Chukchi cuisine refers to subsistence foods and their methods of preparation used by the

Chukchi people The Chukchi, or Chukchee (, ''ḷygʺoravètḷʹèt, o'ravètḷʹèt''), are a Siberian ethnic group native to the Chukchi Peninsula, the shores of the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Sea region of the Arctic Ocean all within modern Russia. They s ...

, one of the

indigenous peoples of Siberia Siberia is a vast region spanning the North Asia, northern part of the Asian continent and forming the Asiatic portion of Russia. As a result of the Russian conquest of Siberia (16th to 19th centuries) and of the subsequent Special settlements in ...

Overview

The conquest of Siberia by the Russian Empire in the 16th and 17th centuries, followed by smallpox and other epidemics, and then eventually the

Soviet collectivization The Soviet Union introduced collective farming, collectivization () of its agricultural sector between 1928 and 1940. It began during and was part of the First five-year plan (Soviet Union), first five-year plan. The policy aimed to integra ...

of the 20th century, led to great changes in the lives and diets of the Chukchi people. They are now mostly settled in towns in the

Chukotka Autonomous Okrug Chukotka ( ; ), officially the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, is the easternmost federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia. It is an Autonomous okrugs of Russia, autonomous okrug situated in the Russian Far East, and shares a border wi ...

and surrounding areas, and regularly consume

bread Bread is a baked food product made from water, flour, and often yeast. It is a staple food across the world, particularly in Europe and the Middle East. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cu ...

vodka Vodka ( ; is a clear distilled beverage, distilled alcoholic beverage. Its varieties originated in Poland and Russia. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impurities and flavourings. Traditionally, it is ...

, and other food derived from agriculture and industrial production. Chukchi cuisine has over the centuries been heavily influenced by

Russian cuisine Russian cuisine is a collection of the different dishes and cooking traditions of the Russians, Russian people as well as a list of culinary products popular in Russia, with most names being known since pre-Soviet times, coming from all kinds ...

. Preparation techniques include cooking on a hot stone, boiling, fermentation, and raw consumption. The traditional cuisine is heavily dependent on meat, particularly

reindeer The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, taiga, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only re ...

meat and

whale meat Whale meat, broadly speaking, may include all cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises) and all parts of the animal: muscle (meat), organs (offal), skin (muktuk), and fat (blubber). There is relatively little demand for whale meat, compared to far ...

. The Chukchi were split into two groups, each with a different lifestyle. The ''Reindeer Chukchi'', who called themselves the ''Chauchu'' ("rich in reindeer"), were

semi-nomadic Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the population of nomadic pas ...

reindeer herders Reindeer herding is when reindeer are herded by people in a limited area. Currently, reindeer are the only semi-domesticated animal which naturally belong to the North. Reindeer herding is conducted in nine countries: Norway, Finland, Sweden, Russ ...

that inhabited the inland tundra. The ''Maritime Chukchi'', on the other hand, who were called ''Anqallyt'' ("sea (people)"), were settled whale hunters who inhabited the coastal areas.

Dishes

Some dishes prepared by the Chukchi include: * ''Prerem''-thinly sliced chunks of boiled reindeer meat mixed with reindeer lard, topped with bone marrow, and frozen. * ''Ikiilgyn''-frozen, sliced pieces of

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully Aquatic animal, aquatic placental mammal, placental marine mammals. As an informal and Colloquialism, colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea ...

skin and blubber, eaten raw most of the time. (a dish known as

muktuk Muktuk (transliterated in various ways, see 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 belu ...

Inuit cuisine Historically, Inuit cuisine, which is taken here to include Greenlandic, Yupʼik and Aleut cuisine, consisted of a diet of animal source foods that were fished, hunted, and gathered locally. In the 20th century the Inuit diet began to change a ...

) * ''Kopalgyn''-chunks of walrus or seal meat, including the skin, placed into a pit and consumed after 6 months. (Also known as Igunaq in

) * ''Monjalo''-half-digested moss extracted from a large deer's stomach, often eaten in a stew with blood, fat, and finely cut meat. * ''Vilmulimul''-reindeer stomach, filled with reindeer blood, boiled kidneys, liver, ears, fried hoofs, and lips with berries and

sorrel Sorrel (''Rumex acetosa''), also called common sorrel or garden sorrel, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Polygonaceae. Other names for sorrel include spinach dock and narrow-leaved dock ("dock" being a common name for the genus ''Ru ...

, and stored for the winter for consumption. * ''Opane''-boiled pieces of fatty reindeer meat, with reindeer blood added during boiling.

References

{{reflist Chukchi people Siberian cuisine

Overview

Dishes

See also

References