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// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did muktuk say to its date? "You're a whale of a time

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Sliced and prepared muktuk

Muktuk[1] (anglicized from various names below) is a traditional food of Inuit and other circumpolar peoples, consisting of whale skin and blubber. A part of Inuit cuisine, it is most often made from the bowhead whale, although the beluga and the narwhal are also used. It is usually consumed raw, but can also be eaten frozen, cooked,[2] or pickled.[3]

Names

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The English muktuk is a transliteration of several Inuit terms for the skin and blubber, including:

In some dialects, such as Inuinnaqtun, the word muktuk refers only to the edible parts of the whale's skin and not to the blubber.[7][11]

It is known as икииԓгин ikiilgin in Chukchi.

Methods of preparation

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Canadian Inuit elders sharing muktuk, outside their summer tents, 2002
Expedition team of German photographer Ansgar Walk eating muktuk in celebration of a young hunter's catch in the Canadian Arctic, 1997

In Greenland, muktuk (mattak) is sold commercially to fish factories,[12] and in Canada (muktaaq) to other communities.[13]

One account of a 21st-century indigenous whale hunt describes the skin and blubber eaten as a snack while the rest of the whale meat is butchered (flensed) for later consumption. It can be eaten raw or cooked; when boiled, this snack is known as unaaliq.[14]

In recent times, maktak are served with introduced condiments locals have acquired the taste for like HP Sauce,[14][15][16][17][18] and soy sauce.[19]

Nutrients and health concerns

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Muktuk is a good source of vitamin C (ascorbic acid), the epidermis containing up to 38 mg (0.59 gr) per 100 grams (3.5 oz).[20][21] British Arctic explorers used it to prevent scurvy.[22] Blubber is also a source of vitamin D.[23]

Proceedings of the Nutrition Society stated in the 1950s that:

The most important item of food of the Polar Eskimos is the narwhal (Monodon monoceros). [...] The skin (mattak) is greatly relished and tastes like hazel-nuts; it is eaten raw and contains considerable amounts of glycogen and ascorbic acid. The White whale (Delphinupterus leucas) is almost as important...[24]

Contaminants from the industrialised world have made their way to the Arctic marine food web. This poses a health risk to people who eat "country food" (traditional Inuit foodstuffs).[25] As whales grow, mercury accumulates in the liver, kidney, muscle, and blubber, and cadmium settles in the blubber,[26] the same process that makes mercury in fish a health issue for humans. Whale meat also bioaccumulates carcinogens such as PCBs, chemical compounds that damage human nervous, immune and reproductive systems,[27][28] and a variety of other contaminants.[29]

Consumption of muktuk has also been associated with outbreaks of botulism.[30]

