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Eight must-try foods for visitors to Canada’s spectacular Northwest Territories

4 March 2025 No Comments

When people think of the Northwest Territories, the term ‘culinary hotbed’ may not be the first thing that jumps to mind.

But with some of the purest waters and least spoiled lands left on the planet, this vast territory is host to fresh plants and wild game that have inspired countless traditional recipes and many innovative chefs.

From caught-that-day fish to only-in-the North herbs and delicacies, here’s why the Northwest Territories should be on the list of destinations for any serious foodie.

Bannock

This really is the comfort food of the Northwest Territories. At its most basic, bannock is flour, water, baking soda and lard. Recipes will vary by community, by family, and by available ingredients. You can mix in berries, smother it in butter and jam, or load it with salt or sugar. Bannock can be haute cuisine, or whipped together in a pinch, and eaten any time of the day.

Fresh fish

Whitefish, Burbot, Walleye, Lake Trout, Northern Pike, Arctic Grayling or Arctic Char: all of these species can be found in the waters of the Northwest Territories.Fresh fish is also on the menu of most restaurants. Guests to the Northwest Territories can book a tour with local fishing guides, who will treat them to their own special shore lunch—the unofficial meal of the NWT.

Dry fish

Another bounty from the lakes and rivers. But this time, the fish is cleaned and then cut into strips or cubes that hang on the skin and slowly dry over a smoking fire. Dryfish is a true Northern delicacy.

Arctic cranberries

Walk around some towns in late August or early September and you might think they were deserted. The truth is, some communities in the Northwest Territories will nearly empty out as residents head out with bags, buckets and baskets to their top-secret cranberry picking spots.

Northerners take berry-picking very seriously, so consider it a show of trust or friendship if you are invited out to join someone at their tried-and-true berry troves.

Aqpik

Aqpik (also called cloudberries or bakeapple, depending upon where you live in Canada) are plump, peach-coloured berries that are ripe for picking in late summer. Once you collect a basketful, aqpik can be boiled down into tasty jams or tart-and-sweet toppings for cakes or other baked goods.

Muktuk

Muktuk, an Inuvialuit treat, encompasses the skin and blubber of the beluga whale. Muktuk is highly sought after along the Arctic Coast, as a food rich in Vitamins C and D—nutrients otherwise in short supply in the High Arctic diet. With an oily texture and a fishy taste, it can be eaten raw, boiled or dried.

Spruce tips

For a couple of weeks in May, lime-green sprouts shoot out of the ends of the spruce tree’s branches. These spruce tips are sought out by the culinary-minded because the pine-tasting tips pack a real punch. They can be eaten on their own, or used as a garnish to spruce up fish and meat dishes. Spruce tips are also pickled, or they can be used to flavour anything from scones and breads to syrups, tinctures, salad dressing, cooking oils and even beer.

Birch syrup

Birch tapping is a springtime art that has been passed down by family members through generations in the NWT. The product, a bitter-yet-sweet caramel-tasting syrup, can be used in anything from puddings to meat glazes—or on your Saturday morning pancakes.

Recipes with roots: Chef Stephanie Baryluk on sharing Teetl’it Gwich’in teachings in cuisine

25 February 2025

What is Indigenous food?

It’s a question Stephanie Baryluk has been asking herself a lot these days. 

Growing up in the Teetl’it Gwich’in community of Fort McPherson in the Inuvik region of the Northwest Territories, the Red Seal chef has early memories of harvesting berries, moose and caribou alongside her mother and grandmother in their tight knit hamlet of just under 700 residents.

“As hard as it was growing up in a remote community, it wasn’t until I left that I really appreciated that sense of community and having family close by,” said Baryluk, who left Fort McPherson after finishing highschool to study culinary arts at the Vancouver Community College. “After leaving everything I knew, there was a really big disconnect to who I am, because I grew up with such a strong Indigenous culture, and how I found it again was through cooking and sharing meals.”

The bulk of Baryluk’s culinary training emphasized French cooking techniques, which largely contradicted her own culinary upbringing. “Indigenous cooking teaches us to never waste anything, and all of a sudden, I was learning about the best cuts and the best products,” Baryluk said. 

Now living and working in Vancouver, BC, Baryluk says that it was that strong sense of community and culture that ultimately drove her to pass on her knowledge of Indigenous recipes.

“There are a lot of people who lost their culture, their history, and who they were as people,” Baryluk said. “Even me, I’m still learning things about who we are as Gwich’in people. When I’m creating recipes and dishes, it’s definitely a fusion because I’m relearning and trying to figure out a way to tell that story.”

In March 2023, Baryluk created and founded the Rooted program at Simon Fraser University, which aims to showcase Indigenous recipes, flavours and ingredients. In collaboration with the university, Baryluk introduced a roster of recipes which are rotated twice weekly and offered on campus at SFU’s Dining Common area.

