Akutaq

Akutaq, also written akutaq or aqutak, is the Indigenous "Eskimo ice cream" of Alaska and northwestern Canada, made by the Iñupiat, Yup'ik, Cup'ik, Athabaskan, and Iñuvialuit peoples. In Iñupiaq the word literally means "something mixed", referring to the way fat is whipped with seasonal sweets and frozen into a soft, mousse-like mass.

The traditional base is whipped caribou, moose, or seal oil, into which the cook folds whichever sweetener the season offers: fresh cloudberries or salmonberries in late summer, dried cranberries or blueberries in winter, and sometimes snow or freshly caught whitefish roe. Modern home cooks often substitute Crisco or vegetable shortening for the meat fat, but the technique of folding the sweetener into cold fat over a bowl of fresh snow is unchanged.

Akutaq is served at birthdays, weddings, baby namings, and Nalukataq (the spring whaling festival), and is the central dish of the Blanket Toss celebration in Utqiaġvik and Nome. It is now served at cultural centres such as the University of Alaska Fairbanks and at gatherings in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Inuvik, where Indigenous chefs serve it as both a ceremonial food and a taste of pre-contact Alaska.