Slow Travel, Slow Food

First there was “slow food” that started in Italy in 1986. It encouraged people to connect and explore cuisine thoughtfully and with intention. Now along comes “slow travel.” The slow travel philosophy encourages travelers to immerse themselves more deeply in their destinations, prioritize quality over quantity, and savor the journey rather than rushing through it.

Slow food is often thought of as connecting with visiting farms, learning about local producers, and dining farm-to-table. In Juneau, slow food can mean fishing for salmon from our local waters, cleaning it, and preparing it for dinner or going through the process of brining and smoking fresh caught fish. Harvesting meat, foraging for mushrooms, and picking berries for making jelly or a pie forges a deep connection to our food and a sense of place. Slow food can also mean the process of teaching or sharing our skills and bounty with our neighbors and friends. It’s something that can only be experienced fully if you are in Juneau for several days.

Slow food also helps preserve local heritage. Many Alaska Native people continue to live a subsistence lifestyle throughout Alaska. From smoking salmon to harvesting herring eggs, the harvest seasons mark time and foster a deep connection to the land.  Local Natives harvest with reverence and respect for the bountiful land and sea that they have stewarded since time immemorial. The continuation of traditions and elders handing down knowledge helps to safeguard cultural heritage for younger generations.

Many Juneauites hunt and fish to fill their freezers, grow food at community gardens, and forage in the woods and on beaches. Much of the food in grocery stores comes up to Juneau on barges that traverse the ocean for a minimum of four days before arriving and being distributed. This makes a subsistence lifestyle a great way to supplement modern lives as well as creating entrepreneurial opportunities for local hydroponic operators and small businesses using locally sustainable resources to make new products or develop a cottage business model.

Slowing down and considering how we get our food and the way we share our food with elders, friends, and family is a part of our way of life. These are stories that cannot be experienced in an afternoon. Rather they are a result of immersion in our local culture, our values, and our foodways. We invite you to stay a few days in Juneau. Savor the flavor of local salmon that was swimming in the water an hour before it showed up on your plate. Taste juicy local berries on a hiking trail. Engage with locals during your visit (they love to share about this land we love and that often sustains us).  Engage in slow travel and slow food. Make tasting the place that is Juneau an event, an experience which will provide insight into both old and new ways of appreciating flavor, preparation, and appreciation of the richness of the land.