Akutaq

When we first arrived in Anchorage for our inservice they told us a lot about the Yup’ik culture. One thing they told us about is what they refer to as “Eskimo ice cream.” This “ice cream,” called akutaq (uh-goo-duck) in Yup’ik, is a staple in the Yup’ik culture and they said it consists of Crisco, sugar, and berries, among other things. Now I decided that when I moved here I would try the local food at least once. Might as well since I’m living among the culture, right?

Well last week we attended an advisory school board meeting and one of the local villagers, who also happens to be one of the school’s custodians, brought some akutaq with him to the meeting. It was pinkish, and I thought it looked like it had chocolate chips in it. I also thought it would taste something like the mixture you start out with when making a batch of cookies…crisco/butter, sugar, vanilla. OH. NO. This was absolutely NOTHING like a batch of cookies.

After the meeting was over, we scooped ourselves some akutaq. Since they refer to this stuff as “Eskimo ice cream” I thought it would be cold and hard. Nope. It was soft and warm. Mmm. So why they call it Eskimo ice cream, I have no idea.

After I scooped myself some akutaq and was about to taste it, I caught a whiff of something nasty. Well, I taste the akutaq and it turns out that what I smelled was fish. That is right. Apparently akutaq is made with not only Crisco, some sugar, and berries, but also fish. Delish. Oh. And those “chocolate chips” were actually blackberries. It was pretty disgusting. But hey. At least I can say I tried it, right? …I didn’t want to be rude and throw this stuff away at the school, so I pretended to eat it and took it home with me. Marlee (Kylie’s cat) loved the stuff. Eww.

I found this link if you want to learn more about the deliciousness that is akutaq.

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