Kiliii Yuyan Photographer

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Though Western palates consider seals inedible, they are a basic source of food for the Iñupiaq. Misigaq, or seal oil, is a liquid made from the blubber of the bearded seal. Left to ferment for a few days at refrigerator temperatures, it is eaten together with many traditional foods. Marine mammal blubber contains vitamins and nutrients that are normally only found in plant foods, keeping the Iñupiaq free of the scurvy that plagued early foreigners to the Arctic.

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