Pemmican is a concentrated mixture of fat and protein used as a nutritious food.
The word comes from the Cree Indian word pimīhkān, which itself is derived from the word pimī, "fat, grease".
It was invented by the native peoples of North America but it was widely adopted as a high-energy food by Europeans
involved in the fur trade and later by Arctic and Antarctic explorers, such as Robert Falcon Scott and Roald Amundsen.

The specific ingredients used were usually whatever was available; the meat was often bison, moose, elk, or deer.
Fruits such as cranberries and saskatoon berries were sometimes added. Cherries, currants, chokeberries
and blueberries were also used, but almost exclusively in ceremonial and wedding pemmican.