Expensive delicacy sorted out at reindeer roundup

Fresh reindeer meet a rare treat in Helsinki stores

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By Mikko-Pekka Heikkinen
     
      Some fine-looking cold-smoked reindeer cuts hang from a peg in a grocery store in Helsinki's Töölö district. It certainly would be nice to get a taste of that real Lappish meat.
      But what's this? Just ten slices - 100 grammes - costs EUR 4.29.
      The price is four times that of the sliced pork sitting next to it. No reindeer today, as has been the case on several other days.
      Reindeer meat is expensive. It is difficult to understand how fresh tuna flown from Indonesia to Helsinki, or Argentine beef can cost less than Finnish reindeer.
      To top it all off, fresh reindeer meat is only available in the late autumn and early winter. Why is that?
      Let's go to Lapland to find out.
     
About 100 reindeer are running around in the pen at Pelkosenniemi. It's the roundup of the reindeer-owners association of Pyhä-Kallio. Soon the ones to be slaughtered are to be chosen.
      The ground shakes, steam rises from the herd. The largest male is in such heat that he is trying to mount a female, even though she is running around.
      The precise timing of the roundup is determined by the sexual desires of the males. The male reindeer that are in heat keep the herd together, making it easier for the herders to bring the animals into the pen for sorting out.
      This is where cause and effect come in. A randy reindeer in Lapland means that fresh meat will soon be available in Helsinki.
     
The herder's lasso flies and catches a male by its horns. The males are taken out of the pen and let back into the forest.
      It will take many hours of work, much money, and much fuel before the reindeer that are let into the forest are rounded up again.
      The reindeer of one reindeer-owners association can roam over the fells over an area of thousands of square kilometres.
      Twice a year they are driven to the roundup area for marking. The herders move on foot, by motorcycle, and helicopter. The price of fuel has constantly risen, raising the herders' costs, which are reflected in the high prices of the meat.
      The amount of raw material is not on the increase. Under the law, there must be no more than 203,700 reindeer, lest their hooves harm the delicate terrain of the north too much. They yield about 2.5 million kilos of meat a year.
      This is not very much at all. For instance, Finnish pig farms produce about 200 million kilos of pork a year.
      Reindeer can be seen as a rare delicacy, and they tend to cost more.
     
Reindeer herder Anssi Kiiskinen of Sodankylä grabs a reindeer calf by the horns. The neck bends, and the hooves are jammed into the ground.
      It is the final section of the roundup fence. Horns, fur, and bulging round eyes mill around in the area.
      From the round pen the reindeer leave either for slaughter or back into the forest. Four out of five reindeer to be slaughtered were born that same year. The young reindeer gets a metal tag on the ear, and the animal is pushed into the last pen.
      From there they are taken by truck to Kemijärvi for slaughter. To the consternation of the meat packers, one animal only yields 17 kilos of meat, because the reindeer is a small animal, with big bones.
      This is also reflected in the price.
     
But the meat is good. Reindeer and the food that they eat grows wild in a clean forest. The animals are crazy about mushrooms, for instance.
      "Reindeer are refined mushroom", says reindeer herder Kiiskinen.
      The young reindeer in the pen destined for the slaughterhouse stand motionless and stare with their bulging eyes. The jewellery of death shine in their ears.
      Goodbye, little deer!
      I'll see you at the meat counter!
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 17.10.2006

More on this subject:
 FACTFILE: High-protein, low-fat food
 Limited home market for quality product

MIKKO-PEKKA HEIKKINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
mikko-pekka.heikkinen@hs.fi