Nunavut Travel Guide - Going Out

Known as 'country food', the cuisine of Nunavut is mostly based around subsistence living and produce that comes from hunting and fishing.

Things to know: In group meals, elders are usually served first. Alcohol is controlled in Nunavut and in some communities is prohibited. Hotels and restaurants in Iqaluit are licensed.

Regional specialities:
• Arctic char (with a taste somewhere between salmon and trout), mussels, scallops (especially from Cumberland Sound), clams, turbot (especially from the Baffin region) and Greenland shrimp.
• Musk ox and caribou.
• Local bannock (a mixture of flour and water blended into a dough and cooked slowly in a frying pan) dates from the old prospecting rations which kept for weeks in an easily transportable form.
• Raw, frozen whale blubber, known as maktaaq or muktuk, is a highly prized local speciality - despite whaling being frowned upon internationally.

Regional drinks:
• Melting glacier ice is collected and provides water in many communities. Bottled water is available.

Legal Drinking Age: 19.

There are general retail stores in almost all communities in Nunavut; some specialise in handicrafts, furs, fisheries and Inuit art. The high cost of goods (an increase of up to 50% on the rest of Canada) is due to the supply and distribution costs caused by the large distances that goods must be transported by air or sea.

Shopping hours: Mon-Fri 1000-2000, Sat 1000-1800 (although these may vary regionally).