Nunavut Going Out

Food and Drink

Known as ‘country food', the cuisine of Nunavut is mostly based around subsistence living and products that come 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) is served in many ways - as well as sampling it stewed, baked or smoked, try it dried for a true northern experience.
• Mussels, scallops (especially from Cumberland Sound), clams, turbot (especially from the Baffin region) and Greenland shrimp.
• Musk ox and caribou.
• Local bannock (a simple unleavened bread dough cooked slowly in a frying pan, baked or boiled), which kept for weeks in an easily transportable form, was a favourite of early Arctic explorers.
• Raw whale blubber and skin, 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.

Tipping:
It is customary to tip 15% in bars and restaurants.

Shopping

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 (up to 50% higher than in the rest of Canada) is due to expense of shipping goods long distances by air or sea. Inuit art is world renowned, but artists are traditionally reluctant to charge more than they think you can pay. If you haggle aggressively, many will drop the price below what the piece is worth rather than offend you, so mindful tourists avoid bargaining.

Shopping hours
: Mon-Fri 1000-2000, Sat 1000-1800 (although these may vary regionally). Stores are also permitted to open on Sundays, although not all do so.
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