This Chef Kayaked 2,000 Kilometers Along Greenland’s Coast—Fueled Only By An Inuit Hunter’s Diet

There was an icy wind in the spring air when English chef-adventurer Mike Keen started out on a kayak journey up the coast of Greenland. From the harbor in Qaqortoq, cheered on by a crowd of around 200 people, he set off towards Qaanaaq, 2,000 kilometers away in the north.

This chef kayaked 2,000 kilometers along Greenland’s coast—fueled only by an Inuit hunter’s diet

“I wasn’t totally naive: I knew what I was getting into,” he said. “But it was a shock when it all went quiet. There was a transition from leaving the port to suddenly being alone—I realized that was what it was going to be like for the next three months.”

Paddling past ice, barren islands and icebergs, Keen had been inspired by Greenlandic traditions to kayak the west coast. Greenland gave the world the kayak, both the vessel, which has been in use for over 4,000 years, and the word, qajaq, itself. Keen had picked up kayaking two years earlier while working in the country as a chef.

“I have always felt a sense of awe about the Greenlandic kayak,” he said. “It’s amazing to think about the Inuit making them out of driftwood and sealskin to go out hunting in the harsh environment.”

Traveling in a heavily laden P&H Scorpio MKII, Keen planned to paddle about 30 kilometers a day, stopping to pitch his tent on rocky shores.

Along the way, he collected seal scat for microplastic analysis and engaged with his passion for food. He wanted to see what impact it would have on his body to avoid processed food, choosing instead to follow a traditional Inuit hunter-gatherer diet. His diet consisted of dried capelin fish, dried halibut, jerky-like dried whale and a local whale skin and blubber treat called mattak as he paddled. In the evenings, he dined on seal or whale stew. Coffee was off limits as were most fruit and vegetables.

On some days, the trip was pure joy: people came out of their houses to wave as Keen passed, and local TV tracked his progress. He saw whales every day in Disko Bay, along with porpoises, seals “nearly every day” and muskox and reindeer on shore.

On other days, high winds and blizzards had him bound to his tent, and foggy days brought icebergs looming out of the mist or winds pushing him in the wrong direction. Despite the spring timing, his water bladders froze overnight in temperatures that dipped to 10°F (-12°C).

After his successful expedition in 2023, Keen returned to Greenland in the summer of 2024 to compare the results of the diet on his body with and without all-day exercise. He followed exactly the same traditional Inuit diet but without kayaking. Between the trips he ate a typical English diet.

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In both experiments he found similar results: significant weight loss of around 30 pounds that stabilized quickly, plus a striking improvement in lung function, blood pressure and reduction in body fat. It’s a testament to the value of an unprocessed diet that makes the most of local provisions, says Keen—something he calls “eating the environment.”

While the kayak adventure is over, Keen’s involvement in Greenlandic food continues. He is working with local people to establish a non-profit restaurant in Greenland and researching further into ancestral food traditions.

This article was published in Issue 73 of Paddling Magazine. Subscribe to Paddling Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.

Mike Keen (left) was powered by dried halibut and whale jerky. | Feature photo: Courtesy Mike Keen