Sarah Palin: Connecting with Yup’ik Eskimos

There is a new show on TLC called Sarah Palin’s Alaska and in this show we get an overview of the different things to do in Alaska while learning about Sarah’s family as well. On one of the episodes we learn about her husband’s extended family and it happens to be that they are Yup’ik Eskimos. Something that really caught my attention was the way Palin’s family was able to explore a new culture and what better way to do it than that of her own family.

What was really important about this segment was how Sarah’s daughter got taught the rituals of filleting, chopping and stringing salmon the way the Yup’ik people do. I feel that it is important for people to learn how to cook or prepare traditional foods from their own cultures especially if they never have before. This is a great way to connect food and people at the same time as it is important to learn how cultures have lived through generations.

 

In the show we meet Lena, Palin’s husband’s grandmother who instructs them throughout the process. For the first part of the show we see how Lena uses a tool called the ulus that helps fillet the fish and Palin’s family is able to learn how to use this instrument. Without hesitation the family gets right to work and without any complaining. The next process was to string the fish for the reason that they would be hung in the next process which was smoking the strips. The strips were then hung in a little smokehouse and in the middle of it was a small fire. Through this process the smoke would then dry out the fish and that is how it would cook.

Palin’s family was able to learn a traditional custom that the Yup’ik people do and that was an amazing experience as they were able to feel, smell, and hear information that in do reality belongs to them. Her ancestors used the same process to store up on food especially during winter times and for them to have experience what her people went through is just remarkable.

Sarah Palin’s Alaska on TLC:                  
http://tlc.discovery.com/tv/sarah-palin-alaska/