"ONE CANNOT THINK WELL, LOVE WELL, SLEEP WELL, IF ONE HAS NOT DINED WELL" - VIRGINIA WOOLF

In my previous post I stated that I no longer eat beef, poultry (including eggs), dairy or store-bought fish. Actually I no longer eat store-bought animal products in general. It sounds like a very restrictive diet but I do eat anything that is traditional Inupiaq food.

This decision to change my diet didn’t happen overnight. It actually began when I started reading ingredients on food packages. Most people pick up a food item and look for calorie and fat content, which is a good habit but I would bet that a lot of people do not read the ingredients as thoroughly. My body, for whatever reason, has some difficulty digesting gluten and dairy products and as such, I have given up both. This has only happened within the last couple of years and I attribute it to getting older and the fact that so many foods are highly processed.

Although I often check the "Nutrition Facts," I pay more attention to the "Ingredients."

The act of actively reading the ingredients list on food packaging can be very enlightening. It really forces you to examine the food that you eat and what is in it. The act of reading the ingredients has become second nature to me by now and I never buy anything without checking the ingredients first.

How often do you read the ingredients? Some things I look for include flour (wheat) and eggs.

This simple but enlightening habit got me to thinking about the meat that I eat. Where is it coming from, how are the animals treated, what kind of hormones and antibiotics am I ingesting? After thinking about this for a bit, I decided that I would give up meat. I would begin by cutting out beef and pork first, mostly because I didn’t eat these as much and they aren’t as nutritious as say chicken or fish. A few weeks had passed and I didn’t miss either at all.

I thought that I would have trouble giving up chicken and eggs because I ate these most often. They are lean, cheap and accessible sources of protein. I gave these up next and wasn’t missing them after several weeks had passed. 

I continued to eat store-bought fish but gave this up as well.

At one point I considered going completely vegan but in the end I decided that I would continue to eat Inupiaq food. I am, after all, Inupiaq and I love our food and it is and will always be a part of me. It is an important factor in my identity as an Inupiaq woman, how could I give it up? To me, it would be like rejecting a part of myself. When I think of our food, I think of all the work and care that goes into preparing it. My ancestors survived on it and besides, it tastes so darn good.

Of course, living off of only traditional food is not as convenient or easy as going to the store and buying it from the meat department. So, in between eating niqipiaq I supplement my diet by eating beans, nuts, seeds and tofu.

WHY I DON'T LIKE THE WORD "ESKIMO," PART II.

In a previous post I mentioned that I disliked using the word “Eskimo.” People argue about the origin of the word, whether it means “eater of raw meat” or something else. I’m not too concerned about the origin of the word or what it means exactly. It seems that the word originated from other Indigenous people, who used the word to describe their neighbors. I say that it “seems” because I don’t really have any solid documentation to back up this argument and I don’t feel the particular need to research it at this point.

For argument’s sake, let’s say that it does mean “eaters of raw meat.” Inupiaq people do eat raw meat but it is frozen. We call this quaq and we eat caribou and fish this way, usually with seal oil. It is one of my favorite ways to eat niqipiaq because it is very simple and nutritious and it tastes yummy. Aged fish, especially trout and sheefish, are very good as quaq! Sometimes you’ll hear someone say “I really want to quaq out!” - they are expressing their desire to eat quaq and eat a lot of it.

Let’s look at the other end of the argument. I’d often wondered what the literal translation of Inupiaq was but never got around to asking an elder (I’m scared that someone might think it’s a dumb question). I think that how a people identifies itself says a lot of their worldviews. There is a book that contains Inupiaq words and phrases, complete with illustrations. I enjoy perusing it here and there and I happened to come across the meaning of the word, though in this book Inupiaq is spelled “Inupiak.” According to this book, “Inupiak” literally means “real person.”

Let’s break this down even more and again for argument’s sake, let’s say that Inupiaq really does mean “real person.”  I would rather identify myself using my own language rather than identifying myself using words that other people used to describe us. It may sound dumb and obvious but I would rather be known as a “real person” than an “eater of raw meat.” One who eats raw meat is just one aspect of a person, I wouldn’t want it to identify myself using this one distinguishing factor.

Again, I understand that people still use it to identify themselves and I know that it will be this way for awhile. My friends and family use it and I know that American people use it as a blanket term to refer to various Indigenous groups in Alaska, Canada and Greenland. But I’ll reiterate here that this is not how I identify myself and I hope that I can discourage some people from using it.

20 THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT ME

A friend of mine recently posted 20 things about herself on her blog and inspired me to do so as well. It makes it more personal and I always enjoy learning about the writers of things I read. So here goes, 20 things about me that you may not know.

1) I’ve always wanted to learn Inupiaq but I’ve always been too embarrassed to do so

2) I like films in general but I love horror, creature-feature and sci-fi films, including psychological thrillers

3) I no longer eat beef, poultry (including eggs), pork, store-bought fish, or dairy

4) On that note, I do eat ANYTHING that is traditional Inupiaq food. More on this decision later

5) I prefer to eat things by size and color: smallest to largest, lightest to darkest. Why I do this I don’t know but it seems to provide some sort of comfort

6) I had buck teeth as a child

7) Although I live in Alaska, I have never seen Denali (Mt. McKinley) up close and personal

8) I have recently become infatuated with Stephen Hawking and his genius mind

9) I would love to be a cosmologist but I’m sure my non-genious mind couldn’t hack it

10) Of all my parents and siblings, I am the only one who originates from my mom and dad, thus making me the original, the one-and-only. That’s how I like to see it anyway

11) I lived in France for 8 months, teaching English to middle-school students

Eiffel Tower, Paris, New Years Eve.

12) French people were initially cold towards the American student but warmed up immediately once they found out the American student was actually from Alaska. “Oh, l’Alaska!” they would exclaim and would then ask a bunch of questions

13) I didn’t enjoy the teaching so much but overall the experience was amazing

14) While living in France, I had the opportunity to travel to Morocco during spring break

15) While in Morocco, I was called “la Chinoise,” which means Chinese in French. They thought I was Asian

Fes, Morocco at the Medina. We hired a guide to show us around, otherwise we would have gotten lost.

16) “What came before time, space and the universe as we know it?” are things I think about, often

17) If the universe is expanding, what is it expanding into?

18) I prefer not to kill bugs unless I really have to

19) I think music has the ability to change one’s life

20) I often forget where I park my car but I don’t want it to appear like I’ve forgotten where I parked, so I walk around nonchalantly as if I know where my car is until I actually find it