I have not eaten animals for almost thirty years.

When I told people I was moving to Nunavut, nine out of ten of them would eventually ask the same question. It was a question that, deep down, I was also asking myself: “How are you going to survive there as someone who does not eat animals?”

(Spoiler: I am surviving just fine. More than fine, actually.)

Whether you are fully vegan, vegetarian, or just plant-based-ish, life in Nunavut is more manageable than the internet (or your worried relatives) would have you believe. You only need to know what to expect and to plan accordingly.

I decided to write this article to help people who are moving to Nunavut and do not know what to expect.

It starts before you even land

I flew from Ottawa to Iqaluit, and then from Iqaluit to the hamlet where I now live.

I was bracing myself for sad airplane crackers and a hunger-induced compromise somewhere over Baffin Island. I had selected the plant-based meal option. But for a short flight inside Canada, and after my long experience with Air Canada, I expected to end up with only crackers.

That was not the case.

Plant-based meals were available on the flights. This included the small flight from Iqaluit to the hamlet. Here is the plant-based burger they offered on a two-hour flight inside Nunavut:

Even more surprising, the Iqaluit airport had a spot that offered a plant-based burger too:

This set a tone I was not expecting: this is going to be more doable than people think.

Your final stop will decide the level of challenge

Iqaluit is as close to a southern food experience as you will get in Nunavut.

There are restaurants, and some of them have vegan options. From my research, the grocery stores also carry a decent variety of vegan and vegetarian products. So if Iqaluit is your final stop, you are set. Shop smart, cook at home when you can, and you will have very little to worry about.

But if you are moving to a small hamlet, more planning will be required.

Small Nunavut hamlets are tight-knit, remote communities. They have no restaurants, limited store inventory, and no guarantee of restocks. That does not mean being vegan or vegetarian is impossible. It means you need to think ahead, and you need to think in bulk.

However, do not assume the local store is a dead end.

In my experience, even small hamlet grocery stores carry some vegan-friendly basics. The store in my hamlet carries plant-based milk, tofu, a nice variety of vegetables and fruits, and much more.

Yes, it is expensive. Yes, you cannot count on the store alone to get everything you need. But you can find the basics to keep yourself nutritionally in check.

Bulk buying and cooking are your new lifestyle

Before you move, stock up on the building blocks of a plant-based kitchen. Bring as much of it with you as you can:

• Dried beans and lentils: cheap, lightweight, versatile, and shelf-stable for months.
• Nutritional yeast, spices, and flavour bases: the small things that make everything taste like something.
• Tofu-making supplies: if you are open to it, making your own tofu is genuinely worth learning. It is cheaper than buying it at the store. One block of tofu in my hamlet is about $10 CAD.
• Ingredients for homemade meat alternatives: think vital wheat gluten for seitan, plus flaxseed, oats, and whatever else you use to make burgers, sausages, and patties.

There are some genuinely excellent YouTube channels dedicated to homemade plant-based cooking. Here are a few of them:

• Wendy the Food Scientist
• Mark Stache
• Thee Burger Dude
• Rainbow Plant Life

Online ordering from the South

So the products you brought with you are only going to last a few more months? Do not panic.

You can order products from Amazon, talk to your local store, and also rely on companies that specialize in shipping groceries and goods from southern Canada to northern communities. Do your research ahead of time. And keep in mind that things take much longer to arrive here. What you would receive in two days in the south might take a few weeks to reach your community.

Yes, I know it will not be cheap. But if you want the variety of the south and the prices of the south… then stay in the south.

On being offered country food

This one matters, and I want to get it right.

Inuit food culture is built around sharing. If someone offers you meat from a recent hunt, such as seal, caribou, or arctic char, it is an act of genuine generosity.

I remember I was really afraid of saying no. I was worried they would find my “no” disrespectful.

But then someone with much more experience in Inuit life told me it is okay to say no. They explained that when someone offers you country food, the right response is not to look uncomfortable or to launch into a long explanation of why you do not eat animals. Instead, without making it a whole thing, let them know that you do not eat meat, but that you truly appreciate them thinking of you (and mean it).

The bottom line

Being vegan or vegetarian in Nunavut is not the crisis that people assume it is.

It requires more planning than it would in the south. It requires more creativity in the kitchen. And it requires more spending. But it is absolutely doable, even in a small hamlet.

So take a deep breath, follow the suggestions above, and you will be just fine.