Chukchi traditional food
Victoria Viktorovna Kavry, scientific director of the department for the study and development of Chukotka languages of the autonomous non-commercial organization “Chukotka Scientific Arctic Center” and Chairman of the regional public organization of Chukchi language enthusiasts “Chychetkin Vatgav” (“Native Word”) - Victoria Viktorovna Kavry.
The food ration of coastal and reindeer Chukchi differed. Its basis for the nomadic population was reindeer meat, and for the sedentary population - products of the sea fur trade. However, as V.G. Bogoraz noted, “The reindeer Chukchi are more inclined to sea food. ... On the other hand, the coastal Chukchi and Eskimos also highly appreciate reindeer meat and call it “the sweet food of reindeer herders” (Bogoraz, 1991. P. 126). There was a constant exchange of products of their fisheries between reindeer and coastal groups.
A peculiarity of the diet of the coastal Chukchi was its diversity, which is characteristic of all Arctic peoples engaged in the fur trade:
“The societies of Arctic sea hunters developed a traditional diet characterized by the highest diversity of products and dishes compared to the diet of other Arctic peoples” (Bogoslovskaya et al., 2007. P. 372). It is characteristic that the food of sedentary Chukchi of the northern and Bering Sea coasts differed somewhat, which is explained by the peculiarities of climate and natural conditions, and the specifics of fishing routines of both.
One of the main foodstuffs of the coastal Chukchi was walrus meat, fat and entrails. The meat of walruses harvested in summer was cleaned from fat and put in a special pit with water poured in it. In such a pit the meat could be preserved until the onset of cold weather. A considerable part of summer walrus meat was dried to store in store. Dried meat was eaten in winter, usually it was pounded and mixed with fat. Walrus entrails were also prepared for winter. Walrus lungs and heart were cut and dried on hangers, kidneys were dried for winter. Walrus entrails were often eaten raw. Raw liver was especially valued. It was considered to be a good remedy for recovering strength after heavy blood loss, it was used to treat stomach, intestinal and lung diseases.
Most often walrus meat was eaten sour:Kopalkhen - leavened walrus meat - was an indispensable dish for coastal Chukchi at least six or seven months a year... Kopalkhen is eaten 'like bread'. It is eaten by itself, as well as with fish and herbs. ... Kopalkhen is extremely easy to digest. It is not chewed, but simply swallowed” (Afanasyeva, Simchenko, 1993. P. 65-66). To prepare kopalkhen, pieces of fresh walrus meat together with fat and skin were put into special earthen pits, which were covered with sod on top. In such pits the meat was fermented. Walrus fat, both blubber and gut fat, was considered the most valuable food product. In fresh and sour form it was used as a universal food additive. Walrus fat was also used for preservation of wild fruits. It was stored in bags made of seal skins.
The meat and fat of seals were no less important for the Chukchi diet. “Seals were harvested all the year round and by a variety of methods. The seal meat... was a constant ingredient in the menu of coastal hunters” (Afanasyeva, Simchenko, 1993. P. 73). For many centuries, the population of coastal Chukotka used whale products as food. “The traditional cuisine of Chukotka's marine animals includes more than 20 different dishes from meat, fat, skin, fins, tongue and entrails of bowhead and gray whales and beluga whales” (Bogoslovskaya et al., 2007. P. 375).
The collection “Trail of Bogoraz” contains some recipes of dishes prepared by Naukan Eskimos and Chukchi of Uelen from whaling products: “Whale skin with fat (man'tak') is traditionally eaten raw and boiled. It is prepared in a barrel with Ivan-tea leaves (vevegtyt) and filled with water, then it has a pleasant smell of Ivan-tea and keeps fresh for a long time. Such skin is eaten only in winter. In the fall with the onset of hard frosts, the "mann'tak'" of the bowhead whale in large plates is put into a meat pit, where it is preserved until spring. It is a good gift when visiting reindeer herders in neighboring villages. In winter, raw mann'tak' is eaten before going to bed, and boiled mann'tak' is often eaten with a mushy mass of leaves of the three-winged mountain plant (Kyyugak). Hunters take mann'tak' with them as a stock of food when they go fishing at sea.
