Nome Cuisine

     I am missing Dungeness season.  The bulk of it is in November, where people around northern California cast big hoop-shaped nets from piers and boats loaded with traps stuffed with chicken pieces or salmon bellies.  You leave it down there for some time, bring it up, and if you're lucky, you'll have a couple of red dungeness crabs for dinner.  Around this time I'd be making eggs San Francisco (think eggs benedict with fresh crab instead of bacon, sourdough instead of English muffin), pumpkin soup with crab innards (my own invention), and fresh steamed crab.  Even if you don't catch any yourself, you can get them for less than $4 per pound this time of year.  My crab net is currently collecting dust under my bed while I'm up here in Nome, and that pains me.  I can taste the sweet briny meat as I write this.  However, I've had no shortage of things to eat here.  

     Nome has an interesting collection of restaurants.  One of my favorites here has been Husky, a Japanese restaurant that serves sushi, tempura, and some weird Americanized rolls (real Californians do not eat California rolls).  I admit I was surprised at the quality of the food, as I consider myself somewhat of a connoiseur of sushi down south.  I particularly enjoyed their ikura, salmon roe wrapped in seaweed.  There's another Japanese restaurant called Milano's Pizzeria.  That's right.  It serves both Italian and Japanese.  There's a Chinese restaurant, a Vietnamese restaurant, an American-style dinner (minus the counter), and Subway.  I think the last might be the northernmost fast-food restaurant in the U.S.  What Nome seems to lack is good coffee.  A lot of places serve it, and some even have espresso drinks, but I have yet to find just a damn good cup of coffee, along with actual milk or cream, rather than the non-dairy creamer that is ubiquitous here.  Maybe I should move here and open a coffee shop.

     The other side of Alaskan cuisine is something you won't find in restaurants, because it can't be sold commercially, but is certainly no less special.  I went back to the shop with the old storytelling proprietor to get some things and hear some more of his stories.  I happened to mention that I was very much interested in trying traditional Alaskan foods, but I didn't know where to go, and if he had any suggestions, I'd very much appreciate them.  He proceeded to go to a small kitchen at the back of his shop and brought back a plate with a piece of smoked tomcod and some dried seaweed.  I ate and listened to him talk, and it was excellent, tasting like a cross between herring and Atlantic cod.  He went back into the kitchen and came back with slices of muktuk, raw pieces of whale skin and blubber.  It may well be the most delicious meat I have ever eaten.  It tasted like fish and the sea, with a buttery background to it.  It was tough to chew, but I think that's part of the fun.  

     I don't eat meat in California; it just isn't necessary with fresh organic produce available at every farmer's market and accessible local fish.  It's healthier that way, and better for the environment.  However, foods from the lower forty-eight are very costly here in Nome because of how far they must be shipped, so local fish and game is vitally important.  It's also very nutritious, especially when eaten raw.  A small amount of seal oil has all the vitamin C you need in a day.  Why eat beef pumped full of hormones and antibiotics when there are so many natural options available here?  Muskox and moose are big foods here, having lower fat content than beef, as well as reindeer (remnants of a Lapplander herd left here).  Dried and smoked fish are pretty common as well, and in the summer, there are berries and other plants available.  

     I believe that much of a culture lies in its food, and I was pretty fortunate to be able to sample a little bit of it.  I hope I'll be able to taste some more, and perhaps return the favor should anyone visit the bay area.  If you come in November, I'll have some crab waiting.