as many teeth as a piano has keys.

While the conditions on alligator farms seem slightly better than on regular farms, they’re ultimately just stock pens for something that’s living to die. But any animal kept for human use is dealt the same shitty cards by fate; they’re dying anyway, so who cares if someone butchers them and makes alli-burgers, renders the fat and makes artisan alli-candles, and then makes their skin into a purse and a pair of shoes. They are already dead. If we feel no shame in eating a hamburger in public, we should feel no more shame for wearing an upcycled leather jacket.

Leaving the house I grew up in

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EIC
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One student’s reflections on the university experience
By Sam Colbert
HAMILTON (CUP) — I’m writing this at my desk in my bedroom. I’m surrounded by badly packed boxes, filled with stuff that’s either been deemed useful or that I’m too nostalgic to throw away. The walls are blank, and the closet is empty.
I’m moving out of my house tomorrow. It’s the house I lived in during my fourth year at university. My new place suits a more grown-up lifestyle. We’ve got decorations on the mantle, cable TV and a living room and dining room being used for their intended purposes. It’s nicer than the single-family home stuffed with six guys where I live now. I’m sure I’ll look back and be glad to have moved. But today, I’m bummed out.
I didn’t feel like this when I finished classes for good in April, or even on my graduation day. Back in first year, I thought I would. But I eventually realized that you don’t think of your time here as passing neatly in semesters, or even in years.
During your undergrad you’ll make friends. And then you’ll make new friends, losing touch with those original friends. You’ll start dating someone. And then you’ll break up. You’ll try new things. And then you’ll try other things that you’ll wish you hadn’t. You’ll get anxious, or even depressed, sometimes for months straight. And then you’ll feel better.
That’s the stuff you’ll remember. That’s the really formative stuff.
I’m going to remember this house. And I’ll remember the way I changed both because of it and because of the people who lived here.
To be honest, my own Welcome Week four years ago didn’t really do it for me. And if you don’t get much out of it either, that’s okay. It’s as much for the excited upper-years in jumpsuits as it is for the first-years anyway.
But, like it or not, you’re probably going to find some stuff here that you really care about. So don’t be shy about it. Instead, be optimistic. Be sincere. Be kind. And be patient when things don’t go your way.
Whatever it is, it’s going to cause you a bit of grief, but whether it’s a student house or a soul mate or a field of study or your school newspaper, it’s probably worth it.

Deerhoof playfully brushes off Breakup

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EIC
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Breakup Song just wants to keep dancing.

By Max Hill

Advertising their new album as “noise jingles for parties,” Deerhoof doesn’t disappoint. Indeed, 2012’s Breakup Song is as close to a dance record as the group is going to get. It’s unmistakably a Deerhoof record: inventive, aggressive, and noisy, with bright, summery pop milling just underneath the surface. There are elements of jazz, classical, chiptune, noise, and even rumba to be found in the L.P.’s painfully short 29 minutes, but each song feels cohesive, as though these genre elements were meant to blend together effortlessly.

Tokyo-born Satomi Matsuzaki — whose endearingly accented vocals reminds one of BMO from the cartoon Adventure Time — is full of childlike energy throughout the album: she brushes off a breakup in the title track with “You say it’s over/Hell yeah/Hell yeah/Anyway,” setting the stage for a record that doesn’t see the end of a relationship as a setback, but as an opportunity. Her sweet accompaniment to the band’s usual boundary-pushing sonic experiments toe a line treaded many times before by Deerhoof: cute versus aggressive, innocent versus dangerous.

The band is well-known for refusing to repeat itself, and Breakup Song stands alone amongst their last few records, substituting carefully written and recorded songs for DIY- spirit and reckless abandon. This is definitely a good thing: Deerhoof is at its best when it embraces its pop leanings and just lets itself go. The album was allegedly written and recorded within the space of a few months, and it shows: there’s a sense of spontaneity throughout, suggesting a band comfortable enough with themselves and their image to be able to let loose and improvise. Tracks like “The Trouble With Candyhands” and “There’s That Grin” change melodies and shift moods almost at the drop of a hat; it’s as though the band were so excited about all of their ideas that they couldn’t commit to one for more than five seconds without moving to the next. Breakup Song is the kid at the party who’s still dancing long after the lights have gone out, and often it’s hard not to get up and join in.

