Mousefood, Melqurat, Maqaruaruat or Anlleq is a native
foraged
Foraging is searching for wild food resources. It affects an animal's fitness because it plays an important role in an animal's ability to survive and reproduce. Foraging theory is a branch of behavioral ecology that studies the foraging behav ...
food and medicine highly prized by
Yupik people on the
Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.
Foraging
Mousefood consists of the roots of various
tundra plant
About 1,702 species of plants live on the Arctic tundra, including flowering plants, short shrubs, herbs, grasses, mosses. These plants are adapted to short, cold growing seasons. They have the ability to withstand extremely cold temperatures in ...
s which are
cached by "mice" (
voles) in burrows. People forage and eat the food that the "mice" have harvested and stored.
[ Elders teach that when collecting mousefood, one should always leave half of the cache for the "mouse". They also recommend leaving a gift – something that the "mouse" can eat.
]
Species
Various species of tundra plants may be foraged as mousefood. The roots of tall cottongrass, white cottongrass and Russett cottongrass are less than an inch long. They are eaten, put in soup, or used medicinally with seal oil
Omega−3 fatty acids, also called Omega-3 oils, ω−3 fatty acids or ''n''−3 fatty acids, are polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) characterized by the presence of a double bond, three atoms away from the terminal methyl group in their chem ...
. "Eskimo sweet potatoes" are the roots of ''Hedysarum alpinum
''Hedysarum alpinum'' is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common name alpine sweetvetch. It is called ''masu'' in the Iñupiaq language. It has a circumpolar distribution, occurring throughout the northern latitude ...
''. As the name suggests, these roots are somewhat sweet and are used in Akutaq
Alaskan ice cream (also known as Alaskan Indian ice cream, Inuit ice cream, Indian ice cream or Native ice cream, and Inuit-Yupik varieties of which are known as ''akutaq'' or ''akutuq'') is a dessert made by Alaskan Athabaskans and other Alaska N ...
.
References
Inuit cuisine
{{NorthAm-native-stub