First serving: uunaalik

This is what it was all about - food. Good, wholesome, local, natural, food - the same food that made the ancestors of today's modern Iñupiat; not only their bodies but their culture, gave them a unique and deep knowledge base and sense of spirituality. All this continues today. Tools and weapons change, but the fundamental need remains.Doreen prepares to boil maktak into uunaalik to feed and warm the whalers even as they cut, share and divide the whale. It was a small, round, fat, inutuk - prized for its soft, tender maktak and meat: 27 feet, four inches. Now it is packed in big boxes, ready to go home