The second half of Breakup Song is undeniably stronger than the first: the one-two punch of “Mario’s Flaming Whiskers III” and album closer “Fête d’Adieu” might be the record’s best passage, whereas weaker tracks like “Bad Kids to the Front” and “Zero Second Pause” turn up much earlier. Some might also find the album’s unwillingness to take a break exhausting. However, fans of the band will surely be satisfied: there’s a lot to love here for those who’ve been with the group since their Apple O’ days. For listeners who are still new to Deerhoof, and don’t mind a little sugar in their cereal, Breakup Song is a great introduction to the idiosyncrasy the band is known and loved for. The album is short but sweet, and you’ll probably find yourself wanting to listen again as soon as it’s over.

The Virtual Self leaves us wondering

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EIC
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Nora Young’s latest book may be better left on the shelf.

By Monica Miller

Nora Young, the lively host of CBC Radio’s The Spark, published her first book in April of this year, which explores the impact our digital activities have on our life. The Virtual Self: How Our Digital Lives Are Altering the World Around Us has received a lot of buzz in social media, and as a student of communications, I decided to check it out.

Unfortunately, I never finished the book. My main issues were her continual repetition, the lack of big-picture implications, and the general structure of the book. The tone and writing style is very conversational and accessible, much like The Spark, but my current frame of mind in academia left me craving something more. I wanted stronger correlations, sources cited (or even just footnotes), and more in-depth analysis of the consequences.

At the end of the first chapter, Nora poses all the questions that have been bugging me so far: why we do this, what are the consequences, how does this change our relationships, etc. And then she performs the cardinal sin of essays: she doesn’t answer the questions she posed. I understand that this is a tactic used to further engage readers, to dangle the carrot so that we keep reading. However, in my opinion, if you’re still dangling these carrot-ledes at 30 pages into a 200-page book, something is wrong. By the end of the first chapter, readers should have a clear view of what the scope of the book is about, what the current situation is, and why it is important. The remainder of the book should build on this foundation. So, in the hopes that Young was building a foundation (albeit slow and painfully) I continued to read.

My criticism of repetition and structural organization of the book go hand-in-hand, and sometimes it was the colloquial tone that attributed to the repetition. However, this doesn’t excuse the fact that the book has little direction. Young spends the first half of the book talking about self-tracking and how we do this, and some of the obvious whys, but doesn’t go much deeper. At one point, I actually wrote in the margin (in pencil that I erased since it was a library book), “So what?”

I admit that a little over halfway through the book I stopped paying a great deal of attention. I flipped through the next few chapters absent-mindedly.

Throughout the book, Young brings up (in passing) a number of key phrases, including “life-caching,” “the Quantified Self,” “spime,” “feedback loop,” “stats-driven objectified activities,” “the selling of our information/demographics,” and “surveillance of self,” among others. To have all of these concepts in a 200-page book is incredibly ambitious, but if you never actually define them properly or go into in-depth analysis, you can easily just name-drop them all in.

The Virtual Self isn’t completely terrible. While Nora does have some general suggestions for us as users and as a society, the book left a lot to be desired in my mind. However, if you are interested in reading The Virtual Self, don’t be deterred on my account. I think the accessibility of the writing is a strong selling point, especially if the intended reader is not heavily knowledgeable in the digital world, media, and communication.

When friend becomes a verb

By
EIC
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0

 Urban Conspiracy Cabaret tackles isolation and disconnection.

By Monica Miller

In an increasingly global city, urban society, and interactive culture, why do we feel more isolated than ever? Vancouver has a bad reputation for being unfriendly  and unengaged.

“Isolation and disconnection in the urban environment is an issue that requires a different approach to find solutions,” explained Shauna Sylvester, executive director of SFU Public Square. The Vancouver Foundation tackled this question with a survey of nearly 4,000 residents of Metro Vancouver, resulting in the June 2012 report on Community and Engagement. It revealed a “powerful yearning for stronger connections in and between our communities.” SFU Public Square also launched in June to address SFU’s new vision as “engaging the world,” and features an annual summit focusing on a local or international issue of public concern.

After the Vancouver Foundation’s report was released in June, coordinators began to discuss what a week of activities and discussions around this topic could look like. Open conversations, community display space, dialogues and panels, and even a film festival were all in the mix. The Alone Together: Connecting in the City summit runs from Sept. 18–24, 2012, and is no conventional conference, with 11 distinct events.

Am Johal, community engagement coordinator of SFU Woodward’s cultural unit, and Michael Boucher, director of cultural development and programming at SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts, also wanted to see how the creative community explored these themes of engagement, connection, and citizenship.

“Artists, comedians, musicians,” Johal explained, “all take a less didactic approach [compared to academics].”