Fresh gray whale fat is eaten in summer with grated leaves of three-winged humpback. Boiled whale liver is eaten with fresh boiled skin and walrus fat (kahu). Sour liver juice is drunk together with broth (k'ayuk) made of seal fat.
Fresh kidneys (tahtuk) are boiled before eating, while kidneys “with odor” are eaten raw, dipped in melted seal fat (moussek) (Tein and others, 2008. P. 177).
The nomadic Chukchi traditional food ration necessarily implied regular consumption of venison. Reindeer innards (liver, kidneys, heart), as well as eyes, bone marrow, tendons, and cartilage of the nose were eaten raw immediately after slaughtering the animal. Meat was mostly eaten boiled and dried. About the process of meat drying by the Chukchi V. G. Bogoraz wrote the following: “In spring, about the middle of April, the reindeer Chukchi dry meat in the open air, under the combined action of the heat of the day and the cold of the night even large pieces of meat are completely wilted, retaining their flavor and tenderness. The dried meat is slightly smoked over the hearth in a tent”" (Bogoraz, 1991. P. 129).
The meat broth was drunk and used for cooking various dishes: “In the past, young and middle-aged reindeer herders greatly restricted their water intake. It was considered unacceptable for a person engaged in reindeer herding to drink raw water. Thirst was quenched exclusively with meat broth. Meat broth was used for infants and older children. Meat broth was used for cooking vegetable food” (Afanasyeva, Simchenko, 1993. P. 88-89).
Blood chowder was an everyday dish. It was cooked with ramson - wild onion and sarana - Kimchak. “Blood chowder was an obligatory element in all rites of asking for prosperity. It was splashed in all directions of the world, starting from the east, when such rites were performed” (Afanasyeva, Simchenko, 1993. P. 88-89).
Deer blood was also used to make a popular dish called Vilk'ril. For this purpose, finely cut cartilage, veins, films, as well as stomach juice, which was obtained by squeezing the green mass contained in the stomach of a slaughtered deer, were added to the blood. All this blood mixture was fermented in the deer's stomach.
Among ritual meat dishes a special place was occupied by sausage made of blind intestine - Rorat. Such sausage was a mandatory ingredient of all rituals without exception. It was fed to the fire, sacrificial parts were cut off from it to the supernatural forces of nature. It played the role of a kind of communion in all sacred acts” (Afanasyeva, Simchenko, 1993. P. 92). One of the popular festive dishes made of venison is Tychgitagav. To prepare it, bone fat was added to grinded grated reindeer meat. The resulting mass was made into small round loafs and frozen.
In addition to domestic reindeer meat, the Chukchi also ate meat of wild reindeer, snow sheep, hares, partridges, and waterfowl. The Chukchi have some prohibitions and restrictions related to animal food. Thus, according to V. G. Bogoraz, “The reindeer Chukchi abstain from the meat of wolverine and black bear, all kinds of wolves and most birds of prey” (Bogoraz, 1991. P. 130).
Both nomadic and sedentary Chukchi had a wide variety of fish dishes. They fished mainly salmonids. The coastal Chukchi “put summer fish in ground pits lined with alder branches on the bottom and sides. The fish was put in several layers and also covered with a deck of alder twigs and covered with turf or covered with earth. After some time the fish was sour and froze with the beginning of cold weather” (Afanasyeva, Simchenko, 1993. P. 74). Frozen fish was eaten with kopalkhen and sour fat.
In the reindeer Chukchi the main method of preserving fish was making yukola, yukola was made from any salmon. When cutting up, the belly was first cut from the anus to the head and the insides with caviar and milk were taken out. The roe was immediately hung up to dry.
"Then the belly was cut off - the knife was led from the abdominal gills to the tail, separating both sides at once. The belly was the most dainty part. Fish bellies were collected and hung for smoking in the yarang. Further processing consisted in dismembering the fish carcass into the yukola part and the backbone with the head. The yukola consisted of two plates of meat joined at the tail. With the tail up, the yukola was hung out to dry... The yukola was an obligatory ingredient in the reindeer herders' diet. It was not served at a rare meal. As a rule, they drank tea with yukola..." (Afanasyeva, Simchenko, 1993. P. 96).
