Pizza with a northern twist: Inuktitut cookbook offers new spin on Inuit cooking

Its pages feature a smorgasbord of delectable dishes, including ramen, tartare, pizza and stroganoff, but the recipesfeature Arctic char, seal, whale and caribou.

Niqilurniq is a new cookbook written in Inuktitut Roman orthography. It was compiled by Annie Desilets, who went to school for cooking at the Institut de tourisme et d'htellerie du Qubec in Montreal. She worked on the book with four Inuit women in Igloolik Micah Arreak, Lucy Kappianaq, Glenda Kripanik and Kanadaise Uyarasuk.

Desilets says the idea came to her in 2012, when she was giving cooking lessons in the community.

"I could see there was a lot of interest into learning how to cook, and interestinto sharing recipes in the community," she said.

"There's not [many] recipes you can find with country food in books, or on the internet, and lots of recipes are difficult to do because you can't find the ingredients in small community stores. So this cookbook takes care of this reality."

It's split into three sections: imaq,food from the sea; nuna, food from the land; and palaugaat, which is bread recipes.

"We decided not to do like entrees, main dish and this stuff because it's very like southerners' way of thinking," said Desilets.

The book doesn't just offer recipes it also gives nutrition tips.

Desilets said she hopes the book inspires readers to link country food with the types of food available in stores, and give an alternative to prepackaged foods.

"It was important for us to share this knowledge so people can make better choices, know more about what they're eating," she said.

"And personally, as a cook, I just wanted to share the joy of cooking."

Niqilurniq is only available in Inuktitutright now, but Desilets says Inhabit Media is working on an English version. It's for sale on the Inhabit Media website and offered for free as a PDF on the Nunavut Bilingual Education Society website.

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As for Nunavummiut who might want to share their own recipes?

"I encourage people from other communities to do [it]," said Desilets. "It's so much fun to do, just sharing recipes, trying it together."