Eating vegan within the Arctic Circle is almost impossible
If you want to eat vegan and live in Nuvanut, the northernmost tip of Canada, you have a major problem. Vegetables and fruit are ridiculously expensive there, so eating one hundred percent plant-based is impossible! Katara Piujuq shows this on Twitter.
Katara Piujuq is Inuit, formerly referred to as ‘Eskimo’. She regularly writes on Twitter about her life within the Arctic Circle. She received criticism there: couldn’t everything be a little more plant-based and environmentally friendly? No, says Katara, that’s not possible. Vegetables and fruit are ridiculously expensive at the local supermarket. Moreover, much of the meat her family eats comes from hunting. Compared with meat from intensive livestock farming, hunting is considerably more sustainable and animal-friendly. Katara: ‘The Inuit have lived in this area for thousands of years. There is no difference between us and the polar bears that live here: they hunt seals, seals hunt fish, fish eat shrimp.’ According to Katara, the Indigenous population is an inseparable part of that food chain.
Let’s do the math: one dollar is 65 cents
The prices in Katara’s photos are in Canadian dollars. One Canadian dollar converts to 65 euro cents, which gives you an idea of the exorbitant prices in this remote area. Weekly groceries usually cost 600 euros; if she leaves the supermarket with two full bags, she has paid between 50 and 100 dollars. Her household consists of eight people, which doesn’t make it any cheaper. The shopping list usually includes milk, bread, sugar, coffee and macaroni; fruit and vegetables are purchased only sparingly. Vegan food? Out of the question, says Katara, unless she wins the jackpot in the lottery.
Broccoli and a plane ticket
Critical Twitter users advised Katara to do her shopping a little farther south, for example in Otawa. Is shopping by plane practical? Not really, because a return ticket costs 1,200 dollars. She would have to bring back a sizeable bag of broccoli and fruit juice to make any savings.
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- Vegan gets furious over non-vegans eating tofu
Source: Bored Panda, photos: Katara Piujuq
