Ainu cuisine used all the same ingredients, instead utilizing what was most available. In addition to salt, the fats ("sum") from cod, sardines, herring, shark, seal, whale ("humpesum)," sika deer ("yuksum"), and bear ("pasum") are used to flavor dishes. Miso and soy sauce have also been used in modern times. Soup stocks may be made using kelp ("kombu"), animal bone, and dried fish. Seasoning and spices include "pukusa" ("allium ochotense"), berries from the Amur corktree ("phellodendron amurense"), and wavy bittercress ("cardamine flexuosa"). The most predominate game animal was the sika deer. Deer were hunted using poisoned arrows as well by herding them
Sika deer suitable for farming and other human exploitation. Their range encompasses some of the most densely populated areas in the world, where forests were cleared hundreds of years ago. Their population status varies significantly in different countries. Although the species as a whole is thriving, it is endangered and extinct in many areas. Japan has by far the largest native sika population in the world. Though the exact population is uncertain, it is likely to be in the hundred thousand range and is still increasing, mainly due to recent conservation efforts and the extinction of its main predator, the wolf ("Canis