Greenland
The diet along the coast
Why is Greenland not more self-sufficient with regard to meat, considering that the traditional Greenlandic diet in many ways is healthy, despite a certain level of environmental toxins?
In Denmark, one million meals are delivered to military bases, hospitals and other institutions as well as 'meals on wheels' for pensioners. What is the situation like in Greenland?
"Fifteen per cent of the population in Greenland eat at least one meal a day paid for by the State. No requirements are made as to the quality of the meal or whether it is made with domestic products. I find this very unfortunate," says Ulla Uhrskov from NUKA a/s. "This is something that I feel very strongly about: the people of this country should be able to eat Greenlandic food if they want to. And children should learn to eat Greenlandic food while they are little, otherwise the traditions will be lost. I think that the politicians should wake up and say what they want for their money. I would like to see an active dietplan policy for provisioning throughout the entire public sector", says Ms. Uhrskov.
She teaches at the Centre for Healthcare Training in Nutrition, Dietetics, and Greenlandic Foods. Her students are primarily healthcare assistants and nursing students. She has previously taught nutrition students for 14 years. Ms. Uhrskov now works at NUKA a/s, a company which purchases and produces Greenlandic foods sold primarily to domestic shops, restaurants, hospitals, old-peoples' homes and childcare centres. NUKA has also exported salted cod and "uvak" (Greenlandic fjord cod), dried fish, musk ox and reindeer, mainly to the Faeroe Islands, Germany, Denmark, and southern Europe. NUKA a/s is owned by the Home Rule Government of Greenland and its main purpose is to supply Greenland with Greenlandic foods, while also maintaining employment levels in the small settlements.
Cooking in GreenlandAt present Greenland's level of selfsufficiency with regard to meat is 22 per cent. NUKA's target is that this should be increased to 50 per cent. As the level of self-sufficiency increases, imports of food will decrease correspondingly.
One way of ensuring this is to prepare a diet policy for the country's institutions. Anoher way is through general information about Greenlandic foods.
Ms. Uhrskov's own family is selfsufficient with regard to meat, fish, and poultry. Ms. Uhrskov wishes that professional chefs were more imaginative and experimented more with the wonderful Greenlandic products, as they can play an important role in inspiring others to try out new dishes based on familiar foods.
The cultural factor "People eat fish all over the world, however we are one of the only countries in the world where seal is eaten. Seal is a truly Greenlandic food. "Ulla Uhrskov, NUKA a/s |
The other side of the coin
It is well known that both heavy metals and POPs have been found in Greenlandic food. How are these scientific findings reflected in practical dietary advice given to the Greenlandic population? In 1997 Gert Mulvad, a doctor in Nuuk, Tine Pars, a Ph.D. in nutrition, and Ulla Uhrskov, who is a clinical dietician, joined forces and set up a working group that organised a seminar about Greenlandic foods. Fishermen, hunters, indigenous groups, and scientists from Denmark and Greenland discussed this matter. After the seminar, a Nutrition Council was set up providing a forum for debating Greenland's dietary policy in light of the many scientific findings from the surround ing world. The Nutrition Council has just published a pamphlet called "A debate about the contamination of Greenlandic foods" ("En diskussion om forurening af den grønlandske mad").
Defining a common position concerning pollutants in our foods has been a long process. The Nutrition Council wants to avoid alarmist campaigns, but at same time it wants to conduct a serious debate. Today the majority of the population's diet consists of both traditional Greenlandic foods and imported foods. A small part of the population depends on the resources from the sea, and at times this group's diet is very unvaried. "Pollution is an extremely sensitive topic to address," says Ms. Uhrskov, who bases her work on Jens C. Hansen's book about the Greenlandic diet, "The Greenlandic Diet - an ecomedical assessment" ("Grønlandsk kost - en miljømedicinsk vurdering"). The book is for doctors, nurses, and other health-care personnel. She also uses "The Arctic Dilemma" ("Det arktiske dilemma"), published by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency, which is the only book about nutrition and pollution written for laymen so far.
This dietary advice is given in the book "food for small children, and women during pregnancy and breastfeeding"
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Ms. Uhrskov has written the book "Food for Small Children" ("Mad til små
børn"), which contains a chapter about pollutants and diets for women during
pregnancy and breastfeeding, as well as for small children.
"When I tell people how healthy Greenlandic foods are compared to many imported foods, I must also tell them about pollution," says Ms. Uhrskov about her everyday teaching. "It's important that the nursing students know about pollutants, as they will be some of the few who know anything about nutrition and pollution."
The students have heard about mercury and other heavy metals, but only a few of them know about POPs. "I've only met a few students who understand what POPs are and are familiar with the latest knowledge in this area", says Ms. Uhrskov.
Practical adviceThe Nutrition Council has always maintained that the best advice is: vary your diet. Advice that can be difficult to follow in a little settlement where seal is the only available food for four to five months a year.
Wherever possible one should eat seal and whale meat, fish, poultry, and also some imported foods. In general the Council's position on environmental toxins is that:
 | fish and shrimp from Greenland are clean and healthy, |
| berries, lamb, reindeer and musk ox do not contain pollutants, |
| whalebone whales contain less pollutants than toothed whales, |
| older seals contain more pollutants than younger seals, |
| POPs are mainly found in fatty tissue and heavy metals in organs. |
"There is a tendency for us to adopt all the bad things from the eating habits of the western World. We import a lot of sugar and saturated fats," says Ms. Uhrskov when describing today's Greenlandic diet.
It is especially with regard to fat that Greenlandic foods distinguish themselves from imported foods, as they contain healthier fats, at least when it comes to sea mammals. Lamb, musk ox and reindeer contain the same type of fat as imported foods. This is an issue that is often discussed at the Centre for Healthcare Training. Other issues discussed are vitamins and minerals.
What is healthy food?In general, people believe that Greenlandic food is healthy. However, it is extremely difficult to get an answer to the question "Why is Greenlandic food healthy?" Ms. Uhrskov spends a lot of time discussing this when she teaches nutrition. The main reason is that a large part of the Greenlandic population - just as many Danes - eats too much fat in general. Ms. Uhrskov also addresses the type of fat one should choose. And finally, she addresses the issue of the ideal omega-3 : omega-6 fatty acid ratio in different types of food.
"People in Greenland don't worry as much about fat as people in Denmark," she explains. "In practice, we're talking about reducing the intake of saturated fat. But if you're overweight, the main thing is to reduce how much fat you eat. Today people here in Greenland are becoming fatter and fatter. And the fat primarily deposits itself at the waistline. This increases the risk of cardio-vascular diseases."
"What is important here is the difference between fat from sea mammals and terrestrial mammals," Ms. Uhrskov explains. "If your diet is based on foods from the sea, you will get a lot of unsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids."
"But you could have taught this in Brønderslev and Randers", I interject.
"Yes," Ms. Uhrskov answers, "but we have many more alternatives here in Greenland. We can eat fish, seal and whale, all of which contain types of fat that are healthier than those found in imported meat products. It's just too bad that the delicatessens at the supermarket don't have meals made with Greenlandic products. You can't get reindeer, lamb or Greenlandic fish in Denmark, you can only buy pork, beef and chicken," Ms. Uhrskov concludes.
"It's not because pork is bad, but it seems quite a paradox that you can't buy Greenlandic foods in the supermarkets in Greenland."