Thursday, July 26, 2007

Bizarre Foods review..

Alrighty, I'm two days late, my apologies.

Here we go! Well, first, it's kinda cool that Bethel, and even more so, Alaska, is getting some publicity for the food, I can't begin to count how many times I've talked about the interesting food we have here. I just wish it wasn't by some a New York yuppie that can't pronounce a single thing right. Argh. From the Kenai Peninsula to the Kuskokwim River, and all the different foods that were consumed by the irritating Yank, rarely was something pronounced correctly. So if you come up to me and pronounce something the same way, I will, in a loving, gentle, and caring way, guide you to the correct way of saying things. (ya right, I'll probably rant and rave for 5 minutes about illiterate New Yorkers)
Alright, now about the food: The Akutaq: that delicious mixture of berries, hydrogenated veggie oil, sugar, and water. A staple food in Alaska, this is very good if made correctly, but for those of us raised on the best, subpar is.. well, difficult to swallow. I can also tell you first hand that Lucy Crow's akutaq is some of the best! Now, as for what the white boy mixed up for him out on the trail.. I could tell it was definitely subpar.. i.e.'white boy no make good eskimo food.'
Blackfish: I tell you what, just remembering watching them clean the bones of those little succulent morsels of aquatic life is making me hungry again! The little fish lives in the many streams and lakes, growing to a max of about 8 inches. Used mainly as bait, this little guy makes a tasty meal, as you've seen. Especially with seal oil..
Seal oil: As the name implies, this is the oil taken from the blubber of the seal, in a process pretty much identical to what you saw them doing with the whale. Yummy.
StinkHeads: Need I say more. Fermented fish heads and various other parts, this dish smells like none other. Personally, I have yet to try it, not everybody makes it and those who do rarely invite others to partake in their limited quantity of quality aged seafood. Hopefully someday soon.
Ptarmigan: If I remember correctly, he actually pronounced this one right. This grouse-family member has feathers on their feet, and tastes quite good, though I've never cooked it on my snowmachine engine before. Once again, hopefully soon.

Now on to the people:

Lucy Crow: Very good friend of my family and respected member of the community, especially for her food.
Evan Waska: Though I don't know him personally, his is a well known name, and is the typical Yu'pik elder, quiet and wise with the unique and quirky sense of humor found in many eskimos. (And very easy to understand, BTW, those who read the captions need to check their hearing)

Over all, I enjoyed the showing, was cool to see my hometown become famous. I just wish someone slightly less annoying could be the host, that guy is just irritating.

~AKCameraGuy~

7 comments:

Unknown said...

it was cool to watch that with you- see how aggravated ya'll got when he pronounced things wrong- and to see all the food--mmm.. but i was surprised that they didn't do fry bread.. mmm.. now there's some good stuff.

Rebekah Doran said...

Them white people couldn't say the words right, even if they tried. (Very, very few MIGHT get close.) :p

Netty said...

Ok, their Eskimo ice cream looks nothing like the wonderful treat we have eaten. I am thinking he should have gotten a native guide to show the true Alaska.
I am with you on this Micah he is annoying!
They put cool whip in it! Sissies!

Netty said...

Did he call our river what???????

Netty said...

Okay now he is eating the real stuff at Lucy's and redeeming himself!

Netty said...

Can you tell that I am watching it right now?:0)

Rebekah Doran said...

Micah, you need to update your blog links. Brad and Rachel have new blogs now.