Delicious local foods

Tonight we were invited to Terri Walker's (the principal) house for muskox and moose. It was delicious. Both meats are very dark and seemed very lean. It was a real treat and I was actually amazed by the great salad that we all made together (maybe fresh produce is not as scarce as I thought... - or we just got treated as luxury guests!). Thanks to Terri and her husband Oscar for the delicious dinner!

In general, Bucklanders are a very happy and welcoming people. We actually had a very interesting conversation with someone that is currently here from the school district. He said that Buckland was actually an exceptionally merry community. This apparently comes from the low availability of alcohol and the fair number of jobs in respect to the size of the community. It sounded like other communities were not as lucky!

Speaking of welcoming folks, Ali-K and I were invited by Gary Hagley, a long-time Buckland resident, to try some beluga. Even though our stomachs were nicely full with delicious moose and muskox, we stopped by at his place - just around the corner from the school - and tasted some beluga. We had little pieces of the skin and the blubber and were actually amazed by the mild taste. The fishy smell on my fingers certainly wasn't part of the taste (even though it has been frozen for two years)...:) Belugas used to be really abundant at the mouth of the Buckland river, where most of the community would gather to hunt beluga in the summertime. It has now apparently been two years since belugas have last been seen near the mouth of the Buckland river...
Here is a picture of the beluga pieces and a bowl full of local berries:

According to Gary, subsistence foods (caribou, muskox, fish, beluga, berries etc.) actually make up about 90 % of his family's diet. It's therefore no surprise to find half a caribou and most of a spotted seal lying in their "freezer" or known in other places as the front yard... Even their black dog has a piece of seal to chew on!