It is traditionally based on meat from marine mammals, game, birds, and fish, and normally contains high levels of protein. Since colonization and the arrival of international trade, the cuisine has been increasingly influenced by Danish and Canadian cuisine.
The national dish of Greenland is suaasat, a traditional Greenlandic soup. It is often made from seal, or from whale, reindeer, or seabirds. The soup often includes onions and potatoes and is simply seasoned with salt and pepper, or bay leaf. The soup is often thickened with rice, or by soaking barley in the water overnight so that the starches leach into the water.