Wild Berries

 

When we were back in Israel from our trip to Alaska my eldest son, Alon asked his friend,

“Do you know how many blueberries a bear eats in one day?”

“How many?”

“20,000!”

His friend was sufficiently nerdy to think this was really cool information and immediately tried calculating the bear’s intake for the entire season.

“Woa! That’s almost a million berries!” His friend exclaimed  ”That’s amazing!”

“And do you know the best part?” Alon continued “There were still tons left over for us to eat!”

It was like being in heaven with food being provided conveniently at our feet, perfectly plump ripe berries in glorious patriotic colors. But this is an illusion, an ephemeral world which will soon turn into a frigid monochromatic landscape. Here it was easy to imagine that hundreds and thousands of years ago the original inhabitants of Alaska, the inupiats gathered food to preserve for the eternal nights of winter. Alaska is a look back in time, a primordial world before the plague of humans.

But this is America after all and in Alaska’s major supermarkets you will find the food industry alive and well spewing aisles of pseudofood that some people cannot live without even cheap imitation blueberry flavored waffles. These foods have been bleached, molded, enriched, crushed, puffed, seeped, churned in huge industrial sized cauldrons and encased in millions dollars worth of advertisements in enticing birthday present beauty, promising the world but providing only empty calories .  

Low bush cranberry

I don’t advocate going out and droves and foraging for food, that I am actually against in most cases since that only diminishes the only wild plants available for those who really need it, the animals. I also don’t adhere to any dietary restriction and to be fair I buy Pringles once in awhile in all their multitudes of Disney land flavors but when I eat them I realize that this is just a food buzz, a flavor high.

New York blueberries

In Alaska, I spoke to a Japanese woman from Dubai and she thought that many Americans “don’t know how a healthy meal is supposed to taste like” and think green guacamole flavored Pringles (who thought that one up?) and mint Oreo cookies are the natural way of things. Many immigrants gave up their traditional cooking to assimilate into American culture, supposedly more advanced, in the hope of being accepted. Although there is a trend of buying fresh wholesome foods at local farmers markets and a renewed interest in traditional foods, be it Polish, Chinese or Syrian there is still a great deal to be done to change how America eats and much of this is in the hands of the consumer.

High bush cranberry

The wild food of Alaska is the antithesis of the industrial food machine and it is the berries that are most prevalent. The sheer variety of berries is fantastic and includes cranberries, raspberries, salmonberries, crow berries, watermelon berry and currants to name a few. It’s also good to remember that where ever there are berries, which is all over the place in early August there will be bears eating what they love best.

Blueberry Pancakes

There is nothing better than blueberry pancakes with freshly picked blueberries with thick blueberry sauce. The berries for this recipe were picked on a hike to Angel Rocks, near Chena Hot Springs in Alaska. I used a modified recipe by Beth Hancarik for the pancakes. For the blueberry sauce I just mixed the blueberries with a bit of sugar and water and cooked it to a thick consistency.

1 1/2 Cups all purpose flour
1/2 Teaspoon salt
1 3/4 Teaspoons baking powder
1/4 Teaspoon nutmeg
3 Tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 Cups whole milk
2 Eggs separated
1 Teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 Cup blueberries

Butter for frying

 In a medium sized bowl mix together flour, salt, baking powder, nutmeg and sugar. Add egg yolks to milk and vanilla and beat well. Place egg whites in a mixing bowl with the whip attachment and beat at medium speed until soft peaks are formed. Add milk mixture to flour mixture and mix with whisk until smooth. Add one third of the meringue egg whites and fold it into the batter until incorporated. Fold in remaining meringue and mix carefully. In large pan coated with butter and heated to medium, pour 2-3 tablespoons of batter per pancake. Take several blueberries and push them gently in the pancake, so that they are dispersed around the surface. When bubbles begin to break through the batter, flip pancake and continue to cook until golden brown. Serve warm with pure maple syrup, birch syrup or blueberry sauce.