Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 08/23/2012 - 17:01

Dear Ms.Seff,

My name is JD Johnstone and I go to St. Mark Catholic School. I read about your project and I was wondering what do you eat up there in Alaska? Did you eat the pieces of whale I saw a picture of?

Thank you, JD Johnstone

Lisa Seff

Hi JD Johnstone! Great question and one that I was wondering about before I came to Barrow the first time. The Inupiat population in Barrow relies on whale, caribou, birds and other Arctic mammals as a substantial part of their diet, however they also eat the same foods you probably enjoy. On this trip for my first dinner out at a restaurant in Anchorage I enjoyed Reindeer Sliders! The next night it was local pink salmon which tasted a lot different than the salmon I've had back on the East coast. We boarded our research vessel the Ukpik yesterday and for the first night the mate made us steak, potatoes and broccoli! We were starving after a long day and it was delicious. Today for lunch.........we had peanut butter and jelly and we just got back from a Chinese restaurant.So you can see-it's quite a mix.
As for the whale, yes I did eat some of it. I had several bites of the larger piece which was cooked whale meat, and then nibbled on the muktuk (whale skin and blubber-that's the white/black part you see in the photo). The meat tasted like beef-with a strong fish flavor that kicked in at the end. The muktuk was mild tasting....almost sweet.
Thanks so much for your question JD and I'm glad your following my journals!
Lisa