Each recipe includes a QR code which allows students to learn more about traditional Indigenous ingredients. Duck tacos with charred corn salsa and a blueberry BBQ salmon bowl, for example, are just a few of the popular dishes. Since its launch, the program has expanded to include a catering component.

And while the feedback from students and faculty has been overwhelmingly positive, Baryluk notes that serving Indigenous cuisine comes with its own set of unique challenges.

“I can’t serve moose or caribou in Vancouver, because I don’t have a reputable supplier,” she explained. Finding items that are available year round on the island in large quantities is another factor she must be mindful of. Salmon, for example, is a hearty staple in BC, much like whitefish sustained the community in Baryluk’s hometown in the Northwest Territories. 

Beyond her efforts with SFU, Baryluk continues to give back to the Indigenous community by offering private cooking lessons in the Northwest Territories.

“Even though I live away now, this work is for our people. And when I get to go back to the community, cooking is something I’ll always make the time for,” said Baryluk, noting that she’s held workshops for persons aged four through 70. “It’s nice to see other Indigenous people who are excited that our food and our stories are being shared,” she said. 

Recently, Baryluk’s niece finished her first year of culinary school—further validation that the work she’s doing is making a difference.

“At the beginning of my culinary career, I didn’t see a future in Indigenous cuisine, because it was just something that wasn’t done,” Baryluk said. “I think there’s a lot of reconciliation that’s trying to happen within Canada right now, so having this as a career option isn’t just important work; it’s so fulfilling as an Indigenous woman. It started as a way to build a connection back to my home, but now it’s just something I do everyday, and I love it.”

From bean to bar in Kaua’i

20 February 2025

Embodying the principle of Mālama ‘Āina, a Hawaiʻian  word that means to care for and honour the land for future generation, Lydgate Farms is a cacao farm run by Will Lydgate, whose family legacy on Kaua’i can be traced back across five generations. 

“My great-grandfather William arrived in 1865 with a dream to help build the future of the Hawaiian Kingdom,” he said. “[I’ve] dedicated myself to building a team that grows the best cacao the world has ever tasted.”

In addition to producing single-estate chocolate and treats like chocolate-covered macadamia nuts, Lydgate Farms also offers vanilla beans and small-batched palm blossom honey, alongside its highly successful chocolate tours. 

The farm has been recognized multiple times for producing some of the best chocolate in the world at international competitions, including its role representing the U.S. at the Cocoa of Excellence Awards held bi-annually in Paris, France.

On a mission to change the way people think about chocolate, tour guide Alexandra Webster said that many visitors who come to the farm don’t know that “cacao is an equatorial fruit — it only grows about 20° of the equator. That actually makes Hawai’i the only place in the continental U.S. that can commercially grow chocolate.”

Cacao is also a superfood that’s chock full of vitamins, trace minerals, and antioxidants.

Over the centuries, cacao and its variations, including drinking chocolate, was used to treat a multitude of ailments, from anemia, mental fatigue and tuberculosis, to fever, gout, kidney stones, and even poor sexual appetite. While most of the chocolate of today no longer has health benefits, top-of-the line fine chocolates do. “It only takes one ounce of quality chocolate a day to reap the benefits of heart health and brain health,” Webster said. “It’s shown to lower all-cause mortality.”

Based solely on the terroir of the farm, chocolate bars can elicit different flavour profiles from fruits to earthy tones. While there are only 14 original families of cacao, they cross-pollinate to create thousands of varietals and result in the various coloured pods that range from yellow to vibrant red.

“Chocolate that is fermented and is not confectionery — meaning it’s heavily diluted with milk and sugar — didn’t even exist until 1997,” Webster said. “People are just starting to learn about the art and the science that goes into making fine chocolate. Because Hawai’i is the only state where it can be commercially grown, we’re trying to transform Kaua’i into the Napa Valley of the chocolate world.”

To make sure people are purchasing quality chocolate, Webster suggests selecting chocolate that advertises a percentage of 70 or higher. “If there isn’t a percentage listed anywhere on the bar, that’s a red flag. That means they don’t want you to know,” she said. “It should be a selling point on the package.” 

Ethically speaking, customers can also look for words like “organic”, “bean-to-bar”, “fair trade”, “ethically-sourced”, or “Rainforest Alliance” on the labels. “I encourage you to look up what that means — what hoops companies have to jump through to put that label on their packaging.” 

At US$18 a pop, a chocolate bar from Lydgate Farms comes with a heftier price tag than your typical store-bought Cadbury bar. But when you consider the process involved, it should be a lot steeper. 

After planting a seed, cacao trees bear mature fruit in approximately five years. Only then will cocoa blossoms start to bloom and then be pollinated by tiny midges. From there, it takes between six and eight months for maturation, with cacao trees living anywhere from 50 to 100 years. When it’s all said and done, the journey from bean to bar takes six to seven years.

“Chocolate has more intricacies, more terroir, and more flavour markers than wine,” Webster concluded.