Of all the places I’ve been in the last year, I’d say that visiting small town Alaska was the most exotic place by far. Even the language was foreign to me. Take for example, the phrase, “We will jar silvers.” I rarely ever hear jar used as a verb and even more rarely hear silver used in the plural.
It turned out to be simple. The semi-dried silver-bellied salmon needed to be pickled for the long Alaskan winter. And they were. My contribution was to photograph the process. Seven hours later, I had the opportunity to taste the pickled salmon. Pickling takes much longer than I expected. A pressure cooker has never been so closely watched!
As I said, one of the most unusual experiences of the last year.
Once in a while, I find myself in a situation both familiar and exotic. I went to visit family up in Alaska, out in the bush, on the mighty Yukon, and found myself invited to a “potlatch” dinner. The village I visited is primarily inhabited by one tribe of native Americans and the food was truly Alaskan. I didn’t expect to ever be in a “Bizarre Foods” episode but I guess that’s what it was to my Facebook audience.
Fish ice cream.
Sitting at the dinner, being served by the youths, it was a heartwarming study in respect. There was way more than enough food but only the elders got the choice pieces of seal blubber, moose nose, and jarred silvers (pickled “silver” salmon). Everyone got ham slices the size of lumber, pasta salads in infinite variety, fish chowder, moose stew, moose soup, spaghetti, jerky, pudding with marshmallows, slaw, goose, and more pasta salad. It was considered rude to refuse any food so every place setting was outfitted with ziplock bags so that everyone would have food for the taking.
I was raised to “try everything once” and to be polite… the moose nose was very sticky and chewy a bit like pig ear (if you know what that tastes like). The fish ice cream was interesting and I could see how that would be the best treat on a cold winter day as it provides fat, creamy tartness. I imagine that when cold, it’s even better. The three flavors I tried were cranberry, salmon berry (I guess from the pink color), and “black” berry which is a small pearl-like berry, smaller than a blueberry and not of much flavor. The cranberry was the best because of the tartness. The ice cream is only slightly sweet and I totally get why it’s called ice cream.
Of all the places I’ve been in the last year, I’d say that visiting small town Alaska was the most exotic place by far. Even the language was foreign to me. Take for example, the phrase, “We will jar silvers.” I rarely ever hear jar used as a verb and even more rarely hear silver used in the plural. 
As I said, one of the most unusual experiences of the last year.
