One of my favorite virtues of the Alaskan spirit is that of resourcefulness. These are folks who understand what it means to “stay scrappy” — one of Wild Alaskan Company’s core values — to maximize resources in creative, practical and even unforeseeable ways. Not only do they toil for their bounty of provisions, but consistently make as much of an effort to preserve and make the most use of them. For instance, this notion of a “spring cleaning feast,” elaborated on here by our good friend, Melanie Brown, Wild Salmon Advocate, Bristol Bay Fisherman, and lover of wild foods, who was kind enough to walk us through her process of working through the treasure’s of one’s own freezer. So, without further ado, I invite you to take your cues from an Alaskan who is as resourceful and creative as she is insightful.
Spring Cleaning Feast
‘When the hope of spring turns to summer sun, then it's time to catch salmon, a-ha.’
-Sunny Porch lyrics from the song Seasons
As I’ve written before, the freezer is a special place for Alaskans who hunt, fish and gather their own food because it is such an essential tool for keeping food close and available. But when spring draws closer, a freezer needs to be emptied so that frozen storage can be made for the new summer’s catch. The work of eating through a freezer’s contents can be made more enjoyable when shared with friends at a feasting table. In this way the hope of spring can be celebrated and can inspire excitement around filling the freezer again for the following winter. What a wonderful feedback loop this is. To celebrate, commemorate, and gather I like to host a springtime wild foods freezer feast, potluck style.
A fall time feast is meant to celebrate the bounty of the harvest but a springtime celebration invites anticipation and planning around future harvesting. We can share learning associated with trying a food that one has never tasted or seen as well. For example, growing up in South Central Alaska on the road system and spending summers in Bristol Bay exposed me to very different wild foods than I can now experience in Southeast Alaska. To that end, I hosted a wild foods potluck one spring and tried gumboots for the first time. They are a chiton that grips to rocks near the shore and I was never taught how to identify and collect them for preservation. My friend who brought them to the gathering exhibited such pride in her sharing and I was a grateful recipient to say the least.
Feasting together not only provides for sharing and experiencing new foods but creates space for teaching and inspiring people to learn new foods to pursue. Sometimes people will find ways of lightening their work but satisfying their desire to have certain foods in their freezers by trading what they have harvested for something that they may not have time to go out for. Other times it is simply important to share what you have if you know of elders who are no longer able to go out and get wild foods that they would normally enjoy.
A table covered with a variety of wild foods is a way of displaying the true wealth of having the health to go out and bring foods home that instill joy and visually articulate the relationship that one has with the land. Imagine a table centered around a platter of wild salmon fillets with an arrangement of blueberry branches that hold the first evidence of berries-to-be in the form of tiny flower buds and furry willow buds displayed before they scatter into seed. Black cod (sablefish) tips or collar pieces become the small bundles of oily protein, rich enough to fuel a summer fishing trip. Chowder made from cockles and clams seasoned with small chunks of smoked salmon is a wonderful accompaniment along with whatever other treasures are left to share from the freezer. A cake layered with a berry compote can be a wonderful way to pull one into the nearing berry picking season through your tastebuds.
The stories and shared experiences that come along with the wild foods enrich conversations spoken around a feasting table make a spring feast of wild freezer foods one of my favorite parts of the cycle of living and eating wild in Alaska. All of this is in preparation to launch a new season of fishing, gathering, and hunting.
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Thank you for connecting us with the spirit of Alaskan resourcefulness Melanie!
Live wild,
Monica
Pictured above:
Pictured above: Melanie Brown in her kitchen, preparing some of the treasures from her freezer.
