Endangered Foods: February 2010

I am feeling completely reinvigorated around the idea of endangered foods ie: food traditions and preparations that time forgets to pay attention to in lieu of industrial food choices and most dangerously —TIME constraints. It really breaks my heart to think that we cannot, as a culture, take the time to not only feed ourselves but to feed our food heritage. This concept being something akin to pouring a shot of whiskey on the grave of a loved one or leaving an extra plate at the table for an unexpected visitor, we are bound to pay our respects to the places and people that developed a culture around feeding the generations of people to follow. I want to remember now. And my little toast this month goes out to the native people of this “Salmon Nation.”

Once upon a time… the tribal nations of this area organized seasons of people and celebrations around the salmon returning, spawning, then being available to hunt, for preservation of nutrition, the land and the coming months. They respected the fact that safe and responsible fish harvesting ensured future generations of salmon to be available. The people ate with respect for future generations of people and with the intention that they were responsible for nourishing them. The salmon nutritionally were great sources of protein, good fats, Omega 3 fatty acids, Vitamin D3 and Astaxanthin, a powerful carotene-type antioxidant 100s of times more powerful than Vitamin E.

Despite being over-fished, irresponsibly harvested, struggling pollution concerns that threaten native populations of not only these fish but these people, the salmon are still a sacred food and all the more a precious resource… Specifically for those who live in this region of the country — native foods feed all of us local people and help us seasonally to survive the elements and allow our health to flourish. In the last 40 years, a lot of hard work has been done to restore habitats and protect salmon populations, the result is that they are beginning to thrive again.

This month — a potted salmon is on the menu and is is an adaptation of a traditional native recipe, using pastured butter and hazelnut oil to cream the king salmon meat. I hope that as you enjoy it you can feel a wee bit closer our landscape and people-scape knowing that it was sustainably caught, traditionally prepared and shared locally.