Your Arctic Cruise May Come With A Mouth-Watering 'Tundra To Table' Dining Experience Exploring This Regional Cuisine

When it comes to cruise lines have the best food, Quark Expeditions may not immediately spring to mind. But for an exclusive, unique, and memorable dining experience, Quark Expeditions delivers a dining experience that stands out. On select cruises in Greenland and Iceland, guests can enjoy the signature Tundra to Table chef's menu, introducing diners aboard the Ultramarine to a food they're most likely unfamiliar with: modern Inuit fusion. The experience is far more meaningful and interesting than your typical, crowded dinner buffet, where you need to follow the unwritten rules of dining on cruise ships, like how to get the freshest food.

Tundra to Table makes use of impeccably fresh, local ingredients: seafood straight from the Arctic waters, and locally-sourced game like musk ox. The four-course dinner is prepared by Inuit chefs who are knowledgeable about their Indigenous culinary heritage. They use the freshest traditional ingredients to create modern Inuit fusion dishes that embrace contemporary flavors while celebrating their culinary cultural heritage.

The experience is an add-on at $125 USD per person at the time of writing. Profits are split between the chefs, the Inuit Igapall project that partnered with Quark on developing Tundra to Table, and the Qajuqturvik Community Food Center, a non-profit organization in Nunavut, the northernmost territory of Canada, that helps address food insecurity in a region with a population that is 85% Inuit. 

Tundra to Table is the only Inuit menu of its kind offered aboard a polar cruise. Led by Greenland chefs Peter Berthelsen and Miki Siegstad, each creation connects and introduces diners to Inuit culture through elemental flavors and storytelling. The chefs met in culinary school in 2011, and together they're developing innovative Inuit fusion dishes. Today, they work alongside other Inuit chefs through Igapall to share meals inspired by their heritage and traditions.

In the evening, about 20 passengers gather at either Balena restaurant or Bistro 487, both intimate settings with views that overlook the Arctic landscapes. Not only do guests indulge in incredible Inuit-Nordic fusion dishes, but they also learn about culture and culinary traditions through conversations with the chefs during the feast. After dessert, the chefs have often joined the diners to continue the lively and educational discussion and speak more about the sustainable methods used to gather the ingredients, and the meaning behind Greenlandic food customs.

In a Quark Expeditions YouTube video, the chefs spoke of the experience: "With the guests sometimes we do a Q and A, and I talk a lot about our culture. I feel so privileged that I can serve all the food to all these guests from all over the world," explained Chef Siegstad. Chef Berthelsen added, "It makes me so proud to do that, the Greenlandic cultural food lives on still, and will live on for our future."

For Tundra to Table, each ingredient is thoughtfully selected to highlight Greenland and Nunavut, with approximately half of the ingredients regionally sourced, with 20% from small community suppliers or even foraged by the chefs themselves. The program also avoids using animal products from species that are endangered or at risk, such as whales and polar bears. They gather the majority of their ingredients through sustainable harvesting practices and traditional hunting methods, as far as possible carried out by local Indigenous peoples.

During the add-on experience, guests indulge in meat and seafood dishes such as freshly-caught Arctic fish and free-range game like musk ox, reindeer, or caribou. The menu includes four courses, each plate exquisitely presented; some garnished with edible flowers and herbs meticulously arranged using tweezers. Dishes vary by voyage, but examples include beer-braised musk ox, honey-glazed ptarmigan — a type of wild bird, or pickled halibut with lumpfish dip and freshly-baked bread.

Guests have raved about the experience. In the same YouTube video from the Quark Expeditions, one in particular highlighted how meaningful it was: "I was intrigued by the whole concept of learning anything about Inuit cooking. Enjoying the food made by people who've grown up here and were cooking from their own traditions makes it all more real and beautiful and meaningful." With Tundra to Table, not only are you participating in an exceptional dining experience, you're aboard a ship that's cruising under the very skies where the Aurora Borealis shines. If you're lucky, you might catch the dazzling phenomenon, since both Greenland and Iceland are two of the best places to see the Northern Lights.