At a Native foods potluck for Western Alaska storm evacuees, a taste of home | Latest Lifestyle News
Oct. 26—There were bites of beluga whale. A jar of seal oil. Hemlock branches coated thick with herring roe. Salmon pies. Salmon head soup. Salmon bellies. Salmon strips. Salmon roe. Glossy canned salmon. King salmon heads. Frybread. Moose soup with elbow macaroni. Moose fried rice. Moose sticks. Moose jerky. Several types of muktuk. Pilot bread. No fewer than seven different takes on akutaq.
On a recent night, the basement of St. Innocent Russian Orthodox Cathedral was full of people and a table heaving with Native foods, a potluck offered both as a meal to feed Western Alaska evacuees and as a salve for a hunger for home.
Hundreds of people evacuated from villages in the Yukon-Kuskokwim region to Anchorage after a historic storm caused widespread devastation to homes and infrastructure. Many of them have been staying in shelters in Anchorage for the past week, and had to leave behind their subsistence foods.
In Anchorage, organizations including the Alaska Native Heritage Center and the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium have gathered donations of traditional foods for evacuees.
On Friday, the St. Innocent Russian Orthodox Cathedral in East Anchorage held its own potluck.
With so many Yup’ik clergy and parishioners, offering a comforting meal from home seemed right, said Father Thomas Rivas, the dean of St. Innocent Cathedral.
“Everyone lost their freezer, so we thought maybe we could offer this,” he said.
There are about 50,000 Orthodox in Alaska, according to the church. The Yukon-Kuskokwim region is one of the most heavily Orthodox in the state, with the river village of Kwethluk hosting a rare canonization of St. Olga, the first Yup’ik and first female North American Orthodox saint, this summer. Bilingual church services and songs are common.
Kipnuk, where the largest number of evacuees are from, is predominantly a Moravian community, said Rivas. The Moravian Church is one of the oldest Protestant denominations, and is also prevalent in rural Alaska.
Kwigillingok, Kongiganak, Tuntutuliak and other communities seriously damaged in the floods also have an Orthodox presence, he said. The Orthodox Diocese of Sitka and Alaska estimates at least several hundreds of the evacuees thought to be in the Anchorage area are Orthodox.
Father Noah Andrew, the priest who serves Kwigillingok, lost his home in the flood. The village’s Orthodox church was also destroyed. Andrew and his wife are now in Kongiganak, a neighboring village.
“He doesn’t want to leave the people,” said Father Michael Nicholai, who teaches at St. Herman Seminary in Kodiak and is originally from Kwethluk.
Irene Thomas is a church member who lives in Anchorage but is originally from Kasigluk. She and other volunteers had been busy in the kitchen slicing steaming hot fish pies and stirring great vats of moose soup. Hosting a potluck emphasizing Native foods was something the church could offer, she said.
“We can somehow help and make everyone feel at home,” she said.
Elena Dock walked in, looking around for people she knew.
Her home in Kipnuk floated off its foundation in the storm, she said. Dock had already evacuated to the school after hearing 80-100 mph winds were forecast. In her lifetime in the village, she’d experienced fierce storms and many floods.
But none were anything like this, she said. She and her husband were eventually airlifted out of Kipnuk on a helicopter. She was one of the last to be evacuated.
“We were reluctant to go,” she said.
She left behind the remains of her home, the graveyard where her family members are buried, her cache of subsistence foods. She thought of some of those she was missing especially: King eider. Geese. Walrus.
“We miss our Native foods so much,” she said.
Dock had been staying in the mass shelter at the Alaska Airlines Center, as had some of her children and grandchildren. She had no idea how long they’d be in Anchorage. It could be chaotic and uncomfortable, being in a room with so many people, she said.
She said she was happy to taste something from home.
“I hope they have geese,” she said.
A line formed for the potluck. People were encouraged to take to-go containers back to the shelters to share with those who couldn’t attend. The room was packed with black-robed clergy and families sitting around round tables. In the hallway, the scent of incense mixed with the warm smells of cooking food.
“These are soul foods,” said Mother Philothea, a nun who lives in Kodiak. “Everybody needs this right now.”
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