Catch your own food – Greenland

The biggest industry in Greenland is hunting and fisheries. So many families prioritize a boat before getting a car, especially the smaller towns and settlements. 

In some places in Greenland, we don´t use the supermarket as much as the rest of the world. In the settlements especially the inhabitants catch pretty much everything they need for dinner and only use the supermarket to buy soap, coffee, cereal, sugar, etc.

This is the harbor in Aasiaat, most of the open boats are used for fishing while the ones with hoods are used for weekend tours and transportation from town to another to visit friends and families. 

In the picture, there aren´t that many fisher boats, probably because they are out fishing 🙂 

The red building is the seaman’s home, which originally was mostly used by fishermen and sailors. They came and read the newspaper, called home to their family, and got themselves a cup of coffee. They are located close to the harbor and are today used as accommodation for anyone.

This is a normal sight in Greenland. In this country, we fish all year round. Our biggest income is from exporting fish.  But some are not for sale but for private use. Many private homes hang their catch outside their home. That can be fish, whale, seal, reindeer, musk ox, you name it. 

My favorite Greenlandic food is what you see in the picture above. It is dried reindeer meat, and I love to eat it with whale skin “Mattak” with an apple, and Aromat, which is a salted spicy. In Greenland, we have quotas for the catch of many animals and mammals, but with reminder hunting, it is a bit different.

A hunter has to apply for his catch and he/she will get a pass for 5 deers when this is done you just apply for a new pass. It´s just to have the number for how many reindeer caught for the season. The hunting season is from the 1st of August to 1stof October. Many are going out by boat camping on the 31st of July, ready to shoot at midnight. 

For booking your own fishing experience, check out our tour here.

Try some of our tours offering Greenlandic food.

If you are interested in camping in Greenland, check out our tours here.

Read more travel blogs from Laali Berthelsen

Laali Berthelsen

Laali Berthelsen, 38 years Born and raised in Nuuk, Greenland Self-employed Working in the health and tourism industry. I´ve been working with tourism since 2008 in Greenland and abroad, as a tour leader, expedition guide, destination guide, VIP guide, etc. and have travelled for many years both for work and pleasure. I have also had many different projects, like: - Personal development courses for the youth and adults in Greenland (mostly for social damaged groups) - Health courses for companies and schools - Working as an consultant at The Sports Confederation of Greenland Following are my degrees: - 2009 Service economist, tourism as specialty - 2012 Fitness instructor - 2015 Personal trainer - 2016 Nutritionist - 2019 Positive psychology supervisor

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