COUNTRY FOOD

        I began this series thinking about having nothing between me and the north pole. I then got looking at some photos and was reminded of things that I had forgotten. So the whale hunting popped up on some old photos.

       Then I saw the food processing and that's another whole post about gathering food.

      The men we went out with, were caretakers at the school. They received a decent wage for their work. However, if they bought their food from the Hudson Bay Store they wouldn't have enough money. Food in the store was very expensive. So they  processed country food to augment their food supply from their wages. There were many other people at this location. It had been a traditional hunting area and they still used it. 

     The butchering of a whale was a large process. These animals were about 12 ft long. The belugas are white. The skin is thick and tough. The outer layer of fat and skin are peeled off. Some of it is hung on poles and dried. Some of it is boiled in a large barrel and rendered down. The red meat is cut into strings of squares and hung up to dry. Some of this was made into muk tuk which they considered to be a delicacy. I didn't think it was a delicacy and I didn't try it. 

     So much of the summer was spent catching belugas and preparing the meat. This meat would last for a long time. For our guys (caretakers) they would eat this throughout the year with store bought food. They also shared some of this food with family and friends. 

     Traditionally this food was stored in the area and other hunting areas and consumed throughout the year, They were constantly hunting for fresh food. They could catch many seals and some of the seals were large. The skins were traded at the trading post. 

                                                 Boiling the fat

Whale skin and blubber hung up to  dry

White fish netted nearby

Parts of the beluga

Whale meat hung up for drying

Fat being cut for rendering. 

Fat being cooked in a barrel

Wood supply for cooking.