The Wild Arctic Char in Swedish Sápmi – from Staple Ingredient to Nostalgic Food

• Main Author: Carrillo Ocampo, Julia C.
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Technological University Dublin 2024
• Subjects: Environmental Studies; Food Studies; Other Arts and Humanities; Other Languages; Societies; and Cultures; Other Sociology; Place and Environment; Rural Sociology; Scandinavian Studies; Social and Cultural Anthropology; Sociology of Culture; Arctic; sami
• Online Access: https://arrow.tudublin.ie/dgs/2024/agriculture/1; https://doi.org/10.21427/b5jm-9r71; https://arrow.tudublin.ie/context/dgs/article/1349/viewcontent/DGS2024_Carrillo_Ocampo_final.pdf

The way food is preserved, prepared and consumed is embedded in cultural symbolism strongly connected to the geographical landscape. This article focuses on the memories of Sami actors within the wild Arctic char value chain to explore how changes in the foodscape influence the way this produce is prepared and consumed in contemporary Sápmi and the use and view of traditional preservation techniques. The empirical material was obtained through interviews and observations with Sami actors as they are the dominant agents related to this produce. Consequently, I traced different narratives attached to the char in the region called Swedish Sápmi and its connection to Sami food culture. Although the wild Arctic char still can be considered a staple ingredient within Sami food culture, it is not widely available nor consumed in the same ways nowadays. As certain traditional cooking and preservation methods such as salting, drying and fermentation are no longer needed to survive the stark winters, and cold technology is widely available, these products and specific flavors has become nostalgic food products, in connection to early memories and tradition. Hence, I argue that the Arctic char has moved from everyday consumption within the mountain Sami to an iconic ingredient within contemporary Sami gastronomy.