Delicacy · Raw Whale Skin & Blubber
Mattak
Photo: Lisa Risager / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Raw mattak contains a meaningful amount of vitamin C, which helped Inuit avoid scurvy on a diet with almost no fresh plant food.
Mattak is the skin and a thin layer of blubber from narwhal, beluga or other whales, sliced into small chewy cubes and eaten raw, often at celebrations after a successful hunt. The texture lands somewhere between rubbery and crunchy, with a mild, faintly nutty flavor.
Why it's made this way: Without produce to rely on for most of the year, Inuit and Kalaallit diets historically drew essential nutrients straight from marine mammals — mattak in particular turned out to be unusually rich in vitamin C, filling a gap fresh fruit would have covered anywhere else.
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