INUVIK
It's not every day a room full of teenagers holding knives is wholeheartedly encouraged.

Tiara Nasogaluak, left, Tyanna Bain and Danny Jellema show off the fish heads they have been cleaning to make fish-head soup for local elders in home economics class Oct. 8. - Sarah Ladik/NNSL photos

Last week, the home economics class at East Three Secondary School was the exception.

In it, students broke down, prepped and cooked Arctic char for two full days from Ulukhaktok, brought in by the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation.

While they certainly enjoyed the experience - covered in fish guts and all - there was a greater purpose to the exercise.

Tiff-Annie Kenny is a graduate student at the University of Ottawa working on her PhD thesis involving traditional food. She said that in work she and her colleagues have done, they found that incorporating traditional food into children's diets not only improved their nutrition and health but also their social well-being. That being said, it's not all about the harvesting process.

Kenny said there was a dearth of knowledge in younger generations about how to prepare the food they could hunt, catch and gather.

"We heard it's not just about harvesting but processing," she said. "I hope they get more opportunities to learn about traditional food."

For some, it was hardly an introduction. Jason Jacobson said he regularly prepares fish with his family and that breaking down char wasn't anything new.

"I do this at home a lot," he said. "But hearing everyone else's weird comments is funny."

Some of the students, he said, were reluctant at first to even touch the fish. They overcame their initial fears, however, and soon everyone was cutting up steaks, cleaning out bones, and digging for eggs in the frozen mass.

Kenny said there was a clear difference even between the Grade 7s and Grade 12s in their willingness to take part. The younger grades, she said, are still willing to get dirty.

While the char was destined for chowder, dry fish, and a variety of other dishes, including fish-head soup for the elders, Jacobson said he doesn't really like cooked fish.

"Frozen fish with just salt is good," he said.

On hand to teach the students about the fish they were preparing was Alice Kimiksana.

She said she was having fun with the classes and enjoyed passing on the skills.

"They're learning really well," she said. "It's fun. For me, this is just the way I grew up. This is how you survived and were healthy."

She too noticed the difference between the younger and older grades, saying the Grade 7s she was working with when interviewed were a good age-group.

"They don't care that they're dirty or smelly," she said, adding that her family live on fish all winter. "Lots of them haven't seen char like this before. They're learning how to prepare their own meals, for someday when they move away from home. It's good, it doesn't cost anything and it's convenient."

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