Bread and Power in the “Land of No Bread” – Low-Carbohydrate Sámi Diet in Transition

Abstract

Abstract Throughout history, conquerors and those in power have assumed control not only of the people and the lands they have occupied but also of their food cultures and dietary habits. Encounters related to food have had undeniable influence on the nutrition, the health, and the environment of populations. The traditional diet of the Sámi living in Finnish Lapland – especially in the Utsjoki parish – was heavily dependent on meat and fish, while the diet of officials and settlers coming from the southern parts of the land was based on bread and other sources of carbohydrates. When officials relocated to Lapland, they often brought along bread, flour, and agricultural tools suitable for cultivating grain. The first task of the teacher of a school established in Utsjoki, the northernmost parish of Finnish Lapland, in the 1740s was to travel to the coast of the Arctic Ocean to buy flour for the school and its boarding pupils – despite the fact that the pupils were probably not accustomed to a diet that included bread. Information on matters such as this has been recorded in many sources consulted by historians, and makes it possible to focus on the role of food and dietary habits as an important part of cultural encounters and exchange. The attitudes of the Sámi towards food indicate that the use of power was not always a one-directional, top-down process. Even the rural communities of the northernmost part of Europe could benefit equally from the international trade connections and the increased choice of goods they brought. The inhabitants of the Sámi region also reflected on their own dietary habits and its shortcomings: the potato became popular in Europe starting in the eighteenth century, and some Sámi also expressed their interest in cultivating potato by the 1820s.