Fermented mutton in the Faroe Islands

The Survival of a Local Artisanship and Food Heritage

Bibliographic Data

ID5166089
AuthorsIngvar Svanberg (0000-0002-8378-7923, Uppsala University, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume10
Issue1
Publication date2023-06-05
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Ethnic Foods (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2352-6181 • E-ISSN: 2352-619X
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1186/s42779-023-00182-7
OpenAlexW4379365138
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited36

Dried and fermented mutton has been an essential storable protein source in an economy where weather conditions and seasonal fluctuations affect the availability of food. For generations, the Faroe islanders have prepared ræstkjøt (fermented and semidried mutton) and skerpikjøt (dried mutton) as an efficient and valuable cultural strategy for preserving meat. The data for this study have been collected through anthropological and ethnobiological fieldwork as an embedded participant observer, supplemented with studies from written sources. Data were selected and qualitatively analysed. Our findings show that this traditional cuisine, so far rarely noticed by researchers as a food heritage, requires that the islanders have access to sheep, master the technique of properly treating the slaughtered carcases, and that the necessary ecological conditions, in relation to wind and temperature, prevail for the meat to ferment and dry. They must also have access to the necessary equipment and skills, and be able to assess when the dried meat is cured. The relationship that exists between humans and the active microorganisms in this specific context is also discussed. Appreciating and consuming local fermented food is also an important way of expressing Faroese cultural identity. Once a staple for rural people, fermented mutton is nowadays a rather exclusive delicacy. The study provides insights into a complex activity that includes local artisanship and food heritage based on the triangle of human-sheep-microbiota

Archaeology · Biology · Business · Cultural heritage · Geography · Indigenous · Intangible cultural heritage · Traditional knowledge · Culinary Culture and Tourism · Indigenous Studies and Ecology · Meat and Animal Product Quality · Ecology · Food Science