The Whale and the Cupcake: Stories of Subsistence, Longing, and Community in Alaska

"With every generation, Alaska connects further to the outside world, but there are ways in which it will never be able to transcend the distance, physical and psychological. What Alaskans eat is an amalgam of wild-sourced foods, intricately tied to their landscape and identity, and foods that travel wildly long distances to get here, from faraway homes they long for or from places they can only imagine. In The Whale and the Cupcake: Stories of Subsistence, Longing, and Community, widely-published independent journalist and third-generation Alaskan Julia O'Malley reflects on the rub between self-reliance and longing that lives at the center of Alaskan food culture. The highly illustrated book will feature 12 new and previously published essays on that highlight Alaska's unique blend of isolated and international foodways, covering everything from whale hunting in the wake of climate change and the growing popularity of Spam musubi, to how Anchorage residents stock up on proteins and crave fresh fruit in the face of a long winter. It will also include five interviews with people who work with food (chefs, home cooks, purveyors, etc) and 10 - 12 of O'Malley's own recipes"--