Alaska isn't necessarily renowned for its cuisine, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have anything to offer our culinary tour of the United States! Besides, we're curious what Governor Palin might eat besides moose...
The Alaskan growing season simply isn't long enough to support many fruits and vegetables, so the traditional diet was pretty heavy on meat and seafood. In order to get enough vitamins and nutrients, every edible part of the animal was used in food preparation. Russian immigrants and gold-rush prospectors started introducing other foods, particularly grains and legumes that could be transported over long distances and preserved.
Fruits:
Currants
Cranberries
Blueberries
Huckleberries
Rhubarb
Vegetables:
Kelp and other Seaweed
Clover
Cabbage
Radishes
Turnips
Potatoes
Rutabaga
Carrot
Goosetongue (Sea Plantain)
Barley
Meat:
Cattle
Whale
Caribou
Moose
Seal
Snow Hare
Eggs, particularly from sea birds
Seafood:Salmon
Herring
Halibut
Octopus
Anything else to add?
Related: Sense of Place: The Flavors and Ingredients of Hawaii
(Images: Flickr members cv47al, Steve took it, and clairity licensed under Creative Commons)
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Comments (16)
Baked Alaska!
You can't mention Russian cuisine without a key ingredient ... MUSHROOMS!
Aside from that - onions, buckwheat, rye and honey.
How did King, Snow, and Dutchess Crab not make this list??? It's some of the best in the world! And ptarmigan (the state bird) is very, very tasty. And raspberries are very plentiful (acres and acres growing wild) in the Interior.
Yum! AK raspberries are delicious!! Also, salmonberries are quite plentiful and a yummy alternative to typical berry pies.
My uncle lives in Alaska and gets a lot of meat from hunting (wild) sheep. I don't know how common a practice that is.
The locals love the Kachemak Bay oysters here in Homer, AK!
akbuilt, I can't believe I left crab off the list either! It's in my notes, but I must have missed it when I typed up the post. Goodness gracious! So glad you caught it!
And thanks, everyone, for your other additions!
Dutchess crab? Is this a kind of crab I'm totally ignorant of (which is highly likely) or do you mean Dungeness crab?
And cloudberries. Luscious, beautiful, difficult-to-find berries, perfect for ice cream, eating out of hand, cloudberry cream and so many other delights!
Are you REALLY curious about what Gov Palin might eat? Because if you are I might have to stop reading this blog.
I've visited friends in Fairbanks in the summer and we seemed to eat lots of sourdough. Sourdough bread, sourdough pancakes and sourdough waffles to be precise. We picked fresh blueberries will staying in Denali for a welcome addition to the waffles!
Don't forget the fiddlehead ferns!
There are lots of clam digging locations in southcentral Alaska. I remember digging up lots of razor clams as a kid, then my mom would make clam fritters and chowder out of them. And don't forget scallops.
The one thing I really do miss from Alaska is reindeer sausage. It's a breakfast staple in the frozen north but I don't think I've ever seen it anywhere else.
I used to live in Wasilla (and Palmer) Alaska... and the climates there in the valley made for super awesome growing seasons. Because the temperature never spiked too high, but was high enough, they used to grow GIANT veggies for fairs and such.
We're talking pumpkins as big as cars and cucumbers as big as German Shepards.
ptarmigan birdies