The North

The ingenuity of Northern cooks has produced a unique style of satisfying cooking that is served at so many social gatherings in the Territories.

The cooking of the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut is a special blend of ancient tradition and modern taste, a mix as varied as the people who live there. The larger communities, such as Whitehorse and Yellowknife, are much like small southern Canadian cities, with good food shops, restaurants and social amenities. In the more isolated settlements and outposts, people rely on each other for their entertainment which often focuses on the sharing of good food.

Through the years, the cooking of the North has been modified to combine the best of native traditions (such as smoked meat and dried fish) with southern commodities. Fruits and vegetables are not easy to grow north of the 60th parallel and fresh produce is expensive and scarce. Food prices are much higher than in southern Canada; therefore, the more economical "country foods" (those found in the wild such as berries and caribou) as well as dried beans, rice and pasta are important mainstays of northern cuisine.

The land generously provides a full range of wild animals: musk-ox and hare in the High Arctic islands, caribou and ptarmigan in the barrens and woodlands, moose in the lowlands. Autumn heralds the arrival of migrating wild geese, ducks and grouse. The incredible variety of birds are either dried following traditional methods or frozen for enjoyable eating during the long winter months.

With two of Canada's largest lakes and thousands of miles of coastline, it's not surprising that both freshwater and saltwater fish are plentiful. Lake trout, pickerel, pike, jackfish, whitefish and Arctic char are popular along with a wealth of seafood including clams, baby shrimp, seal and whale.

Northern cooks combine their long-standing ingenuity with whatever ingredients, home-grown or imported, fresh or preserved, are available. It's a unique and intriguing cuisine that reflects an "attitude" more than a special flavour. Throughout the Territories, food is associated with socializing, whether it's a campfire fish-fry, a summer picnic in the midnight sunshine, a warming pancake breakfast to brighten the long dark winter, or an autumn celebration dinner of wild game.