Bearded Seal Meat

Bearded seal meat — from the oogruk, as it’s known in Iñupiaq — is a dense, dark-red wild game meat with a rich, slightly marine flavour. The bearded seal is the largest of the Arctic ice seals, and its meat has been a primary food source for Indigenous communities across Alaska, northern Canada, and Greenland for thousands of years.

The meat is prepared in many ways within traditional foodways — boiled, dried, frozen raw (quaq), or fermented. Different cuts and organs are valued for different qualities, and virtually every part of the animal is used. Seal meat is typically shared communally after a hunt, following cultural protocols around distribution.

Bearded seal is a subsistence food with deep cultural importance. It is not commercially traded and is not available in Australia. Its harvest is managed through Indigenous hunting rights and marine mammal protections.