Enter the CBC Debaters’s Richard Side and Charles Demers, throw in a few local artists of poetry, music, and performance, and you’ve got The Urban Conspiracy Cabaret: an entertaining evening of arts for civic change, political engagement, and comedy. The cabaret program will allow each performer 10 minutes, with comedic interludes from Richard and Charles.

“With Charlie and Richard you can only script so much,” Johal laughed.

Performers include poet Colin Browne, jazz musician Paul Keeling, Balinese music ensemble Gamelan Gita Asmara, soul and blues band High Society, Vancouver singer-songwriter Veda Hille, and theatre group Project Limelight. Composed of performance-driven kids, Project Limelight launched in January 2012. It was conceived by two sisters to give back to the community after their mother passed away, and has partnered with the School of Contemporary Arts to offer performing arts education in the Strathcona neighbourhood. Johal warned not to underestimate the talent of Project Limelight just because they’re kids — “they’re not amateurs.”

The Urban Conspiracy Cabaret takes place Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012 at 7:30 pm at the Fei & Milton Wong Experimental Theatre, in the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts at SFU Woodward’s. Tickets are only $10 online or at the door, and include drinks and mingling before and after.

Meaty eats sure to bring out the Wildebeest in you

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EIC
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Wildebeest is not for the faint of heart.

By Ljudmila Petrovic

Located at 120 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, B.C.

Wildebeest started with co-owners James Iranzad and Josh Pape’s mutual love for good food and drink, and developed into Gastown’s newest trendy restaurant with a concept. Organic ingredients, using whole animals, and sharing plates. “Everything feels so honest,” said Pape about the menu. There are no real boundaries in terms of the direction the restaurant will take, he said.  The genius behind the menu is executive chef David Gunawan, whose hand-picked kitchen staff have all worked with Gunawan and each other before.

A friend and I went in on a Wednesday night at 7:30 with no reservations, and the trendy interior was packed. Faced with the option of waiting until 9:30 for a table to open up, we were instead seated at a communal table with another party. Take note that it is only open in the evenings (from 5 p.m. onwards), and is closed on Mondays.

All the servers are very helpful and knowledgeable about the food and drink they serve; they were able to answer every question in immaculate detail, down to the specific details and intricacies of preparation.

There is a huge selection of unique cocktails and an extensive wine list. In fact, the downstairs is a wine bar, which is currently open only at certain times on weekends. Both are pretty pricey. Drinks are by no means a small part of the concept though, so they are worth trying out.

Skip the crispy pork skin. At $4, it’s not a huge gamble, but it’s also not particularly worth it; they were basically pork-flavoured chips. In fact, don’t waste time with any of the appetizer options (various olives, breads, oyster, and ham plates). The prices are mid-range (mostly hovering around $15), but it is the quality and richness that you’re paying for, not the portion sizes.

The fois gras (duck liver) torchon was served with three tiny pieces of black brioche (not enough to accommodate the rich fois gras). At $18, I was a little taken aback at how little we got — until I tasted it. It was amazing, and so rich that there’s no way I could have eaten any more. Next we got the lamb tartare ($14), which was served with pickled wild onions and herb croutons. It is served with grilled lamb heart, adding to the tartare’s raw texture. This dish was as good as the last, though less rich; I could have gone with a little more.

This might be a good time to warn you: if you’re not in the mood to eat meat, or you’re not willing to experiment, this is not the place for you.

Highlights of our meal included the honey-cured steelhead trout and the beef tongue (make sure to eat every bite with the mushroom marmalade it’s served with). As an impulsive and masochistic afterthought (both for my wallet and my stomach), we ordered the pork jowl (served with oats and bourbon maple syrup). I never thought I’d find comfort food at a place where portions are smaller than the palm of my hand, but there it is, folks. This meat literally melts in your mouth.

Because I don’t really care about my arteries, we also got dessert: dark chocolate sorbet, served with honeycomb and cherries. It’s worth it.

Wildebeest is not cheap by any means, nor is it a hefty meal. However, the food is delectable and you won’t regret a single bite — until you get the bill, probably. That said, it is significantly cheaper than most places where you would get fare of the likes of fois gras and tartare. Wildebeest is just trendy and daring enough that it has a lot of potential to make it big with the Vancouver crowd it caters to. Keep your eyes out for this gem if you ever want to splurge on a night out — it can only get less affordable from here.

