Local Food Comes to Alaska
Photo by Marion Nestle
I'm just back from a long trip to Alaska where I gave a talk at the University of Fairbanks. Fairbanks, in central Alaska, is 200 miles from the Arctic Circle and has a short growing season from the end of May to the beginning of September, but those few weeks are brightly lit. The sun set at midnight in mid-July, and it never really got dark.
As for the food revolution, it is booming. Even the local Safeway has gotten into locally grown foods, although not always accurately. Not exactly local food When I saw the pineapples, I asked what "locally grown" meant. Somewhere in Alaska. Oh. But Safeway really does have locally grown food, mostly cabbages and root vegetables. Where were they grown? Someplace around here.
What Cajun cooking is doing in Skagway is beyond me but it was wonderful to have it on a hot summer day.
I saw vegetables growing everywhere, even in small urban spaces such as the entryway to the hotel where I was staying. The long daylight makes for big vegetables, and one plot sported a two-foot long zucchini. Alas, it had disappeared by the time I got back to photograph it. And yes, Fairbanks has a farmers' market, and it was in full swing.
And then to the organic farm at Rosie Creek. It was full of summer interns visiting from the nearby Calypso Farms. Calypso Farms has a terrific garden program in five schools in the area.
And here a few first-time tourist remarks:
Where is the most entertaining food? That had to be at Bigun's Crab Shack in Skagway. Bigun is the chef, spelled that way, not Big-'un (He's the one that didn't get away, according to his mom). What Cajun cooking is doing in Skagway is beyond me but it was wonderful to have it on a hot summer day.
And what was the best off-beat museum? It has nothing to do with food, alas, but I still vote for the Hammer Museum in Haines. Not to be missed.