muktuk

{{Short description|Traditional Inuit and Chukchi food consisting of frozen whale skin and blubber}}

Muktuk{{cite web|url=http://www.livingdictionary.com/search/viewResults.jsp?language=en&searchString=Muktuk&languageSet=all |title=muktuk|work=Asuilaak Living Dictionary}} (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 beluga and the narwhal are also used. It is usually consumed raw, but can also be eaten frozen, cooked,{{Cite book|title=The A to Z of the Inuit|last=Stern|first=Pamela|publisher=Scarecrow Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0-8108-6822-9|location=Lanham|pages=101}} or pickled.{{cite web |url=http://news.travel.aol.com/2010/09/09/10-weirdest-foods-in-the-world/ |title=10 Weirdest Foods in the World |publisher=News.travel.aol.com |date=9 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100911102208/http://news.travel.aol.com/2010/09/09/10-weirdest-foods-in-the-world/ |access-date=11 September 2013 |archive-date=11 September 2010 }}

Methods of preparation

File:Maktaaq 2 2002-08-10.jpg

File:Maktaaq Feast 1 1997-05-07.jpg, 1997]]

In Greenland, muktuk (mattak) is sold commercially to fish factories,{{Cite journal |last=Heide-Jørgensen |first=Mads Peter |date=January 1994 |title=Distribution, exploitation and population status of white whales (Delphinapterus leucas) and narwhals (Monodon monoceros) in West Greenland |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285286297 |journal=Meddelelser om Grønland, Bioscience |volume=39 |pages=135–149|doi=10.7146/mogbiosci.v39.142541 }} and in Canada (muktaaq) to other communities.{{Cite journal |vauthors=Hoover C, Bailey M, Higdon J, Ferguson SH, Sumalia R |date=March 2013 |title=Estimating the Economic Value of Narwhal and Beluga Hunts in Hudson Bay, Nunavut |url=https://arctic.journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/arctic/index.php/arctic/article/view/4261/4242 |journal=The Arctic Institute of North America |volume=66 |pages=1–16}}

When chewed raw, the blubber becomes oily, with a nutty taste; if not diced, or at least serrated, the skin is quite rubbery.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}}

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.{{Cite book |last=Zellen |first=Barry Scott |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/183162209 |title=Breaking the ice : from land claims to tribal sovereignty in the arctic |date=2008 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-0-7391-1941-9 |page=376 |location=Lanham, MD |oclc=183162209}} Raw or cooked, the blubber and skin are served with HP Sauce,{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X3UrEAAAQBAJ |title=Tusaayaksat – Spring 2015 |date=2015-04-15 |publisher=Tusaayaksat Magazine}}{{Cite web |last=Goward |first=Sydney |date=2021-08-10 |title=Exploring Tuktoyaktuk: Pingos, Muktuk, and the Arctic Ocean |url=https://www.sydneygoward.com/post/exploring-tuktoyaktuk-pingos-muktuk-and-the-arctic-ocean |access-date=2022-04-06 |website=My Site}}{{Cite book |last=Boorman · |first=Charley |title=Extreme Frontiers: Racing Across Canada from Newfoundland to the Rockies |publisher=Little, Brown Book Group |year=2012 |isbn=9780748132775}}{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1265523671 |title=Research with Arctic Inuit communities : graduate student experiences, lessons and life learnings |date=2021 |first1=Tristan |last1=Pearce |isbn=978-3-030-78483-6 |location=Cham, Switzerland |oclc=1265523671 |publisher=Springer}} a British condiment, or soy sauce.{{cite web|url=https://uwaterloo.ca/chem13-news-magazine/october-2018/feature/soy-sauce-essential-inuit-condiment |title=Soy Sauce – An essential Inuit condiment |date=8 July 2024 |publisher= University of Waterloo}}

Nutrients and health concerns

Muktuk has been found to be a good source of vitamin C, the epidermis containing up to {{cvt|38|mg}} per {{convert|100|g|oz}}.{{cite journal|last1=Geraci|first1= Joseph R. |last2=Smith|first2= Thomas G. |name-list-style=amp |year=1979|title=Vitamin C in the Diet of Inuit Hunters From Holman, Northwest Territories|journal= Arctic|volume =32|issue=2|pages=135–139|url=http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic32-2-135.pdf|jstor=40508955|doi=10.14430/arctic2611}}{{Cite journal |last1=Fediuk |first1=K. |last2=Hidiroglou |first2=N. |last3=Madère |first3=R. |last4=Kuhnlein |first4=H. V. |author-link4=Harriet V. Kuhnlein |year=2002 |title=Vitamin C in Inuit Traditional Food and Women's Diets |journal=Journal of Food Composition and Analysis |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=221 |doi=10.1006/jfca.2002.1053}} It was used as an antiscorbutic by British Arctic explorers.{{Citation|last=McClintock|first=Francis Leopold|title=CHAPTER XVI|work=A Narrative of the Discovery of the Fate of Sir John Franklin and His Companions|year=2012|pages=301–322|publisher=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.1017/cbo9781139236522.018|isbn=978-1-139-23652-2}} Blubber is also a source of vitamin D.{{Cite journal |last1=Kuhnlein |first1=H. V. |author-link=Harriet V. Kuhnlein |last2=Barthet |first2=V. |last3=Farren |first3=A. |last4=Falahi |first4=E. |last5=Leggee |first5=D. |last6=Receveur |first6=O. |last7=Berti |first7=P. |year=2006 |title=Vitamins A, D, and E in Canadian Arctic traditional food and adult diets |journal=Journal of Food Composition and Analysis |volume=19 |issue=6–7 |pages=495 |doi=10.1016/j.jfca.2005.02.007}}