A special dish was prepared from fish heads. For this purpose, “caviar was put into a seal skin bag, crushed and kneaded between the palms of the hands, and fish heads were put into it. This mass was allowed to sour for three or four days, after which the heads were eaten” (Afanasyeva, Simchenko, 1993. P. 97)
Fish dishes were obligatory at many reindeer herding festivals, such as the fall herd meeting festival. Different Chukchi groups had their own traditions of using and harvesting edible plants. Some groups prepared herbal mixtures on the basis of the “golden root” - Arctic radiola, while others used leaves of polar alder (willow) as the basis of plant preparations. Plant food reserves were constantly exchanged.
According to the observations of G.M. Afanasyeva and Y.B. Simchenko, among the Bering Sea Chukchi, “The most used root is kuset, which is identified by modern Chukchi with potato... Leaves and flowers of this plant are collected and boiled in water - they make green porridge, which is eaten in winter as an addition to kopalchen and fresh meat” (Afanasyeva, Simchenko, 1993.).
The Bering Sea Chukchi also used as food the roots of marsh grass, which were taken from mouse dens: “The procedure of collecting plants stored for winter by mice was strictly statutory. Women took plants only from those mice that lived in their traditional herb gathering areas. Usually the older women take the young wives of their sons and their own unmarried female offspring every fall and lead them to the tundra to their traditional sites. There they are shown mouse holes, which are not searched again each time, and long-known holes are opened. The explanation is that the continuity between specific Chukchi families and mouse families is preserved. ... There are several immutable rules of exploitation of mouse stocks, violation of which automatically entails severe punishment.
This includes the prohibition to touch “other people's” mouse holes. It is believed that if a woman disturbs mice not on her own property, her “own” mice will leave the traditional lands in solidarity with their relatives. Another obligatory rule is to leave yukola or dried meat for the mice for the winter in an appropriate amount for the supplies taken.
Each woman carries with her a bundle of dried fish, which she distributes among the mouse hoards. The third rule is that it is strictly forbidden to take the amount of mouse stock equal to its half or even more than half. For the violation of this rule, not only the violator herself, but also her family had to pay with various misfortunes. The fourth rule is to cut and unroll the sod layer above the burrow carefully. Having taken away the stored plants, it is necessary to put the layer on top as neatly as it was laid. I have seen burrows that were repeatedly visited by people and mice did not leave them.
The last important rule: one should strictly observe the time of collecting plants from mice burrows - a long enough period before snowfall. According to Chukchi regulations, this was to be done to ensure that mice had time to replenish their stocks of plants they needed... (Afanasyeva, Simchenko, 1993. P. 69-70).
Berries were collected from shiksha, cloudberries, cowberries, blueberries, currants and honeysuckle. Berries were eaten raw as a delicacy or they were a component of various fish and meat dishes: they were mixed with fish caviar, crushed raw reindeer liver, boiled fish liver. Mushrooms (except fly agaric) were eaten extremely rarely. They were considered reindeer food. The fly agaric was a ritual foodIt was used for “traveling” to other worlds, for divination, for maintaining tone during heavy physical exertion.
The diet of the coastal Chukchi invariably included various products “supplied” by the sea. They used to eat sea cabbage raw and boiled. It was eaten with walrus meat and walrus blood.
From the beginning of Chukchi contacts with Europeans, flour products, sugar, bread and spices began to occupy a significant place in their diet. V.G. Bogoraz wrote: “Chukchi like to try ‘foreign food’ and even get used to such cultural condiments as mustard and pepper. They willingly sacrifice sugar, bread and so on, believing that spirits also like new kinds of food” (Bogoraz, 1991. P. 134). It is characteristic that “introducing flour products into their diet, the indigenous people of the North significantly changed the ways of their culinary processing, adapting to the requirements of the Arctic environment. Traditional addition of blood or fish roe to baked goods, frying cakes in the fat of sea animals allowed to maintain vitamin and microelement balance” (Bogoslovskaya and others, 1997. P. 383).
During the Soviet period, imported foodstuffs (bread, cereals, canned food, sugar, butter, etc.) significantly replaced the traditional products that had formed the basis of the Chukchi diet for many centuries.
Vdovin I. S., Batyanova E.P.
(from the book “Peoples of the North-East of Siberia”)