page_title: Yup'ik cuisine
section_title: Birds
hierarchical_section_title: Yup'ik cuisine / Food sources / Birds
caption_attribution_description: Horned Puffins on a Nunivak Island sea cliff
context_page_description: Yup'ik cuisine refers to the Eskimo style traditional subsistence food and cuisine of the Yup'ik people from the western and southwestern Alaska. Also known as Cup'ik cuisine for the Chevak Cup'ik dialect speaking Eskimos of Chevak and Cup'ig cuisine for the Nunivak Cup'ig dialect speaking Eskimos of Nunivak Island. This cuisine is traditionally based on meat from fish, birds, sea and land mammals, and normally contains high levels of protein. Subsistence foods are generally considered by many to be nutritionally superior superfoods. Yup’ik diet is different from Alaskan Inupiat, Canadian Inuit, and Greenlandic diets. Fish as food are primary food for Yup'ik Eskimos. Both food and fish called neqa in Yup'ik. Food preparation techniques are fermentation and cooking, also uncooked raw. Cooking methods are baking, roasting, barbecuing, frying, smoking, boiling, and steaming. Food preservation methods are mostly drying and less often frozen. Dried fish is usually eaten with seal oil. The ulu or fan-shaped knife used for cutting up fish, meat, food, and such.
context_section_description: Birds (tengmiaq sg tengmiak dual tengmiat pl or yaqulek sg yaqulgek dual yaqulget pl in Yup'ik and Cup'ik, tengmiar sg tengmiag dual tengmiat pl in Cup'ig)
  Eggs of some species were collected.
  Waterfowl were prepared in a variety of ways such as boiling, baking, and in soups.
  Common eider or Pacific eider Somateria mollissima (metraq in Yup'ik and Cup'ik, angiikvak in northern Yup'ik dialects, metr(ar), nanwista, metrapig ♀ tunupista ♂ in Cup'ig)
  King eider Somateria mollissima (qengallek in Yup'ik and Cup'ik, qengalleg in Cup'ig).
  Steller's eider Polysticta stelleri (anarnissakaq [Yukon], caqiar(aq) [Kuskokwim] in Yup'ik, qaciar(ar) in Cup'ig)
  Oldsquaw or long-tailed duck Clangula hyemalis (allgiar(aq) [Kuskokwim], allgiar [Bristol Bay], aliaaliq [Unaliq-Pastuliq], aarraaliq, aarraangiiq [Kuskokwim] in Yup'ik, aarraangiiraq, aarrangyaraq in Cup'ik, aarrangiir in Cup'ig).
  Swan or tundra swan, whistling swan Cygnus columbianus columbianus (qugyuk in Yup'ik and Cup'ik, qugsuk [Unaliq-Pastuliq], caqulegpak [Egegik], qugyug in Cup'ig)
  Sandhill crane Grus canadensis (qucillgaq in Yup'ik and Cup'ik, qucilkuryug in Cup'ig).
  Ptarmigan were preserved by freezing or drying after being plucked or skinned. Once dried, the birds commonly were eaten without any other preparation. As with many dried foods, seal oil a frequent to dried ptarmigan. Ptarmigan were also cooked by boiling and were often the basis for soups.
  Common murre or common guillemot Uria aalge (alpa ~ alpaq in Yup'ik and Cup'ik, alpa in Cup'ig)
  Pigeon guillemot Cepphus columba (ciguraq in Yup'ik and Cup'ik, cigurer in Cup'ig)
  Crested auklet Aethia cristatella (cip'lagar, cukilpag in Cup'ig)
  Horned puffin Fratercula corniculata (qilangaq, qengacuar(aq) in Yup'ik and Cup'ik, qilangar, tunngar in Cup'ig)
  Black-legged kittiwake Rissa tridactyla (naruyacuaq in Yup'ik and Cup'ik, tengaurta, tengauqsarar(ar), qarliar(ar) in Cup'ig)
  Pelagic cormorant Phalacrocorax pelagicus (uyalek in Yup'ik and Cup'ik, uyaleg in Cup'ig)
  Snowy owl Bubo scandiacus (anipa ~ anipaq in Yup'ik and Cup'ik, anipar in Cup'ig)
caption: Horned puffins on a Nunivak Island sea cliff, August 2008
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