Saturday, February 19, 2011

Pass the whale blubber...

My dear friend Sherry shared with me some of her native foods.  She is Siberian Yupik originally from Gambell.  From top to bottom here are the following mangtak (raw whale blubber), cooked walrus meat, qesni (cooked walrus boob) on the right, and manguna (cooked walrus skin).  Growing up in rural Alaska this is common food.  I've never been fond of mangtak also known as muktuk the white is the fat part and the black is the humpback whale skin which is like chewing through leather.  Walrus meat isn't so bad, it's kinda like a fishy tasting beef.  Qesni is more fatty, and manguna is kinda like cartiliage.
http://nomemade-nomealaska.blogspot.com/2011/02/pass-whale-blubber.html