Greenlandic Food

By Laali Berthelsen Verified Expert

In Greenland, we normally catch out own food. From the ocean, we catch everything from fish, seals, and whales to land, where we hunt reindeer, musk ox, and birds. We get provided with fresh animals to catch all year round, depending on the weather conditions. You can catch food all year round, depending on the weather conditions, which is the dominating factor in Greenland. Due to unpredictable weather conditions, the Greenlandic people are very spontaneous and don’t make plans to fare out in the future. Some days you might be out all day, other days you can be trapped inside due to a snowstorm.

Ammasette (Greenlandic name for the small fish).

The picture above is taken one summer when we went fishing for Ammasette. In Danish, it’s called Lodder, and can be used for bait, when fishing for larger fish, or food for our dogs. We do keep a lot of them for ourselves as well since they taste delicious on the pan or in the oven. It’s also possible to dry them and put them in the freezer, so you can eat them as a snack all year around. We normally eat them dried with appel and mattak (whale fat) and aromat spice. Ammasette is filled with nutrients and vitamins.

Drying fish outside up high, so dogs and foxes don’t eat it.

It’s very normal to see fish and meat hanging outside of houses in Greenland. This is the drying process. We eat them all year around, as well does the dogsled dogs.

We have a very rich ocean life in Greenland. Crabs, shrimps, and oysters are very normal in Greenland and are a big part of the Greenlandic kitchen.

Not everyone catches their own food, and we don’t always serve Greenlandic food. A lot of our vegetables and other food sources are sent from Denmark in containerships. We often eat traditional danish dishes as well. The man in the image above is my colleague Frederik, who went to Brættet to buy his lunch. Brættet is a place where you can buy fresh caught fish, seals, shrimps, and other Greenlandic food, from local fishermen.

Mamaq (Greenlandic and means it tastes good).

Above you see dried fish, dried Ammasetter, dried whale meat, seal fat, blackberries and Mattak, which is whale skin. This food is often served at Kaffemik, alongside a lot of other dishes, with coffee and cake.

We don’t only eat food that originated from Greenland. As mentioned before, we do get a lot of food shipped in from Denmark, and we also go to restaurants once in a while, just like other places in the world.