Featured photo

Near Lovozero [Lujávri,] Siberia, USSR, 1980 (click to view full size)

"Memory stakes a trail in a roadless land as a Saami, or Lapp, herder heads for his reindeer herd 30 miles from Lovozero. Since the 1930s, reindeer raising, the primary occupation of many Soviet Arctic people, has been managed mostly by state and collective farms, but animals forage on the tundra, surviving largely on lichens and mosses."

Text and photograph from "People of the Long Spring" February 1983, National Geographic magazine. This was National Geographic photo of the day 12/11/06. Photo by Dean Conger.

Reindeer games

USA Today, 11/28/06:

Lawman's long arm collars renegade reindeer in Norwegian Arctic

OSLO (AP) — It took the long arm of the law to restore order when a renegade reindeer sprinted along a highway in Norway's Arctic, nearly causing a series of traffic accidents.

The long arm belonged to Acting Sheriff Klemet Klemetsen, who reached through the window of his police cruiser and grabbed the fleeing animal by the skin of the neck while driving alongside it.

"That was a new experience for me," the 50-year-old officer told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "It isn't normal procedure for a police officer to grab a reindeer through his car window. I've never heard of it before."

read more

Reindeer meat - now in Chicago and at your nearest landing strip

Can't make it to an Alaska street vendor, but want to try a reindeer hot dog? Through December 30, you can eat one in the suburbs of Chicago. To get this treat one normally has to visit Alaska, but now you can get one at fRedhots and Fries, 1707 Chestnut Ave in Glenview. The hot dogs cost $8, and are supplied by Indian Valley Meats of Indian, Alaska. Everyone outside Chicago can still enjoy the hot dogs and other reindeer meats by ordering directly from their website.

So you're out of delivery range for this Nome pizzeria that delivers its reindeer sausage pizza over hundreds of miles by air? Order from one of the online suppliers below, and make homemade pizza!
Fisherman's Express
Alaska Sausage and Seafood
Really folks, Airport Pizza does deliver its pizza by airplane, going as far five hundred miles so far. Watch the CBS news video here, listen to the NPR radio segment here.
According to USA Today "Prices for the pies range from $16 for a small cheese pizza to $32 for a large specialty pizza. One of the farthest orders? That came from the Arctic Ocean town of Barrow, about 500 miles away and the USA’s northernmost community, where residents placed an order for six reindeer sausage pizzas." Have your own plane and want to try it yourself? They do have a fly through. But don't fly in just to save on delivery charges, everything is free delivery!

For other options to buy reindeer meat in North America, check your local Scandinavian foods shop, they occasionally carry it.

Ikea is reportedly doing very well selling reindeer meat to its European customers, perhaps North America is not too far behind? According to Food & Drink Europe:

"Ikea is selling reindeer meat to the masses across Europe, with volumes going up each year.

In France, admittedly a country that eats most things that can be hunted wild, smoked reindeer meat is flying out of Ikea's in store Swedish Food Markets. The carnivorous French consume twice as much as the second biggest consumer, Germany, even though they have only half the Ikea outlets of their neighbours."

read more