Caribou Stew & Culture: A Taste of Nunavut
- Ginger North
- Apr 16
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 1
#30CanadianFoods: celebrates Inuit food traditions, cultural resilience, and how heritage lives in community, not just in buildings.
The North That Knows Its Roots
In Nunavut, there’s no big “heritage village” with a gift shop and jam samples. But don’t let that fool you.
Heritage is everywhere. It’s in the way seal is shared at a feast. It’s in the patience of waiting for sea ice to break. It’s in the quiet joy of a child learning how to butcher their first fish.
Nunavut’s food culture isn’t a frozen snapshot—it’s a living tradition. It’s community-driven, elder-taught, deeply local, and fiercely resilient.
So instead of peering into a replica house with a velvet rope, today we’re stepping into kitchens, fishing camps, and family stories that never stopped being relevant.
A Land of Living Memory
Nunavut is the newest territory in Canada (established in 1999), but its food culture is one of the oldest. Inuit foodways—known collectively as "country food"—have sustained people through centuries of Arctic extremes.
These traditional foods include:
Seal
Caribou
Muskox
Arctic Char
Whale (Muktuk)
Ptarmigan
Berries, roots, and tea herbs
And here’s the thing: these aren’t just food items. They’re part of survival, celebration, ceremony, and kinship.
Food here isn’t just about calories. It’s about dignity. Knowing how to harvest, store, and share traditional food is a form of wealth, identity, and power.
If You Visit: What to See & Support
You may not find interpretive plaques next to tea kettles here—but there are places working to preserve and share culture through food:
Nunavut Heritage Centre (in development) This future cultural centre is a powerful reminder that heritage here isn’t forgotten—it’s actively being shaped.
Uqqurmiut Centre for Arts & Crafts (Pangnirtung) While known for visual art, it’s also a hub for cultural storytelling and community gathering. Ask locals about seasonal food and traditions.
Iqaluit’s Hunters and Trappers Association Supports sustainable hunting and food security. Watch for community feasts and public events, where country food is shared and celebrated.
Community Events & Schools Many Nunavut schools have land-based learning programs, teaching youth to fish, hunt, and prepare traditional food alongside elders.
Recipe: Traditional Caribou Stew
In many Northern communities, Caribou is life. It’s hunted with care, honoured in ceremony, and used nose-to-tail. Caribou stew is one of the most beloved ways to warm up and feed a crowd.
This version is simple, flexible, and meant to be adapted with what you have on hand:
Ingredients
1–2 lbs caribou meat (cubed)
2 tbsp fat or oil (traditionally seal or caribou fat)
1 onion, chopped
2–3 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups water or broth2 potatoes, diced
2 carrots, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional: wild herbs, turnip, or dried mushrooms
Directions
Heat fat in a large pot over medium-high heat.
Brown the caribou meat.
Add onion and garlic; cook until softened.
Add water or broth, bring to a boil.
Reduce heat, add veggies, and simmer for 1.5–2 hours, until meat is tender.
Season to taste. Serve hot—with bannock on the side if you like.
Caribou is lean and flavourful, and this stew is perfect for feeding families, feasts, and curious newcomers alike.
Did You Know?
The Inuktitut word "niriqatigiiniq" means “eating together”—a central part of Inuit culture and food sharing.
Many Nunavummiut still hunt and fish year-round, balancing traditional and modern tools.
Seal is often eaten raw, frozen, or dried. Nothing is wasted.
In Iqaluit, the grocery store sells a jug of milk for $12, but if you know how to fish, you’re rich in other ways.
Final Sip
In Nunavut, heritage isn’t a thing you walk through—it’s something you live. It’s passed down in seal skins and stories, in hunting trips and shared tea.
And while some may say there’s “nothing there” without museums or restaurants, we know better. There’s everything here. It’s just not behind glass.
So raise a warm mug of Labrador Tea to the people keeping these traditions strong. May we all be as grounded, generous, and stubbornly alive as bannock on a cold morning.
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