The Green Beet: Giving Thanks

Posted on: November 22, 2009 | jenaransom | Comments Off | Print Article | Rate Post:

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By Jen Ransom

One of my favorite Thanksgiving holiday menus lacked the typical turkey and stuffing fanfare one associates the upcoming holiday with. Living out in Bush Alaska with no family around and little need for a huge meal, my husband and I spent one Thanksgiving with a friend and his dog at our home in Iliamna.

We gave thanks by consuming foods we had either gathered, grown or hunted during the previous year. The smell of salmon, berries, caribou and grouse filled the kitchen as we prepared our meal. It was somewhat meager, more of a buffet-style snack than a thanksgiving feast. Being a damp village, even our choice beverage was local – a raspberry beer we had brewed earlier in the fall season.

After the food was eaten – some recipes better than others – I sat back and listened to the blues concert coming from my living room. Our thanksgiving guest plays a mean harmonica, and hubby isn’t too bad at the guitar, either. Later we talked about what we were thankful for: Simple things like decent wages and our loyal canines, always there to be a friend when village living got a little lonely.

The subsistence-style feast also gave me a chance to reflect on my own connection to our food supply: The evening boat rides to our fish site, the slim-producing garden. Even the thought of my own mortality came to mind as I recalled the knife wound that went septic on my husband’s hand after an all-night fish processing fiascos. We couldn’t find any of the village medical personnel as the line of red began to travel up his arm; we were blessed to locate one practitioner just before flying to Anchorage for medical help. Penicillin was another thing I was thankful for that year.

But I do love the typical Thanksgiving feast. I don’t feel the need to recreate the Iliamna meal the fourth Thursday of each November. I do, however, prescribe now to the idea that one’s Thanksgiving meal should include something that doesn’t require a grocery store visit.

Now that we are back “highway-side”, we visit my in-laws for the Thanksgiving holiday. Cranberries, picked in early fall by my father-in-law, usually make it into the holiday meal. I always smile when serving up a scoopful, imagining him out picking and enjoying his day. This year we are bringing salmon we caught back on the menu, only as a smoked appetizer instead of Iliamna’s main course.

There are plenty of ways to go green during Thanksgiving, from purchasing wine with a true cork (instead of plastic) to packing leftover food with aluminum foil instead of plastic wrap –  a prudent guest may even bring there own reusable container from home. But going green isn’t just about consuming wisely; also worthwhile is fostering a connection to the wonderful gift called planet Earth. This year, consider adding to the menu a food item that bears witness to our tangible connection with the food chain. Giving thanks for creation, for the planet that sustains us, is done with more ease when you can close your eyes and remember the fish you pulled in, the berry you picked, the moose you harvested or the carrot you planted. When our food tells a story, we are more apt to be thankful for it. Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

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