Muktuk



Muktuk is the Inupiaq Eskimo word for the traditional meal of whale skin and blubber. In the Siberian Yupik language of St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, this same food is called Mungtuk. It is most often made from the skin and blubber of the bowhead whale, although beluga whale is seasonally hunted around the Yukon River mouth. Both have been hunted for subsistence throughout the northern Bering Sea for centuries. Amongst the Inuit of Nunavut, Canada this same food is called Muktaaq and may originate from narwhal, beluga or bowhead whale. Usually eaten raw, it is occasionally finely diced, breaded, deep fried and served with soy sauce. It is also sometimes pickled.

It has been found to be a good source of vitamin C.