Breaking Trail in Barrow for Whaling !! (Point Hope, Hope: distance, phone number, photos)

[JessE86]

When a whale is harvested, the very first thing that happens is they cut a huge chunk out of the back, something like a 4 foot square, about a foot or so thick. That is the tradition in Point Hope. Everyone wants to eat, but this whale is too fresh, so that chunk is cut up and boiled until the maktak turns 'grey' in appearance. I have never seen how barrow does this yet. But whether they cut the big chunk out or not, the whale maktak has to be boiled first, it is too fresh to eat in the traditional manner which is raw and frozen !!

There is very little meat on a bowhead whale. It is mainly blubber - fat - flammable fat !! A few tons of bones (skull and jawbone, vertebrae's etc) about 300 slats of baleen on each side of the lip.



Mikiaq is fermented whale meat, each family has their own unique recipie. I have in the past stated with error that mikiaq is dangerous to eat - this is not so.. it is the fermented tail that is dangerous. Certain foods (fermented) can be very dangerous if you have had any sugar that day, or pop, or candy or fruit. Henry Attanguanna in Pt. Hope, (1989) died from Botulisim from eating some fermented portion of the whale. He forgot he had sugar earlier in the day, Reggie Oviok got very sick one day for the same reason a few years ago. He was put on a medivac to Kotzebue, but he survived, Many days in severe pain. What happens is the 'gas' from the fermenting process cannot be released from your stomach if you have had any sugar, this 'boiling (fermenting) mixture' will harden over thus preventing the gas from escaping and people do die from Botulisim.

It is rare, but it can happen, if proper precautions are not followed.

As this sacred hunt progresses this year ( here in Barrow) I will point out the differences between The Oldest village (PHO) and Barrow.



In Point Hope when it is time for whaling - virtually the entire village moves out to the ice pack, the village seems like is abandoned, only the sick and elderly are remaining in town. In a village of 750 people, 700 of them are out on the ice pack.

This is not the way it is done in Barrow, the village is still alive and bustling with activity, PT. Hope has 20 whaling captains, they are allowed 7 strikes - they caught 3 whales last year. Barrow has a much higher population so they are allowed many more strikes. I will have exact figures soon.


I am not sure about how long this whale has to age (frozen) before it is good to eat in the traditional manner (raw & frozen) !

The size of the pieces that are cut up ??? well let me provide images - they always help to illustrate what I type.

Cardboard is the preferred method to use when cutting up this flammable fat ! As you can see, the oil is all over her hands, Maktak melts at room temp.





Next you need a huge pot to boil all of this, maktak. We sent this down to Point Hope last fall, from the shares we received during the fall whaling hunt which we participated on in Frederick Browers crew.

I believe they had 7 strikes and they landed 3 whales !




Dinner is about to be served - !!

NO thanks, I will just call Arctic Pizza !! I am 1/2 Italian 1/2 German Pennsylvania Dutch

Moving onward - out to the ocean ice pack !!

[Barkingowl]

I've heard that the whale has a nutty taste, would you say that's true?

[JohnPF]

One thing I noticed, people all over like to use the convinient large black plastic bags for "fish". My friends marinate fish using those. Trouble is, these plastics are not food grade material and especially fat and oily meats readily dissolve some chemicals from it.
Nasty stuff like dioxins and pcvs. Cancer causing...

No. Grocery bags are not intended or formulated for cooking foods. Levels of components such as metal fragments, glue and chemicals may be present at higher-than-acceptable limits and can migrate into the food. These bags may not necessarily be sanitary, particularly since they may be stored under a variety of conditions.

The use of plastic trash bags for food storage or cooking is also not recommended because they are not food grade plastic and chemicals from them may leach into the food.

Meat Packaging Materials

[JessE86]

Nutty taste ? nah.. maypo and clams !!

[Floyd_Davidson]

Originally Posted by Barkingowl

I've heard that the whale has a nutty taste, would you say that's true?

Raw blubber is crunchy. A lot of people who do not usually eat blubber describe is as a "nutty" taste, but I don't hear people who eat it regularly saying that, and it certainly does not taste "nutty" to me.

A couple of points need clarification. One is that a bowhead whale has about a 1 foot thick layer of blubber, and the rest of it is meat. That's a lot of blubber, but there's more meat than blubber.

Botulism is a potentially fatal illness caused by the toxins from a bacteria. It has nothing to do with sugar. The toxin can be found in low acid food if there is no oxygen. Botulism is a high risk for home canning of vegetables and is also a serious risk when fermenting meat, particularly large pieces of meat, where parts of it may not be exposed to air. Air tight plastic containers, for example, should be avoided for processing meats.

[JessE86]

The crew - and what they are about to do !! (EUGENE BROWERS CREW)

Transport all of this stuff, out through the trail down to the camp site !!



The load to be transported:




Lets set up the tent !!
















and of course 'test it' !!

[JessE86]

Finshed setting up camp !!




We are gaining 12 minutes more of light each day, the midnight sun should arrive next week !!



Our first night out here, we had fresh delicious duck soup !! The hunters are the cooks !!



A young boyer is searching for something to do !!



Training starts very young out here on the ice, I guess you could say.. .. this is the lowest level !! (chuckle) !!

[JessE86]

Dem R duX !!





hundreds of ducks pass by, all day long, plenty of food to be harvested !!




Ducks, ducks, ducks all day long, plenty of ducks !!



As you can easily see, we are far from the lead, (which is closed).

Much more work to be done, clearing a trail out to the lead !! More work, lots of work to be done every day - by everyone - no one is excluded from this work !!

Cleaning and loading the shoulder gun !!

[JessE86]

When there is no room in the tent (full) then it is time to sleep outside !!

It is almost 5:00 a.m. !!



I was surprised to see, that they do not use home made wood stoves out here, when I asked why ? They laughed and said.. it takes too long to break down, when we have to evacuate because of advancing ice. NO fire to put out, no stove pipes to clean, no wood to gather and chop !!

[JessE86]

3 different crews, in our area, they asked permission to use the trail we made - Eugene said Yes ! but when people (5 crews) try to take it over, some people got very upset !!