Muktuk (transliterated in various ways, see below) is a

traditional food Traditional foods are foods and Dish (food), dishes that are passed on through generations or which have been consumed for many generations. Traditional foods and dishes are traditional in nature, and may have a historic precedent in a national ...

Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...

and other

circumpolar peoples Circumpolar peoples and Arctic peoples are umbrella terms for the various indigenous peoples of the Arctic region. Approximately four million people are resident in the Arctic, among which 10 percent are indigenous peoples belonging to a vast nu ...

, consisting 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 Blubber is a thick layer of Blood vessel, vascularized adipose tissue under the skin of all cetaceans, pinnipeds, penguins, and sirenians. It was present in many marine reptiles, such as Ichthyosauria, ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs. Description ...

. A part of

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 ...

, it is most often made from the

bowhead whale The bowhead whale (''Balaena mysticetus''), sometimes called the Greenland right whale, Arctic whale, and polar whale, is a species of baleen whale belonging to the family Balaenidae and is the only living representative of the genus '' Balaena' ...

, although the

beluga Beluga may refer to: Animals *Beluga (sturgeon) * Beluga whale Vehicles * Airbus Beluga, a large transport airplane * Airbus BelugaXL, a larger transport airplane * Beluga-class submarine, a class of Russian SSA diesel-electric submarine * U ...

and the

narwhal The narwhal (''Monodon monoceros'') is a species of toothed whale native to the Arctic. It is the only member of the genus ''Monodon'' and one of two living representatives of the family Monodontidae. The narwhal is a stocky cetacean with a ...

are also used. It is usually consumed raw, but can also be eaten frozen, cooked, or

pickled Pickling is the process of preserving or extending the shelf life of food by either anaerobic fermentation in brine or immersion in vinegar. The pickling procedure typically affects the food's texture and flavor. The resulting food is called ...

Methods of preparation

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

is butchered ( flensed) for later consumption. When boiled, this snack is known as ''unaaliq''. Raw or cooked, the blubber and skin are served with

HP Sauce HP Sauce is a British brown sauce, the main ingredients of which are tomatoes, malt vinegar and molasses. It was named after London's Houses of Parliament. After making its first appearance on British dinner tables in the late 19th century, HP S ...

, a British condiment, or

soy sauce Soy sauce (sometimes called soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of China, Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermentation (food), fermented paste of soybeans, roasted cereal, grain, brine, and ''Aspergillus oryzae'' or ''A ...

Nutrients and health concerns

Muktuk has been found to be a good source of

vitamin C Vitamin C (also known as ascorbic acid and ascorbate) is a water-soluble vitamin found in citrus and other fruits, berries and vegetables. It is also a generic prescription medication and in some countries is sold as a non-prescription di ...

, the

epidermis The epidermis is the outermost of the three layers that comprise the skin, the inner layers being the dermis and Subcutaneous tissue, hypodermis. The epidermal layer provides a barrier to infection from environmental pathogens and regulates the ...

containing up to per . It was used as an

antiscorbutic Scurvy is a deficiency disease (state of malnutrition) resulting from a lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Early symptoms of deficiency include weakness, fatigue, and sore arms and legs. Without treatment, decreased red blood cells, gum disease, ...

by British Arctic explorers. Blubber is also a source of

vitamin D Vitamin D is a group of structurally related, fat-soluble compounds responsible for increasing intestinal absorption of calcium, magnesium, and phosphate, along with numerous other biological functions. In humans, the most important compo ...

. ''

Proceedings of the Nutrition Society ''Proceedings of the Nutrition Society'' is one of the publications by The Nutrition Society and is a scientific research journal which focuses on "the scientific study of nutrition and its application to the maintenance of human and animal healt ...

'' stated in the 1950s that: Contaminants from the industrialised world have made their way to the Arctic marine

food web A food web is the natural interconnection of food chains and a graphical representation of what-eats-what in an ecological community. Position in the food web, or trophic level, is used in ecology to broadly classify organisms as autotrophs or he ...

