Comments on: This Is What Hyperlocal Food Looks Like in the Yukon

By: Christine

Christine — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 16:36:26 +0000

Fascinating! Would love to learn more about their storage and methods of preserving. Also what other foraged foods, especially fruits, might be available. For example juniper and Saskatoon berries.

By: RF Madrid

RF Madrid — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 03:20:21 +0000

I see that they are eating moose meat, berries ‘Eskimo potatoes’*, spruce tips (the growing tip, killing further growth), and birch syrup. Although the diet is bizarre, it may be sufficient to sustain life over time. Christopher McCandless was not so lucky. * Ronald Hamilton, a retired bookbinder at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, suggested a link between the symptoms described by McCandless and the poisoning of Jewish prisoners in the Nazi concentration camp in Vapniarca. He put forward the proposal that McCandless starved to death because he was suffering from paralysis in his legs induced by lathyrism, which prevented him from gathering food or hiking out. Lathyrism may be caused by ODAP poisoning from seeds of Hedysarum alpinum (commonly called wild potato). The ODAP, a toxic amino acid, had not been detected by the previous studies of the seeds because they had suspected and tested for a toxic alkaloid, rather than an amino acid, and nobody had previously suspected that Hedysarum alpinum seeds contained this toxin. The protein would be relatively harmless to someone who was well-fed and on a normal diet, but toxic to someone who was malnourished, physically stressed, and on an irregular and insufficient diet, as McCandless was. As Krakauer points out, McCandless’ field guide did not warn of any dangers of eating the seeds, which were not yet known to be toxic. Krakauer suspects this is the meaning of McCandless’ journal entry of July 30, which states “EXTREMELY WEAK. FAULT OF POT[ATO] SEED. MUCH TROUBLE JUST TO STAND UP. STARVING. GREAT JEOPARDY.”

By: Carol

Carol — Sat, 05 Jan 2019 21:06:21 +0000

Perhaps this will come out in the documentary, but I am interested in hearing more! How about a food analysis of nutrients and calories in different seasons and which foods they came from? You mention a lot of seasonal foods here, and I’m sure the winters were long.

By: Andi Flanagan

Andi Flanagan — Tue, 04 Dec 2018 00:51:11 +0000

As a 64 yo Alaskan, before she was a State, I have hunted, gathered, fished, and fermented in all sections of my Alaska, including above the Arctic Circle. There is more bounty than this article could ever fit in. With some knowledge and faith in local wisdom, you would never starve in Alaska. I love these stories! Thank you, Modern Farmer.