Muktuk and Culinary Borders in the North American Arctic Since 1867

Often accompanied by the word “delicacy”, muktuk – whale skin and its blubber – is a culinary staple in the North American Arctic, as well as a polarizing food that colonists and settlers have largely rejected. It, therefore, introduces themes pertinent to the history of dietary cultural encounters in northern colonial settings – from the politics of “delicacies” to how foods make and unmake borders. This article follows muktuk’s textual traces to analyse how they represent culinary relationships between peoples, cultures and northern lands. Focusing on the period post-1867, it asks: what is a culinary border and how does the word “delicacy” materialize, manage, and maintain cultural distance? To conclude it turns its attention to more recent examples of “muktuk politics” to consider texture, temperature and fat alongside issues of Indigenous (food) sovereignty.