Alaska Seafood at Its Finest
Enjoying wild flavors from the sea with international chefs on Kachemak Bay
It’s such a special thing to share what you find most special about life in Alaska with new people. Upon invitation to the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute’s International Culinary Retreat, we were recently given this honor. The late afternoon sun was shining on Kachemak Bay as we caught a boat ride over to Tutka Bay Lodge, where 10 chefs from all around the globe were cooking up a feast of Wild Alaska Seafood.
The kitchen was bustling when we arrived, chefs in action – preparing dishes of their choosing with Alaska seafood of their choosing. Some of these dishes highlighted their home country or region’s cuisine, like Japanese onigiri made with dulse, pink salmon and ikura or British-style fish & chips in kelp-infused batter. There was pho, spring rolls, tajines, bowls of sea greens, spruce tip garnishes, edible flowers, fiddlehead ferns tucked into curried broths. All five species of Pacific salmon were prepared, as well as Spot Prawns, pollock, cod, King Crab, Dungeness Crab, and halibut and rockfish the chefs had caught earlier that morning. The dining room table slowly filled with the most beautiful food, set out carefully and presented by each chef in turn. They spoke of the Alaska’s beauty and the incredible fresh ingredients they were honored to cook with here. As life-long Alaskans and fishermen, we were touched to hear their mutual reverence for this breathtaking place and its amazing seafood.
The quality of seafood in Alaska is unmatched. Fish and shellfish live in pristine environment here and Alaska’s fisheries are managed sustainably so that our fish stocks are a renewable resource that can be enjoyed forever. In theory, if we take care of the habitat around us and harvest responsibly, as the Indigenous peoples of Alaska have done for thousands of years, our oceans will continue to thrive and produce delicious food for generations to come. Alaskans depend on wild food from the land and sea and still live by seasonal cycles of abundance. From an outsider’s perspective, this may be a unique way to live and eat and we feel so lucky to still exist in the balance. We are so proud of our seafood in Alaska because we know that it’s the best food in the world – healthful, pure, natural, flavorful protein that often comes with a good fishing story. We loved sharing seafood that we believe in so deeply with chefs who prize quality ingredients more than anything else.
Summer in Alaska comes on all of a sudden; everything seems to green up overnight and suddenly the local farmer’s market is full of vegetables and the salmon are running and everything is growing so quickly in the almost continuous daylight. It feels like if you blink it’ll all be over (Summer Solstice is already next week, which means we stop gaining daylight), which makes life around here feel full and vibrant and sometimes a bit frantic. We are doing our best to slow time down; enjoying a feast of Alaska’s finest fish with exquisite chefs from around the world felt like a perfect recipe for savoring the season. Truly a gift. Big thanks to ASMI for inviting us over to join this celebration of seafood.