. This poses a health risk to people who eat "country food" ( traditional Inuit foodstuffs). As whales grow, mercury accumulates in the liver, kidney, muscle, and blubber, and

cadmium Cadmium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, silvery-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12 element, group 12, zinc and mercury (element), mercury. Like z ...

settles in the blubber, the same process that makes

mercury in fish The presence of mercury in fish is a health concern for people who eat them, especially for women who are or may become pregnant, nursing mothers, and young children. Fish and shellfish concentrate mercury in their bodies, often in the form of m ...

a health issue for humans. Whale meat also bioaccumulates carcinogens such as

PCB PCB may refer to: Science and technology * Polychlorinated biphenyl, an organic chlorine compound, now recognized as an environmental toxin and classified as a persistent organic pollutant * Printed circuit board, a board used in electronics * P ...

s, chemical compounds that damage human nervous,

immune In biology, immunity is the state of being insusceptible or resistant to a noxious agent or process, especially a pathogen or infectious disease. Immunity may occur naturally or be produced by prior exposure or immunization. Innate and adaptive ...

and

reproductive system The reproductive system of an organism, also known as the genital system, is the biological system made up of all the anatomical organs involved in sexual reproduction. Many non-living substances such as fluids, hormones, and pheromones are al ...

s, and a variety of other contaminants. Consumption of muktuk has also been associated with outbreaks of

botulism Botulism is a rare and potentially fatal illness caused by botulinum toxin, which is produced by the bacterium ''Clostridium botulinum''. The disease begins with weakness, blurred vision, Fatigue (medical), feeling tired, and trouble speaking. ...

Spellings

Transliteration Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus '' trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → and → the digraph , Cyrillic → , Armenian → or L ...

s of "muktuk", and other terms for the skin and blubber, include: * Ikiilgin, Chukchi * Maktaaq (ᒪᒃᑖᖅ), Sallirmiutun (Siglitun), Kivalliq, Aivilingmiutut (Aivilik), North Baffin, East Baffin, South Baffin * Maktak (ᒪᒃᑕᒃ), Iñupiaq, Sallirmiutun, North Baffin * Maktaq,

Inuinnaqtun Inuinnaqtun (, ; natively meaning 'like the real human beings/peoples') is an Inuit language. It is spoken in the central Canadian Arctic. It is related very closely to Inuktitut, and some scholars, such as Richard Condon, believe that Inuinna ...

Natsilingmiutut Natchilingmiutut (ᓇᑦᕠᓕᖕᒥᐅᑐᑦ), Netsilik , Natsilik, Nattilik, Netsilingmiut, Natsilingmiutut, Nattilingmiutut, or Nattiliŋmiutut is an Inuit language variety spoken in western Nunavut, Canada, by Netsilik Inuit. ( 'people fr ...

(

Inuvialuktun Inuvialuktun (part of ''Western Canadian Inuit'' / ''Inuktitut'' / '' Inuktut'' / '' Inuktun'') comprises several Inuit language varieties spoken in the northern Northwest Territories by Canadian Inuit who call themselves ''Inuvialuit''. Some d ...

) * Mattak,

Labrador Labrador () is a geographic and cultural region within the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is the primarily continental portion of the province and constitutes 71% of the province's area but is home to only 6% of its populatio ...

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

* Mangtak, Alaskan YupʼikJacobson, Steven A. (2012)
Yup'ik Eskimo Dictionary, 2nd edition
. Alaska Native Language Center. * Mungtuk,

Siberian Yupik Siberian Yupiks, or Yuits (), are a Yupik peoples, Yupik people who reside along the coast of the Chukchi Peninsula in the far Russian Far East, northeast of the Russia, Russian Federation and on St. Lawrence Island in Alaska. They speak Si ...

* Kimaq,

Alutiiq The Alutiiq (pronounced in English; from Promyshlenniki Russian Алеутъ, "Aleut"; plural often "Alutiit"), also called by their ancestral name ( or ; plural often "Sugpiat"), as well as Pacific Eskimo or Pacific Yupik, are a Yupik ...

(Sugpiaq) 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.

References

External links

* {{World Eskimo Indian Olympics Inuit cuisine Chukchi cuisine Yakut cuisine Whale dishes Animal fat products Canadian cuisine Canadian seafood dishes Alaskan cuisine Greenlandic cuisine Traditional meat processing

Methods of preparation

Nutrients and health concerns

Spellings

See also

References

External links