What to eat Greenland? culinary specialties and gastronomy

Food stores are generally open weekdays from 10am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, and close earlier on weekends. Opening hours in villages are often not respected, and when there's only one shop, it's usually open every day, even on Sundays. However, don't worry, it's always possible to make yourself understood and ask to be opened if necessary. We won't let you starve!

Restaurants, meanwhile, are generally open every day during the high season, and at varying times in winter.

Prices vary across Greenland. Food is much more expensive in the east and north of the country, where food supplies are scarcer. A standard restaurant meal easily exceeds DKK 200, so supermarkets are a good way to balance your budget.

While Greenland is self-sufficient in fish and certain meat products, everything else has to be imported by ship, and this naturally has an impact on prices. Compared with Scandinavia, prices are around 10% higher (particularly alcohol, tobacco, fruit and vegetables). To give you a quick idea, here are a few ideas of the prices of various consumer products: 1 bottle of water at €3, 1 beer at €5, 1 liter of milk at €1.50, 1 pack of pasta or rice between €3 and €4, 1 salad at €5, 1 pack of cigarettes at €12. Credit cards are accepted throughout the country. And you'll find cash dispensers in most towns.

Service and taxes are included in the price, along with water and even bread. So tipping is neither customary nor necessary. It's up to you!

You may be surprised by menus featuring seal, whale or musk-ox dishes: be an adventurer at heart! You may be pleasantly surprised by the local gastronomy. The berries are delicious. The rules of etiquette are the same as back home. Avoid derogatory remarks about seals or whales: Greenlanders have been eating them for generations.

Smoking is not allowed in restaurants.

You won't find as extensive a bar culture in Greenland as in France or elsewhere. The main ones are to be found in major towns like Narsaq (which has its own brewery, called QajaQ!), Nuuk, Sisimiut and Ilulissat. Some of them attract heavy drinkers and have a rather bad reputation. Ask directly on site for opening times.

Expect to pay around DKK 35 for a beer in a supermarket, and between DKK 50 and 80 in a restaurant or bar.

Although Greenlanders are allowed to buy alcohol from the age of 16, they must be at least 18 to be served in an establishment. The vendor will normally ask for an identity card. Good to know: to combat alcoholism, it can only be bought before 6pm on weekdays and 1pm on Saturdays. Sunday sales are strictly forbidden.

Apart from the bars, you'll be invited to share a toast with the locals at a kaffemik. And don't forget to add an indispensable word to your vocabulary before you go: Kasuutta! Cheers!