Bloody salmon rejected by a bear... what Obama had for lunch with Bear Grylls in Alaskan wilderness he was visiting on Air Force One for climate change stunt
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3226684/Bloody-salmon-rejected-bear-Obama-lunch-Bear-Grylls-Alaskan-wilderness-visiting-Air-Force-One-climate-change-stunt.html
He is probably more used to state banquets, but while in Alaska last week British adventurer Bear Grylls fed the president Alaskan salmon rejected by a bear.
In a clip of 'Running Wild with Bear Grylls' shown Tuesday on the Today Show, Grylls pulled the 'bloody carcass of a half-eaten salmon' out of his backpack and showed it off to the commander in chief.
'Alaska is a land of bear and salmon,' Grylls explained. 'We haven't got bear, but this is for real, I found this on the river bank OK? Don't freak out too much, but this is half-eaten by a bear.
A bemused Obama checked out the shredded salmon. 'Why wouldn't the bear finish this sucker? This looks like a nice lookin' piece of fish.' Obama asked.
Grylls explained that when there are lots of salmon to be had, bears — the ones in the wild — only eat the fattiest parts of the fish, and leave the meat.
'So a bear has chewed on this sucker?' the president asked again.
'Yeah. But we're going to cook it up, it's going to be good,' Grylls said.
The President spent three days in Alaska last week on a trip that was supposed to highlight climate change. He spoke at the GLACIER Conference in Anchorage after arriving on Air Force One, his Boeign 747 private jet.
He visited the town of Kotzebue, on Alaska's west coast, where residents are 'already living' climate change, the president said. He hiked a glacier Kenai Fjords National Park.
As for why he appeared on Grylls' show, Obama said it was a little more personal, as the two share a nickname.
Bear Grylls is actually Edward, but was nicknamed Bear by his sister a week after being born, and the name stuck.
'As president I am in what's called 'the bubble' and Secret Service make sure that I'm always out of danger, which I very much appreciate, but it can be a little confining,' Obama said.
'Every once in awhile if I do something unexpected the phrase we use is "the bear is loose" so to be with Bear in the woods, it doesn't get any better than that,' Obama continued.
He called the experience one of the best days of his presidency. 'First of all, I'm not in the office. Secondly, I'm not in a suit,' Obama said.
As for the fish, the president called Grylls a mediocre cook, but said once cooked the salmon was 'tasty.'
'It would have been nice if we would have had a cracker to go with it,' Obama said.