The Inuit, an indigenous population of the Arctic region, have a long history of fermenting a variety of foods. Some of these foods are made from fermenting sea mammals, especially seals, which are said to be the foundation of their diet. A wide variety of foods can be made from fermenting seal, and there are also multiple methods for accomplishing this. For example, some may ferment the entire carcass, or they may ferment different parts of the seal (flippers, blubber, etc.) in bags made from the seal’s stomach. Different species of seals are used, as well as walrus and narwhal. Birds are also fermented, and may include the intestines, the whole bird, or even their eggs. A food that is less common, but is still considered a delicacy by some, is the fermented contents of a caribou’s stomach (Hauptmann, 2021). Alaska has the highest number of cases of botulism in the United States. It is believed that this is in part due to the fermented foods that are consumed by the Inuit people. The CDC attributes fermented fish heads, fermented fish eggs, fermented beaver tail, fermented seal flipper, fermented walrus flipper, fermented whale, and seal oil to be some of the culprits for botulism cases in those that have eaten traditional Alaskan Native food. There have been researchers, such as Eric Johnson, working on ways to combat this issue. He believes Clostridium, which is the genus where the causal agent of botulism can be found, may inhabit small pockets of water found within the fat of animals used in fermentation. These pockets would be released as the fat is broken down. He hopes to find a way to neutralize or prevent this problem (Tyrrell, 2017). While he mainly works with seal oil, this could likely be extrapolated to help with other fermented products. An important note to this research is the balance of traditional practices and helping to make these practices safer.
Would you be willing to try these traditional Inuit fermented foods?
Photo by Daniel Hauptmann (©Aviaja Hauptmann)
The photo is of a seal carcass that is being used to ferment sea birds. You can see the bird placement drawn in. The carcass is then buried and covered in rocks to ferment.