Puffin is a culinary speciality of the Faroe Islands, in the North Atlantic Ocean. Atlantic puffins breed in the islands in large numbers, notably on Mykines, and from July, after the breeding season, it is legal to catch them for food.
Puffins are also harvested and eaten in Iceland, especially in the Westmen Isles.
In the summer months, the Faroes are home to about five million seabirds, including two million breeding pairs, with a biomass of 3,000 tonnes. Seabird harvesting in the Faroe Islands has been carried out sustainably for at least 300 years, historically forming a very important component of the Faroese diet. Bag limits are now set each year to maintain the harvest of tens of thousands of birds annually. Ownership of the areas where puffins, and other harvested seabirds, breed and are caught, may be by individuals or communally by villages. Puffins and fulmars are the most important species harvested, but guillemots and gannets (and, historically, other species) are also taken. [1] [2]
Puffins are caught by the traditional method of "fleyging". This is catching the birds in flight by actively netting them with the hand-wielded "fleygingarstong", a 3.6 metre-long pole with a small net at the end suspended between two rods, somewhat like a very long lacrosse stick. Fleyging is usually carried out on a cliff-top from a "fleygises", or fleyging-seat, built of stones in a small depression so that the fleyger is concealed from overflying puffins. The puffins then have their necks snapped or their heads simply pulled off. Several hundred puffins may be caught in this way by one person in a day. [3]
Puffins are culturally important in the Faroe Islands. The Faroese word for puffin is "lundi". A popular and much loved Faroese cartoon character is the bespectacled puffin known as Ludvik Lundi.
The birds are traditionally prepared by being skinned, the feet, wings and internal organs removed, soaked in a simple marinade of saltwater, milk or ale, then browned in a pan or boiled. They are sometimes smoked before being cooked. More recently other methods, such as grilling the breasts, are being used. Puffins may also be stuffed with sweet cake dough, raisins and spices, before being boiled or roasted. [4]
Puffins are any of three species of small alcids (auks) in the bird genus Fratercula with a brightly colored beak during the breeding season. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crevices among rocks or in burrows in the soil. Two species, the tufted puffin and horned puffin, are found in the North Pacific Ocean, while the Atlantic puffin is found in the North Atlantic Ocean.
The Atlantic puffin, also known as the common puffin, is a species of seabird in the auk family. It is the only puffin native to the Atlantic Ocean; two related species, the tufted puffin and the horned puffin, are found in the northeastern Pacific. The Atlantic puffin breeds in Iceland, Norway, Greenland, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and the Faroe Islands, and as far south as Maine in the west and parts of Great Britain in the east. The Atlantic Puffin is most commonly found on the Westman Islands, Iceland. Although it has a large population and a wide range, the species has declined rapidly, at least in parts of its range, resulting in it being rated as vulnerable by the IUCN. On land, it has the typical upright stance of an auk. At sea, it swims on the surface and feeds mainly on small fish, which it catches by diving under water, using its wings for propulsion.
The skuas are a group of predatory seabirds with about seven species forming the genus Stercorarius, the only genus in the family Stercorariidae. The three smaller skuas are called jaegers in American English.
The little auk or dovekie is a small auk, the only member of the genus Alle. Alle is the Sami name of the long-tailed duck; it is onomatopoeic and imitates the call of the drake duck. Linnaeus was not particularly familiar with the winter plumages of either the auk or the duck, and appears to have confused the two species. Other common names include rotch, rotche, and sea dove, although this last sometimes refers to a different auk, the Black Guillemot, instead.
Lítla Dímun is a small, uninhabited island between the islands of Suðuroy and Stóra Dímun in the Faroe Islands. It is the smallest of the main 18 islands, being less than a square kilometre in area, and is the only uninhabited one. The island can be seen from the villages of Hvalba and Sandvík.
Hestur is an island in the central Faroe Islands, to the west of Streymoy and the south of Koltur. Hestur means horse in Faroese.
Mykines is the westernmost of the 18 main islands of the Faroese Archipelago.
Kunoy (meaning Woman island, is an island located in the north-east of the Faroe Islands between Kalsoy to the west and Borðoy to the east.
Svínoy is an island located in the north-east of the Faroe Islands, to the east of Borðoy and Viðoy. It takes its name from Old Norse, Svíney, meaning "Swine Isle". Svinoy also refers to a section of the ocean where North Atlantic water flows into the Norwegian Sea. There is a similarly named island, Swona, in the Orkney Islands.
Fugloy is the easternmost island in the Faroe Islands.
Stóra Dímun is an island in the southern Faroe Islands, sometimes only referred to as Dímun. It is accessible by sea only during periods of clear and calm weather, but there is a regular helicopter service twice a week all year. There is a lighthouse on the island.
Skúvoy or Skúgvoy is an island in the central Faroe Islands, located to the south of Sandoy.
Sandoy ("Sand Island" is the first of the five southern islands that make up the Faroe chain, the fifth biggest of all the Faroe Islands, an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Denmark. It also refers to the region that includes this island along with Skúvoy and Stóra Dímun. As of January 2020, the largest population center on the island is the village of Sandur with a population of 532. Other settlements include Skarvanes, Skopun, Skálavík, Húsavík and Dalur.
Vágar is one of the 18 islands in the archipelago of the Faroe Islands and the most westerly of the large islands. With a size of 178 square kilometres, it ranks number three, behind Streymoy and Eysturoy. Vágar region also comprises the island of Mykines.
The Skerries are a group of sparsely vegetated rocky islets (skerries), with a total area of about 17 hectares lying 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) offshore from Carmel Head at the northwest corner of Anglesey, Wales. The islands are important as a breeding site for seabirds, and they attract divers, who come to visit the numerous shipwrecks. The Skerries Lighthouse sits atop the highest point in the islands.
Muttonbirding is the seasonal harvesting of the chicks of petrels, especially shearwater species, for food, oil and feathers by recreational or commercial hunters. Such hunting of petrels and other seabirds has occurred in various locations since prehistoric times, and there is evidence that many island populations have become extinct as a result. More recently ‘muttonbirding’ usually refers to the regulated and sustainable harvesting of shearwaters in Australia and New Zealand. These include the short-tailed shearwater, also known as the yolla or Australian muttonbird, in Bass Strait, Tasmania, as well as the sooty shearwater, also known as the titi or New Zealand muttonbird, on several small islands known as the Muttonbird Islands, scattered around Stewart Island in the far south of New Zealand.
The fauna of the Faroe Islands is characterized by the islands' remote location in the North Atlantic Ocean. There are few terrestrial species, but relatively many breeding seabirds and marine animals. Some subspecies and breeds are endemic. All land mammals were introduced by humans.
The flora and fauna of the Outer Hebrides in north west Scotland comprises a unique and diverse ecosystem. A long archipelago, set on the eastern shores of the Atlantic Ocean, it attracts a wide variety of seabirds, and thanks to the Gulf Stream a climate more mild than might be expected at this latitude. Because it is on the Gulf Stream, it also occasionally gets exotic visitors.
Important parts of Faroese cuisine are lamb and fish, owing to the proximity to the ocean. Traditional foods from the Faroe Islands include skerpikjøt, seafood, whale meat, blubber, garnatálg, Faroese puffins, potatoes, and few fresh vegetables.