Clams and the Food-Water-Health-Nexus in Nunavut, with Stephanie Gerend

Ensuring well-being and promoting healthy lives among Inuit involves recognizing the cultural dimensions of health and acknowledging that it extends beyond the absence of disease. Harvesting, sharing, and consuming local country foods (traditional Inuit food) remain integral to Inuit identity, and are critical to physical, social, emotional, and spiritual health. Country foods play a fundamental role in defining Inuit identity, values, and health. Not only are country foods a source of wellness, but an individual’s relations with food are also important in traditional understandings of well-being and food security. Seafood, specifically clams (Mya truncata), are an integral component of health and identity for many in Inuit Nunangat (Inuit homelands in Canada).

Beyond providing a nutritious and accessible food source, harvesting and consuming clams are important cultural activities. Clams are also an accessible country food that require minimal financial resources to harvest, further highlighting their importance. While the relationship between climate, food, water, and Inuit health are important to Inuit, there has been limited research conducted at this interface, especially in the context of climate change. There is also significant gap in understanding clams in the context of Inuit knowledge. Nunavut partners expressed concern about the lack of Inuit knowledge in published research articles, as well as the lack of information available about harvest yields. Closing this gap is crucial for a comprehensive appreciation of the intricate connections between country foods, and the holistic well-being of Inuit communities.