Seal Blubber and Schoolhouses (Tuntutuliak)

As we were sleeping on the floors of the classrooms, we had to wake up early in the morning so all the kids could go to class.



Classtime seems pretty cool in Tunt, doesn't it?



Officer Wasillie Gilila giving a tour of the VPS office.



Angie locked up for bad behavior by Officer Gilila.



US Post Office in Tuntutuliak.



Native Pride grocery bag...that was pretty hip...



The Moravian church in Tunt. (The Russian Orthodox church is the only other religious establishment here.)



Mallory heading to one of the three stores in town.



Dinnertime! Boiled seal meat, dried fish, salmon strips, Sailor Boy pilot bread and salmonberry jam. Very delicious and, at least to me, surprisingly filling.




Dried salmon pieces.



Boiled seal meat.



Learning how to cut blubber with Lucy Lupie. I had trouble getting the hang of using an ulu...I think it's because I always use a knife like it's an extension of my fingers (pointing and slicing, usually in a straightish line)...whereas the ulu seems to be more like if you could use your whole hand to cut.

All I know is that for the first two days I kept trying to make my first cut with the pointy edge of the blade to no success, only to notice belatedly that my teachers worried a gradually increasing slice with the center of the blade.

For whatever that's worth. That's how to use an ulu. :)



Seal oil in a jar.

Many of my travelmates had big issues with this aspect of Yupik cuisine (seal in general, actually)...I think it's because this was so vastly different from most other kinds of meats and seafoods...meaning that seal definitely doesn't taste like chicken.

::laughing hard::

Seal oil is fermented from blubber and has a resultingly strong smell and taste...but I thought it was kind of a musky, sour, cheesy thing. It reminded me of very musky, sour parmesan cheese. The scent was heavy and weirdly made me think of the summertime smell from the huge chestnut tree in my backyard...there's a kind of fecund, green, too heavy sweet hint from the thousands of blossoms that I thought immediately of when I smelled the seal oil...followed by cheese left out in the sun. That probably sounds worse than it is. All I can say is that it was very complex and strong, in addition to tasting like nothing I've ever eaten before. It also heats up your body and speeds your metabolism, which is strange to feel happening as you eat. I can see why the Yupik enjoy it so much.



Boiled seal. I was surprised by how dark and musky the meat was.



Seal blubber being cut with ulus, ready for rendering. (All parts of the muscle tissue must be stripped away from the blubber first.)



Delicious, delicious salmon strips...wild caught, air dried in the traditional way in a smokehouse with alder wood...perfect. I could eat these every day for the rest of my life. They literally taste like a summer bonfire. And delicious salmon. Love it.



Seal oil on a plate for dipping the meats into. It seems to range in clarity and shade (clear to a very light, opaque yellowish hue). I did notice a bit of a different taste, but I was told that can be attributed to the different kinds of seals (like spotted seal or bearded seal.)