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ "muktuk". Asuilaak Living Dictionary. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022.
  2. ↑ Stern, Pamela (2009). The A to Z of the Inuit. Lanham: Scarecrow Press. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-8108-6822-9.
  3. ↑ "10 Weirdest Foods in the World". News.travel.aol.com. 9 September 2010. Archived from the original on 11 September 2010. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  4. ↑ "maktaaq". Asuilaak Living Dictionary. Archived from the original on 30 June 2022.
  5. ↑ Uqaluktuat: 1980 Elders' Conference, Women's Session ISBN 1-881246-01-9
  6. ↑ "maktak". Asuilaak Living Dictionary. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022.
  7. 1 2 Ohokak, G.; M. Kadlun; B. Harnum. Inuinnaqtun-English Dictionary (PDF). Kitikmeot Heritage Society. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  8. ↑ "maktaq". Asuilaak Living Dictionary. Archived from the original on 30 June 2022.
  9. ↑ "mattak". Asuilaak Living Dictionary.[dead link]
  10. ↑ Jacobson, Steven A. (2012). Yup'ik Eskimo Dictionary, 2nd edition Archived 3 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Alaska Native Language Center.
  11. ↑ "edible whale skin". Asuilaak Living Dictionary. Archived from the original on 30 June 2022.
  12. ↑ Heide-Jørgensen, Mads Peter (January 1994). "Distribution, exploitation and population status of white whales (Delphinapterus leucas) and narwhals (Monodon monoceros) in West Greenland". Meddelelser om Grønland, Bioscience. 39: 135–149. doi:10.7146/mogbiosci.v39.142541.
  13. ↑ Hoover C, Bailey M, Higdon J, Ferguson SH, Sumalia R (March 2013). "Estimating the Economic Value of Narwhal and Beluga Hunts in Hudson Bay, Nunavut". The Arctic Institute of North America. 66: 1–16.
  14. 1 2 Zellen, Barry Scott (2008). Breaking the ice : from land claims to tribal sovereignty in the arctic. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. p. 376. ISBN 978-0-7391-1941-9. OCLC 183162209.
  15. ↑ Tusaayaksat – Spring 2015. Tusaayaksat Magazine. 15 April 2015.
  16. ↑ Goward, Sydney (10 August 2021). "Exploring Tuktoyaktuk: Pingos, Muktuk, and the Arctic Ocean". My Site. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
  17. ↑ Boorman ·, Charley (2012). Extreme Frontiers: Racing Across Canada from Newfoundland to the Rockies. Little, Brown Book Group. ISBN 9780748132775.
  18. ↑ Pearce, Tristan (2021). Research with Arctic Inuit communities : graduate student experiences, lessons and life learnings. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. ISBN 978-3-030-78483-6. OCLC 1265523671.
  19. ↑ Andersen, Chaim Christiana; Rayner-Canham, Geoff (Fall 2022). "Soy Sauce – An essential Inuit condiment". Chem 13 News. No. Special Edition. University of Waterloo.
  20. ↑ Geraci, Joseph R. & Smith, Thomas G. (1979). "Vitamin C in the Diet of Inuit Hunters From Holman, Northwest Territories" (PDF). Arctic. 32 (2): 135–139. doi:10.14430/arctic2611. JSTOR 40508955.
  21. ↑ Fediuk, K.; Hidiroglou, N.; Madère, R.; Kuhnlein, H. V. (2002). "Vitamin C in Inuit Traditional Food and Women's Diets". Journal of Food Composition and Analysis. 15 (3): 221. doi:10.1006/jfca.2002.1053.
  22. ↑ McClintock, Francis Leopold (2012), "CHAPTER XVI", A Narrative of the Discovery of the Fate of Sir John Franklin and His Companions, Cambridge University Press, pp. 301–322, doi:10.1017/cbo9781139236522.018, ISBN 978-1-139-23652-2
  23. ↑ Kuhnlein, H. V.; Barthet, V.; Farren, A.; Falahi, E.; Leggee, D.; Receveur, O.; Berti, P. (2006). "Vitamins A, D, and E in Canadian Arctic traditional food and adult diets". Journal of Food Composition and Analysis. 19 (6–7): 495. doi:10.1016/j.jfca.2005.02.007.
  24. ↑ Sinclair, H.M. (1953). "The Diet of Canadian Indians and Eskimos". Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. 12: 69–82. doi:10.1079/PNS19530016. S2CID 71578987.
  25. ↑ "Country Food (Inuit Food) in Canada | The Canadian Encyclopedia". thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
  26. ↑ Wagemann, R.; Snow, N.B.; Lutz, A.; Scott, D.P. (1983). "Heavy Metals in Tissues and Organs of the Narwhal (Monodon monoceras)". Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. 40 (S2): s206–s214. Bibcode:1983CJFAS..40S.206W. doi:10.1139/f83-326.
  27. ↑ "Chemical Compounds Found in Whale Blubber Are From Natural Sources, Not Industrial Contamination". 18 February 2005.
  28. ↑ "Japan warned on 'contaminated' blubber". BBC News. 24 January 2001. Retrieved 31 December 2009.
  29. ↑ "Google Scholar". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  30. ↑ Horowitz, B Zane (2010). "Type E botulism". Clinical Toxicology. 48 (9): 880–895. doi:10.3109/15563650.2010.526943. PMID 21171846. S2CID 20417910.
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