No Cold Cuts In Svalbard

From Minke Whale Fillets To Rock Tripe, Here’s Investigating The Food Culture Of Longyearbyen, The Last Town Before The North Pole

- Dani Redd

I ’ve been invited to a barbecue at -5°C at the Arctic Circle—a popular ‘summer’ occupation amongst Longyearbyen’s residents. Standing in the balcony of my host’s home, guests marvel at the good weather, while my feet slowly go numb. It’s a relief when we go inside to eat. We’re all being treated to grilled sausages, thin strips of beef, and, most excitingly, a green salad. The latter doesn’t feature prominently on menus this far north, in the last inhabited town before the North Pole. Permafrost and four months of polar darkness a year make agriculture impossible. So what do people eat in a place where nothing grows?

Located on Spitsbergen, an island of Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, Longyearbyen was established as a coal-mining settlement in 1906. It’s a popular destination for those looking for adventure in the Arctic wilderness. The town is not particularly picturesque: there’s an industrial dockyard on the outskirts, and the melting snow reveals the escarpments of dark scree encircling the settlement. But I find a stark beauty in these piebald slopes, dotted with the wrecks of mining apparatus. Squat reindeers amble through the town, searching clumps of frozen snow for food. Looking for the same, I stop at Kroa, a restaurant on the main street. I order the fish soup—a rich, creamy concoction flecked with fish and infused with the flavour of smoked salmon. The bowl is empty far too soon for my liking.