Vegetarianism isn’t an option for the Kyrgyz in Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor or for Inuits in Greenland. Whether it’s yaks or seals, the diet of both communities is almost exclusively meat, since few plants can survive in such harsh climates.

As part of our Future of Food series, photographer Matthieu Paley went to eight remote parts of the world to document the evolution of diet. Our video team captured his NG Live! lectures about his work in a series of videos starting with these two.

Watch as Paley learns how to trade yaks for flour (or cigarettes or candy) in Wakhan Corridor. “If you are a vegetarian, it will be a slow death,” says Paley. Milk, meat, bread and salt tea are