Quark Expeditions has introduced “Tundra to Table,” the expedition industry’s first exclusive Inuit culinary experience available on select Arctic 2022 and 2023 voyages.
“Quark Expeditions has had the honour of traveling to the Inuit homelands of Greenland and Nunavut for 30 years,” says Alex McNeil, Director of Expedition Experience and Innovation for Quark Expeditions. “And for more than a decade I’ve had the pleasure, as a member of the Quark Expeditions team, of visiting these regions and developing meaningful relationships in local communities. These relationships have inspired us to provide this platform, Tundra to Table: Inuit Culinary Experience, for Inuit chefs in the Arctic to showcase their cuisine and culture of Greenland and Nunavut.
“The ultimate purpose of this culinary experience is to support local chefs as they share the stories of their people through food.”
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Among the highlights of “Tundra to Table: Inuit Culinary Experience”:
- Guests will savour food in its purest, most natural state. At the heart of this experience is the purity of the ingredients, such as seafood caught fresh from the Arctic waters, and free-roaming game that consume naturally organic grass and vegetation. The types of dishes that could be served during this on-ship experience include: beer-braised muskox served with Greenlandic mashed potatoes, mushroom sauce and berry jam; South Greenlandic lamb served with pommes Anna (layers of sliced potatoes), sweet turnip ragu, pickled angelica and wild gravy; honey-glazed ptarmigan served with turnip purée; and pickled halibut served with lumpfish dip and bread.
- Program hosted by Inuit chefs who are experts in Indigenous cuisine. Guests will enjoy modern Inuit fusion-style cuisine with dishes reflecting the culinary traditions of the region of their voyage, whether it’s muskox in Greenland or Arctic char in Nunavut. Local chefs will share the story of their people through the food they prepare.
- It’s the only Inuit culinary experience of its kind. Quark Expeditions is the only polar operator to offer this kind of culinary collaboration with local Inuit chefs, which will only be available on select Arctic 2022 and 2023 voyages.
Quark Expeditions will introduce another culinary-related opportunity starting in the Arctic 2022 season. Guests will have the opportunity, on select voyages, to accompany Inuit chefs as they forage in the wild. During select hiking excursions led by Quark Expeditions team members, Inuit chefs will accompany the group and share foraging insights, talk about Arctic plant species, and explain how they’re used in traditional Inuit cuisine. The chefs will collect small amounts of plants and herbs to use in the onboard Inuit dining experience.
There are two itineraries in 2022 and four additional itineraries in 2023, all of which are utilising Quark Expeditions’ new ship, Ultramarine.
Learn more about the Tundra to Table Adventure Option here.
Lead image: A chef puts finishing touches to a caribou dish served with Labrador tea – Images courtesy of Quark Expeditions.