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

{{blockquote|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...{{Cite journal |last=Sinclair |first=H.M. |date=1953 |title=The Diet of Canadian Indians and Eskimos |journal=Proceedings of the Nutrition Society |volume=12 |pages=69–82|doi=10.1079/PNS19530016 |s2cid=71578987 |doi-access=free }}}}

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).{{Cite web |title=Country Food (Inuit Food) in Canada {{!}} The Canadian Encyclopedia |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/country-food-inuit-food-in-canada |access-date=2022-04-06 |website=thecanadianencyclopedia.ca}} As whales grow, mercury accumulates in the liver, kidney, muscle, and blubber, and cadmium settles in the blubber,{{cite journal|last1=Wagemann|first1=R.|last2=Snow|first2=N.B.|last3=Lutz|first3=A.|last4=Scott|first4=D.P.|year=1983 |title=Heavy Metals in Tissues and Organs of the Narwhal (Monodon monoceras)|journal=Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences|volume=40|issue=S2|pages=s206–s214|doi=10.1139/f83-326|bibcode=1983CJFAS..40S.206W }} 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,{{cite web | url= https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/02/050213132247.htm | title=Chemical Compounds Found in Whale Blubber Are From Natural Sources, Not Industrial Contamination|date=18 February 2005

}}{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1132889.stm | title=Japan warned on 'contaminated' blubber | publisher=BBC News | date=24 January 2001 | access-date=31 December 2009}} and a variety of other contaminants.{{Cite web |url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=bioaccumulation+narwhal |title=Google Scholar |website=scholar.google.com |access-date=2018-11-18}}

Consumption of muktuk has also been associated with outbreaks of botulism.{{cite journal|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/15563650.2010.526943?journalCode=ictx20 |title=Type E botulism|last1=Horowitz|first1=B Zane|journal=Clinical Toxicology|date=2010 |volume=48|issue=9|pages=880–895|doi=10.3109/15563650.2010.526943|pmid=21171846 |s2cid=20417910 |url-access=subscription}}

Spellings

Transliterations 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{{cite web|url=http://www.livingdictionary.com/search/viewResults.jsp?language=en&searchString=maktaaq+&languageSet=all |title=maktaaq|work=Asuilaak Living Dictionary}}
Maktak (ᒪᒃᑕᒃ), Iñupiaq,Uqaluktuat: 1980 Elders' Conference, Women's Session {{ISBN|1-881246-01-9}} Sallirmiutun, North Baffin{{cite web|url=http://www.livingdictionary.com/search/viewResults.jsp?language=en&searchString=maktak&languageSet=all |title=maktak|work=Asuilaak Living Dictionary}}
Maktaq, Inuinnaqtun,{{cite book|last=Ohokak|first=G.|author2=M. Kadlun |author3=B. Harnum |title=Inuinnaqtun-English Dictionary|publisher=Kitikmeot Heritage Society|url=http://en.copian.ca/library/learning/nac/nac_dictionary/nac_dictionary.pdf|access-date=3 April 2016}} Natsilingmiutut (Inuvialuktun){{cite web|url=http://www.livingdictionary.com/search/viewResults.jsp?language=en&searchString=maktaq+&languageSet=all |title=maktaq|work=Asuilaak Living Dictionary}}
Mattak, Labrador, Greenland{{cite web|url=http://www.livingdictionary.com/search/viewResults.jsp?language=en&searchString=mattak&languageSet=all |title=mattak|work=Asuilaak Living Dictionary}}
Mangtak, Alaskan YupʼikJacobson, Steven A. (2012). [http://www.uaf.edu/anla/collections/search/resultDetail.xml?id=CY972J2012 Yup'ik Eskimo Dictionary, 2nd edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803101952/http://www.uaf.edu/anla/collections/search/resultDetail.xml?id=CY972J2012 |date=3 August 2017 }}. Alaska Native Language Center.
Mungtuk, Siberian Yupik
Kimaq, Alutiiq (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.{{cite web|url=http://www.livingdictionary.com/search/viewResults.jsp?language=en&searchString=edible+whale+skin&languageSet=all |title=edible whale skin|work=Asuilaak Living Dictionary}}