Renewing Salmon Nation's Food Traditions

Among all the food nations of North America--ranging from Clambake Nation to Chile Pepper Nation--Salmon Nation is the richest in mushrooms, berries, wild roots, fish, and shellfish. Native American traditions are at its core, but other culinary accents--from Spanish to Japanese--have added to the mix. A project of the Renewing Americas Food Traditions (RAFT) consortium, this book describes over 180 species of local plants and animals--many now at risk, others recovering, and all deserving of recognition--that have formed the basis of food traditions in the Pacific Northwest. To identify the traditional foods of Salmon Nation, RAFT brought together farmers, chefs, fisherfolk, food historians, orchardists, ethnobotanists, conservation activists, nutrition educators, and wild foragers in an unprecedented effort to assess the current state of foods unique to the Pacific Northwest. The result is, for the first time ever, a comprehensive list of the foods that have nurtured the cultures of Salmon Nation over the centuries.