Greenlandic cuisine facts for kids
Greenlandic food is mostly about meat from sea animals, wild land animals, birds, and fish. It's packed with protein! When the weather is nice in summer, people often eat their meals outside. Over time, food from Denmark, Britain, America, and Canada has also influenced Greenlandic cooking.
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Greenland's National Dish
The national dish of Greenland is suaasat. This is a traditional Greenlandic soup. It's often made from seal, whale, reindeer, or seabirds. The soup usually has onions and potatoes. It's simply seasoned with salt and pepper, or a bay leaf. Sometimes, rice is added to make the soup thicker. Or, barley is soaked in water overnight so its starches make the soup richer.
Seafood from Greenland's Waters
Most of Greenland is covered by ice, so the sea is a very important source of food. Seafood dishes include many kinds of fish, often smoked. People also eat mussels and shrimp.
Ammassat, or capelin, is a common fish that's easy to dry. Other fish caught on the west coast include Atlantic halibut, redfish, deepwater redfish, Greenland halibut, and lumpfish. Arctic char is fished off the east coast. The Greenland shark is usually not eaten because it's poisonous.
Because of climate change, Atlantic cod fish have moved. This means people can now fish for them on Greenland's east coast. Sometimes, floating ice can make fishing difficult. Greenland has large factories that process fish and shrimp.
Sea mammals are a very important part of Greenlandic diets. A traditional Inuit food is mattak. This is a Greenlandic word for the raw skin of a narwhal or white whale. Mattak can be eaten with blubber, and sometimes with dried reindeer meat. When eaten raw, mattak gives you a lot of vitamin C.
Hunting seals was a big event each year. It involved men, women, and children. Another popular food is arfivik, which is bowhead whale. This smoked whale meat is served with onions and potatoes. Dried cod and whale with whale blubber is a popular snack or lunch. Bearded and ringed seals are hunted all year. Narwhals and white whales are hunted in the summer. Local people in Greenland are allowed to hunt whales for their own food. This is a long-standing tradition.
Land Animals and Meat
Land-based foods include caribou, lamb, mutton, and musk-ox. These can be served like tartare. Sheep farming and cattle ranching were brought to Greenland by the Norse people a long time ago.
Caribou are hunted in the fall. Foxes and hares are hunted all year. Musk-oxen are hunted in the spring. Polar bears are hunted in the spring and fall. Meats can be boiled, dried, frozen, fermented, or sometimes eaten raw. Caribou livers are eaten raw right after the hunt.
Birds of Greenland
There are 21 types of birds that can be legally hunted in Greenland. There are rules about where, when, and how many can be hunted. Spring to fall is the main time for hunting birds. Greenlandic Inuit hunt birds like dovekie, common and king eider, ptarmigan, thick-billed murre, and different kinds of sea gulls. Also, kittiwake and ptarmigan are hunted on the east coast. Sometimes, hunters also gather wild eggs.
Plants and Berries
Blueberries and crowberries are picked in the autumn. They often decorate cakes and other desserts. Berry sauces are also served with meat dishes. Seaweed is stored to eat during winter.
In the summer, people gather plants like roseroot (Sedum rosea), fireweed leaves (Epilobium), and Greenland lousewort (Pedicularis groenlandica). Green vegetables are hard to find. However, global climate change has made the growing season a bit longer. So, Greenlandic farmers are trying to grow new crops, like broccoli. Rice and potatoes are common starchy foods in meals. Onions are also often found in dishes.
Popular Drinks
Greenlandic coffee is a popular drink after dinner. It usually has hot coffee, whiskey, Kahlúa, Grand Marnier, and whipped cream. It's served in a special glass, and the coffee is set on fire before you drink it!
Ice beer is made with 2000-year-old natural Arctic ice from glaciers. This idea started at the Greenland Brewhouse in Narsaq. Today, the Godthaab Bryghus in Nuuk and Icefiord Bryghus in Ilulissat also brew beer with glacial water. Both crowberries and angelica plants are used to make ales at the Icefiord Brewery.
For a long time, selling alcohol was very limited in Greenland. Because of this, making your own drinks at home became very popular.
Food Markets
Until about 1980, most of the food for Greenlandic Inuit people came from animals. Today, grocery stores offer things like coffee, tea, biscuits, and potato chips. The amount of fresh fruits and vegetables available changes a lot during the year, depending on where you are.
In Nuuk, the capital city, there's a much wider and more steady supply of fresh food all year. In smaller, more isolated places further north, supplies depend on ice conditions. During summer (roughly May to November), food can be delivered by ship, so there's more variety. In winter, vegetables and fruits can only arrive by plane.
See also
In Spanish: Gastronomía de Groenlandia para niños
