From the editors
As Edible Alaska’s new co-publishers and editors, we’ve enjoyed some “pinch me, I must be dreaming moments” lately—like our wonderful Spring issue launch at Amalga Distillery in Juneau, or being part of the “What Why How We Eat” exhibit opening at the Anchorage Museum. Even little happy moments bubble up, like getting to read (for professional purposes, of course!) many, many beautiful Edible titles from around the country. As we connect and reconnect with businesses and organizations that comprise Alaska’s local food community, we’re inspired by the collective love, heart, and drive of those we’re honored to support by providing this forum.
We also love the team helping to see these pages into being; we wax with geeky glee to one another about our amazing copyeditor (we LOVE grammar, too!). We celebrate the opportunity to hire writers, artists, photographers, and designers for their work. We love the fact that this issue (and all those to come) is the result of a collective input, a shared curiosity, a common caring, a communal attention. It’s with great joy that we bring you our own first issue: Edible Alaska No. 12 Summer 2019.
Our theme this time around is Land & Sea. Jennifer Nu heard the theme and delivered a timely update on Alaska’s growing aquaculture industry, taking us aboard with commercial set net fishermen-turned-kelp-farmers. On the other end of the land and sea spectrum, we launch S. Hollis Mickey’s new column “Culinaria Obscura” with a look at hydroponics—growing edible plants indoors without soil—inside the Anchorage Museum. Ray Friedlander provides a peek into a glacier ice harvester’s operation and the unusual new beverage product brought to market by his collaborators. Elsewhere in the issue we look at spruce tip foraging and perennial gardening and enjoy an exceptionally-well-crafted cocktail from our friend, “The Fermented Alaskan.” We also kick off our new “Amuse-bouche” department, where we’ll serve bite-sized portions of food-inspired or food-infused literature. In this issue, we dish up one beautiful poem from Sierra Golden’s book, The Slow Art, featured in our “Bookshelf” section. We’re quite sure it’ll pair well with whatever culinary adventures you concoct for your Alaska summer.
People have been asking us what’s new in store for Edible Alaska. While we subscribe to “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” logic, we aren’t scared of crossing the too much of a good thing line. There are plenty more local food stories, and our job is to find and share them. We intentionally seek ones from across Alaska by storytellers we still have not met. Readers can also look forward to more pages, more printed copies of every issue, and even broader distribution as our network grows around the state. We’re likewise expanding the range and breadth of our curated base of advertisers, whose investments will parlay into more stories, more events, more of what you love about the magazine. Our subscriber base is growing, too. If you’re a new subscriber, thank you and welcome! If you’re a renewing subscriber, cheers and besos! If you’ve just picked up a copy for the first time, grab a snack, settle down, and enjoy.
Happy long days of summer. Happy fishing, gardening, farming, brewing, farmers’ marketing… and happy reading.
Bon appétit!
