Muktuk Explained

Muktuk[1] (transliterated in various ways, see below), 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]

Methods of preparation

In Greenland, muktuk (mattak) is sold commercially to fish factories,[4] and in Canada (muktaaq) to other communities.[5]

When chewed raw, the blubber becomes oily, with a nutty taste; if not diced, or at least serrated, the skin is quite rubbery.

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. When boiled, this snack is known as unaaliq.[6] Raw or cooked, the blubber and skin are served with HP Sauce,[7] [8] [9] [10] [11] a British condiment, or soy sauce.[12]

Nutrients and health concerns

Muktuk has been found to be a good source of vitamin C, the epidermis containing up to per 100g.[13] [14] It was used as an antiscorbutic by British Arctic explorers. Blubber is also a source of vitamin D.[15]

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

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).[16] As whales grow, mercury accumulates in the liver, kidney, muscle, and blubber, and cadmium settles in the blubber,[17] 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,[18] [19] and a variety of other contaminants.[20]

Consumption of muktuk has also been associated with outbreaks of botulism.[21]

Spellings

Transliterations of "muktuk", and other terms for the skin and blubber, include:

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.[25] [29]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: muktuk. Asuilaak Living Dictionary.
  2. Book: Stern, Pamela. The A to Z of the Inuit. Scarecrow Press. 2009. 978-0-8108-6822-9. Lanham. 101.
  3. Web site: 10 Weirdest Foods in the World . News.travel.aol.com . 9 September 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100911102208/http://news.travel.aol.com/2010/09/09/10-weirdest-foods-in-the-world/ . 11 September 2013 . 11 September 2010 .
  4. 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. 10.7146/mogbiosci.v39.142541 .
  5. 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.
  6. Book: Zellen, Barry Scott . Breaking the ice : from land claims to tribal sovereignty in the arctic . 2008 . Lexington Books . 978-0-7391-1941-9 . 376 . Lanham, MD . 183162209.
  7. Book: Zellen, Barry Scott . Breaking the ice : from land claims to tribal sovereignty in the arctic . 2008 . Lexington Books . 978-0-7391-1941-9 . 376 . Lanham, MD . 183162209.
  8. Book: Magazine, Tusaayaksat . Tusaayaksat – Spring 2015 . 2015-04-15 . Tusaayaksat Magazine . en.
  9. Web site: Goward . Sydney . 2021-08-10 . Exploring Tuktoyaktuk: Pingos, Muktuk, and the Arctic Ocean . 2022-04-06 . My Site . en.
  10. Book: Boorman ·, Charley . Extreme Frontiers: Racing Across Canada from Newfoundland to the Rockies . Little, Brown Book Group . 2012 . 9780748132775.
  11. Book: Research with Arctic Inuit communities : graduate student experiences, lessons and life learnings . 2021 . Tristan . Pearce . 978-3-030-78483-6 . . 1265523671 . Springer.
  12. Web site: Soy Sauce — An essential Inuit condiment . 8 July 2024 . University of Waterloo.
  13. Geraci. Joseph R. . Smith. Thomas G. . amp . 1979. Vitamin C in the Diet of Inuit Hunters From Holman, Northwest Territories. Arctic. 32. 2. 135–139. 40508955. 10.14430/arctic2611.
  14. Fediuk . K. . Hidiroglou . N. . Madère . R. . Kuhnlein . H. V. . Harriet V. Kuhnlein . 2002 . Vitamin C in Inuit Traditional Food and Women's Diets . Journal of Food Composition and Analysis . 15 . 3 . 221 . 10.1006/jfca.2002.1053.
  15. Kuhnlein . H. V. . Harriet V. Kuhnlein . 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 . 10.1016/j.jfca.2005.02.007.
  16. Web site: Country Food (Inuit Food) in Canada The Canadian Encyclopedia . 2022-04-06 . www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca.
  17. 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. 10.1139/f83-326.
  18. Web site: Chemical Compounds Found In Whale Blubber Are From Natural Sources, Not Industrial Contamination. 18 February 2005.
  19. News: Japan warned on 'contaminated' blubber . BBC News . 24 January 2001 . 31 December 2009.
  20. Web site: Google Scholar . scholar.google.com . 2018-11-18.
  21. Type E botulism. Horowitz. B Zane. Clinical Toxicology. 2010 . 48. 9. 880–895. 10.3109/15563650.2010.526943. 21171846 . 20417910 .
  22. Web site: maktaaq. Asuilaak Living Dictionary.
  23. Uqaluktuat: 1980 Elders' Conference, Women's Session
  24. Web site: maktak. Asuilaak Living Dictionary.
  25. Book: Ohokak, G.. M. Kadlun . B. Harnum . Inuinnaqtun-English Dictionary. Kitikmeot Heritage Society. 3 April 2016.
  26. Web site: maktaq. Asuilaak Living Dictionary.
  27. Web site: mattak. Asuilaak Living Dictionary.
  28. Jacobson, Steven A. (2012). Yup'ik Eskimo Dictionary, 2nd edition . Alaska Native Language Center.
  29. Web site: edible whale skin. Asuilaak Living Dictionary.