SFU sizes up food options on campus

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EIC
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By Samantha Thompson

University employees take a look at the nutritional value of current meal choices

As students get back into the school routine, the pressure is on to maintain a healthy, balanced diet while simultaneously spending hours studying. Rosie Dhaliwal, a gealth promotion specialist for SFU, emphasizes the importance of maintaining good nutrition while completing a post-secondary education.

“It comes down to your ability to concentrate and perform well on your assignments or other tasks for the day,” said Dhaliwal in an email to The Peak. “Even your mood is impacted by what you are eating.”

The 2012 health profile for Vancouver, released by Statistics Canada, states that 39.4 per cent of people living in the Vancouver Health Service Delivery Area consume fruit and vegetables five times or more daily. In addition, 31.7 per cent of the population were identified as being overweight or obese, and 58.3 per cent participate in a physical activity in their free time.

In light of such statistics, health consciousness has been placed in the spotlight, particularly after multiple health plan initiatives launched locally over the past several years. This year, the City of Vancouver commenced their “Healthy City Strategy,” which aims to develop “a long-term strategy for healthier people, healthier places, and a healthier planet.”

SFU, too, has been promoting healthier lifestyles, most recently with the changes in on-campus dining. The university has altered its approach to available food options, in order to meet the demands of students looking to make a healthier choice.

“We really wanted to try to focus on what the students were requesting from us and provide them with some more options,” said Kelly Dooley, the manager of student experience for SFU dining, adding that what students wanted most was more variety, more value and different options when eating on-campus.

“We’ve added some focus on more fresh cooking and comfort foods,” said Dooley. “In MacKenzie Cafe we have a new manager and a new culinary team, so they’re really focusing on more hearty, fresh home-cooked foods, as well as nutritious foods.”

The all-day breakfast station in the cafe now uses free-range eggs, and the soups and sauces are made from scratch. “You can definitely taste the flavour,” said Dooley.

In addition, the Residence Dining Hall options have expanded, now including the customizable “My Pantry” feature, where students can have more say about what goes into their meal. The dining hall’s hours have increased, remaining open 24/7 — the first of its kind in Canada.

Students learning about nutrition and how to cook may see positive results, in their wallets as well as with their health. “It will enhance their academic success, their overall health, and save them money,” says Dhaliwal. “Your money will take you way further if you are preparing your own meals rather than purchasing them regularly. I can’t emphasize enough that 80 per cent of chronic diseases are preventable through low-cost strategies such as eating well and active living.”

Even with nutritious options on campus, there are things students can do to maintain a healthy lifestyle without relying on the university’s dining services. According to Dhaliwal, students should be eating every three to four hours; consuming balanced meals (one quarter of the plate is protein, one quarter is carbohydrates and the remaining half is comprised of fruit and vegetables); and carrying around portable snacks like plain nuts, seeds or fresh fruit.

As students delve deeper into another semester of long days and short nights, Dhaliwal reminds them to enjoy the experience when it comes to food.

“Food is part of a lot of social events throughout the semester,” she says, “[but] I like to use the 80/20 rule — 80 per cent of the time we stick to guidelines from Canada’s Food Guide, but 20 per cent of the time we allow ourselves a treat and we enjoy it.”

University Briefs

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By Alison Roach

UVic unveils gender-inclusive washrooms

Two washrooms in the main concourse of the UVic Student Union Building which were formerly gendered have been reassigned as gender-inclusive, allowing any person of any gender to use the two spaces. UVic is the first campus on Vancouver Island to try out the multi-stall, gender-inclusive layout.  The physical changes are limited to a new partition around the urinals in the former men’s washroom, and the replacement of the signs at the entrance of each.

 

Two Canadian universities pull top ranking spots

The 2012 QS World University Rankings was released on Monday, with McGill University ranked 18th, and the University of Toronto put in 19th place. This is the first time that two Canadian universities have been designated in the top 20 universities in the world. U of T has been rising in the ranks steadily in the past few years, placing 29th in 2010 and 23rd last year. One thing that U of T’s higher standing is attributed to is an increase in international students.

 

University of Regina students text each other anonymously

A new social media outlet at the University of Regina allows students to text each other randomly and anonymously. URconnecting.com matches students to other users of the site and lets them text each other from their cell phones. Students sign up with their campus email account and provide their age, sex, and area of study, while keeping their personal phone number private. The website touts itself as “ChatRoulette for SMS.”

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Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

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For promotional inquiries: [email protected]

© The Peak Publications Society

Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

For advertising inquiries: [email protected]
For promotional inquiries: [email protected]

© The Peak Publications Society