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Dishing out the local Wildlife (II)–The Buffet

17th August 2006 (later that day)

As soon as people approached the imposing dining room, with its tables, covered in starched linen and silverware, overlooking the iceberg-strewn bay through large picture windows, the murmur of conversation ebbed to a whisper; but when they clapped eyes on the central display—which was spread across three tables—they fell silent.
Greenland Buffet, Hotel Hvide Falk

When, at long last, everyone was seated, the mâitre d’ assumed centre stage and talked for about twenty minutes about the various dishes. As there were about fifty of them, he lost me in-between. I caught that there were at least a dozen different dishes of smoked, marinated or steamed fish arranged beneath an impressive Thai-style sashimi display on the first table, whereas the second table groaned with a selection of smoked meats with a centre-piece of dried fish and whale. Yes, whale. Plus a bowl of mattak (trust this to be the only word to have a ‘k’ in it, instead of a ‘q’, and hence be a bitch to Google. But I’d remembered right: mattak is raw whale blubber, albeit with the skin cut off—normally it remains attached).

Dried fish and Blubber

Arranged among the more ethnic specialities, there were plates with prawns, avocado, blinis, smoked salmon and the like. But I didn’t pay much attention to them.

Hot dishes were placed to one side, and I did not get a proper look at them, but I gathered that there were three different soups and about four kinds of stew, all with assorted wild mammals. This was followed by a mighty display of cakes, cheese and fruit.

Having finished his introduction, the mâitre d’ stepped adside and let the onslaught begin. Working against the stream, I homed in on the dried food and took a small sprat (amoret); cod, caught in the fjord, dried and pressed; and a tiny flake of finwhale, caught in nearby R�deby. And a cube of mattak.

The cod was nice and buttery. I could get used to it on long sledge tours. The amoret tasted just like maldive fish or its Malaysian equivalent, i.e. vaguely reminiscent of the stuff I used to feed to my tortoises. The flake of dried whale meat, almost black and paper-thin, smelled very faintly of cod liver oil. However, it was definitely not fish. I felt somewhat queasy and unable to finish it. Most of the other guests left the display of dried foods well alone, so no danger of over-exploitation there.

The mattak tasted like speck, which it was.

Hvide Falk GreenlandsbuffetAll of the smoked meats: lamb, musk ox, polar bear and more whale, tasted like—smoked meat. They differed in colour, but they were equally salty and smoky. Stick with smoked ham.

The fish display was without doubt the crowning contribution. The local shrimp is known as ‘pink gold’ and is the best in the world. But regarding the choice of gravad laks, trout, smoked salmon, prime halibut in various guises and the terrifying-looking havkat (or rather wolf-fish), I paid the shrimp no notice.

This part of the buffet made me swoon, and this is where most of the guests lingered. The finest dish was smoked halibut, with a flavour so delicate as to be almost not there.

The most revolting was the havcat, which tasted exactly as it looked, but with a good splash of cod liver oil added for good measure.
Havkat

The soups included a musk oxen broth, a polar bear broth and a hearty ‘suaasat’, the national dish of Greenland, often made with leftovers which may include both seal and whale.

The trouble is that I could not tell which was which. A waitress pointed out the suaasat and told me that it was made with seal. As this was one species group still missing from my dining experience, I started on this.

I had been warned that seal meat is strong. Judging from the havkat, the locals know what they are talking about. The broth tasted of yet more diluted cod liver oil, and the meat tasted of liver.

No problem with the iron or vitamin D intake, then.

Polar bear was vaguely reminiscent of wild boar, but again with a fishy taste to the fat. I only had ¼ ladle, so don’t fret. Nobody was asking for seconds.

Of the stews, I tried a mix of seal, lamb and muskox. By now, I could distinguish the seal by its taste, the lamb was likewise distinct and delicious and the stuff which was literally as tough as shoe leather had to be the musk ox. Either I didn’t miss much, or this particular dish did include the animal’s hide.

The verdict? I easily believe that the hunting communities in the winter months get most of their vitamins from mattak and raw seal liver, and they don’t have any need for codliver oil supplements. Some of the food is OK—the mattak and dried fish—some is an acquired taste—the seal and the havkat. Some is sublime, but I doubt that the locals often indulge in delicately smoked halibut. When steamed, it tastes of nothing.

I’m glad that I tried the buffet, and judging from my dining companions, I doubt that consumption by touists will drive up the demand for whale meat (unless Japanese cruiseships start turning up), although perhaps the shrimp had better start watching out.

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