From reindeer herding to public kitchens

Food plays a major role in our identity. It carries memories and identity. For the Sámi traditional food systems are inseparable from livelihoods and culture. Reindeer herding, fishing, hunting, gathering, and small-scale farming have sustained communities for centuries. Yet today, this food system faces profound pressures, from diverse forms of resource extraction and industrial food systems driven by neoliberal economics, policy frameworks including carnivore protection, and climate change, all of which threaten both the nutritional and cultural integrity of Sámi diets.
In the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists (IYRP), Ildikó Asztalos Morell, Associate Professor of Sociology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Department of Urban and Rural Development, in collaboration with partners at Ranchi University in India and Umeå University highlights not only the challenges confronting Sámi Indigenous food systems, but also brings this traditional food to revive ageing populations.

Nutritional value of reindeer meat and by-products

A reflection from Asztalos Morell’s research project suggests the importance of familiar foods for both physical and mental well-being among Sami elders. A study on the Sami ageing population and their food preferences highlights the significance of food as identity, a topic often overlooked in ageing studies.

In Sweden, older adults in elderly care generally have access to sufficient food in line with national nutritional guidelines. Despite this, undernutrition remains a persistent problem, food waste is widespread, and refusal to eat is common, particularly among minority groups. Nutritious and enjoyable food is a key determinant of healthy and active ageing.

“Many Sami elders say they simply do not recognize the food they are served as                     food that belongs to them.”

Using the method of Sami food inspirer Ann Sparrock, Asztalos Morell’s research group emphasize the importance of basing food provision on local food traditions. For the Sami, traditional food is closely linked to the eight seasons of reindeer herding and to a holistic use of the whole animal. Through interviews and workshops, older Sámi adults identified eight preferred meals, many using entrails, such as blood, liver, heart, fet, tongue, which arediscarded in commercial slaughterhouses, where Sámi have to perform slaughter for sales.

Reindeer meat is not just culturally significant; it is nutritionally exceptional. Research by Lena Maria Nilsson and others has shown that reindeer meat has higher micronutrient density than industrial meats such as pork or beef, meaning smaller amounts can provide the same nutritional benefit. Food prepared holistically from reindeer offers more than nutrients. It contributes to sustaining their identity, inspires memories and appetite, and enhances well-being.

Particularly, Traditional Sámi foods are nutritionally superior to farmed or imported foods, providing the minerals and proteins suited to Arctic conditions. The decline in traditional food consumption in the area reduces access to nutritionally rich foods and weakens cultural identity, especially for elderly Sámi, for whom reindeer herding and traditional foods are central to cultural belonging.

Environmental pressures

Arctic Indigenous food knowledge systems cannot be understood outside the context of resource governance. Reindeer herding societies face growing pressures from climate change, biodiversity loss, shrinking grazing lands, and economic reforms that have failed to incorporate traditional food knowledge into sustainable development planning and public management. Addressing these challenges requires examining how economies, land use, and external relations are governed.

Sámi food systems face challenges from market forces, environmental change and land-use conflicts. Forestry, mining, and infrastructure projects destroy lichen habitats critical for reindeer survival, threatening livelihoods central to Sámi culture and diet. Simultaneously, commercial slaughterhouses dominate the food commodity chain, limiting Sámi control over production, distribution, and pricing, and thereby weakening food sovereignty.

Municipal procurement policies offer some hope but remain limited. However, 27 Sámi administrative municipalities receive grants to promote Sámi culture and language in Sweden, according to Asztalos Morell, municipal food procurement is largely dominated by imports and/or global food chains rather than traditional foods.

Reconnect pastoralists to food system

Pastoralists are broadly defined as extensive livestock farmers, herders, and ranchers whose livelihoods depend on healthy rangelands; globally, about 500 million people practise pastoralism, contributing roughly 16 per cent of food production.

For the Sámi, diet and livelihood are inseparable. Reindeer herding, fishing, hunting, gathering, and small-scale farming form a food system rooted in seasonal use of rangelands and deep ecological knowledge. Reindeer meat, wild-caught fish, wild berries, and gathered herbs are not merely cultural symbols. Pastoralism offers potential for poverty reduction and more resilient livelihoods.

Reindeer husbandry is the best-known Sámi livelihood, and reindeer naturally occupy a central place in Sámi cuisine. Its importance reflects a broader pastoralist reality: food derived from free-ranging animals and biodiverse landscapes sustains both human health and ecosystems. Yet economic pressures, climate change, loss of grazing lands, and exclusion from governance are undermining these systems, with consequences for nutrition, culture, and biodiversity.

Governance and indigenous knowledge

The right to culturally adapted elder and childcare is a key aspect of minority rights in Sweden. National authorities have acknowledged that culturally adapted meals play an important role in supporting cultural identity and well-being. But in practice, they are often poorly defined and reduced to symbolic gestures.

Indigenous food systems have limited influence over policies and programmes that affect their food security, livelihoods, and identity. This situation accelerates, with consequences that extend from land stewardship to what ends up or fails to end up on the plates of older people in child and care institutions.

Addressing these gaps requires policies and investments that recognize indigenous governance systems and knowledge in food system planning. Sámi reindeer herding is not only an economic activity, but a knowledge-intensive, land-based governance system grounded in intergenerational ecological expertise. Supporting this demand secures grazing lands, strengthens Sámi participation in decision-making and enables indigenous food production and distribution within public procurement frameworks.

Securing culturally adequate care is part of the rights of national minorities in Sweden, including the Sámi. A recent study highlights the importance of institutionalised dialogues, “samråd”, through which municipalities ensure minority influence with a special task to cater for minority rights. The findings indicated that municipalities using corporate forms of “samråd”, in which municipal politicians meet with Sámi leaders from associations and/or reindeer-herding communities have been most successful in introducing Sámi food in elderly care. However, Sámi food was served on average only ten times per year.

Integrating Indigenous knowledge into governance frameworks, therefore, requires coordinated action across sectors, combined with targeted financial support. Such an approach moves beyond symbolic inclusion toward institutional arrangements that allow Indigenous food systems to remain resilient, and present in everyday public services, including the meals served in public kitchens.