Every November, the community of Sitka gathers for its Wild Foods Potluck. Family and friends from near and far come together to share dishes made mostly with local ingredients. 

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If you think your Thanksgiving is the biggest, most mouth-watering meal of the year, then you haven’t been to Sitka’s Wild Foods Potluck. Long tables covered with casserole dishes of all shapes and sizes fill Harrigan Centennial Hall. Smells of soups and stews, cakes and cobblers waft through the air.

“It’s our opportunity to say ‘Thank you,’ to the community,” explains Sophie Nethercut.

Fish pie, featuring rock fish, pink salmon, homegrown potatoes, and organic carrots. (Emily Russell/KCAW Photo)

Fish pie, featuring rock fish, pink salmon, homegrown potatoes, and organic carrots. (Emily Russell/KCAW Photo)

Nethercut is the community organizer for Sitka Conservation Society, an environmental nonprofit. SCS has hosted the Wild Foods Potluck every November for the last fifteen years.

“Who doesn’t  love the idea of bringing a dish and coming to a space where their taste buds can go crazy all night?” asks Nethercut.

And go crazy they most certainly will. Hundreds of people carry in platters of food they’ve either hunted or harvested. There are jars of stringy green beach asparagus, plates of shiny black cod tips, and, of course, no shortage of salmon dips.

The dishes are just as diverse as the crowd. Fishermen and their families fill chairs, kids crawl underneath tables, and couples mingle in line.

Venison meatballs with homegrown cabbage, kale, and hand-picked chanterelle mushrooms. (Emily Russell/KCAW Photo)

Venison meatballs with homegrown cabbage, kale, and hand-picked chanterelle mushrooms. (Emily Russell/KCAW Photo)

Zoe Trafton is in line, but she’s not mingling. She’s 10 and her plate is almost full.

Trafton explains what she has so far: “A meatball, herring egg sushi– my family made it– some ribs, some venison stew, I’m not totally sure what that is, some mac ‘n cheese, pumpkin bread, and gnocchi,” 

Along with a wide variety of foods, there’s also a full spectrum of flavors, from sweet applesauce, savory stews, and even some spiciness thrown into the mix.

“Would you like some kelp fries?” asks a mother to her young daughter.

She says her daughter’s first food was salmon eggs, so spicy kelp fries don’t scare her.

Behind them in line is Ellen Frankenstein. She’s here with her husband, Spencer, and says the potluck is one of Sitka’s best events.

 “It is really wonderful, because one thing we can still do is share food and protect our resources and be connected to each other and what we care about.” And, Frankenstein adds, “look for what is actually common between us.”

Frankenstein is referring to the recent election, because what’s a holiday without some talk of politics. But tonight the focus is on food.

Frankenstein’s plate is already piled high.

“I have some Chicken of the Woods curry, I think I have some black cod, I have some caribou sausage, I have some chowder I think made by high schoolers,” Frankenstein says.

Moses Wiseman, from Chefornak, and Christian Charlie, from Marshall, are students at Mt. Edgecumbe High School. (Emily Russell/KCAW Photo)

Moses Wiseman, from Chefornak, and Christian Charlie, from Marshall, are students at Mt. Edgecumbe High School. (Emily Russell/KCAW Photo)

Moses Wiseman is a student at Mt. Edgecumbe High School. ” I’m from Chefornak. It’s far away,” explains Wiseman.

Wiseman says the food here is pretty fancy, but really good, he says. He smiles when he thinks about how food is prepared in his home village.

 “When somebody catches a bearded seal they take their guts out and the boy starts biting on it,” Wiseman explains. “When they come home the mother or the girls start cleaning it. After it’s really clean, then you rinse it. You cook it or you can eat it raw,” Wiseman says.

Wiseman is sitting next to his friend Christian Charlie. Charlie is also a student at Mt. Edgecumbe High School and is from Marshall, a village north of Chefornak on the Yukon River.

“The food here is different, but it’s really good,” Charlie says. “It makes you think of home.”

He’s chewing on fry bread at the moment, a staple in many Alaska Native villages.

A few tables away, Nelson Frank gears up for dessert. Frank is from Sitka and grew up subsisting off the land and the sea. He’s 70 now, so knows good smoked salmon when he tastes it, and says tonight it was perfect.

Nelson Frank is from Sitka and grew up subsisting off the land and the sea. (Emily Russell/KCAW Photo)

Nelson Frank is from Sitka and grew up subsisting off the land and the sea. (Emily Russell/KCAW Photo)

But there were a few things Frank was missing.

“I only wished that they had some more traditional food, like fermented eggs,” says Frank. Mixed with berries, Frank says, it make for a delicious dessert.

“Kanéegwál’. Salmon– fermented eggs– and highbush cranberries,” Frank explains.

For all you fishing and foraging out there, Frank is looking at you to round out the dessert table at next year’s Wild Foods Potluck.