Traditional Foods Taste Better When You Eat Them With Your Hands

Visiting the San Carlos farmers market, a vendor's offer of salmon heads for $1 a pound brought back fond memories of sharing food and community where some of the finest wild salmon is harvested - Alaska.

A few years ago, I had the chance to attend a Tribal environmental conference in Sitka, Alaska. Our hosts, the Sitka Tribe, were generous and hospitable, true to their traditions. I really felt at home, from the moment we arrived and were greeted at the airport to the day I left (sad to leave a business trip, for the first time ever). The first night of most guests' arrival, the Tribe welcomed all comers with a ceremony, "the warming of the hands." One highlight was supper, including fresh herring roe harvested from the local waters and shorelines. It brought delight to guests who were raised on it, looking forward to that April delicacy the way I look forward to heirloom tomatoes in July.

Fishermen (and women) from generation to generation, our hosts offered a bounty of fish. One day this included salmon heads, split and roasted on a baking sheet in the oven. The Alaska natives sitting near me compared notes on the preparation, making appreciative comments. One woman turned to me and said with quiet authority, "Traditional foods taste better when you eat them with your hands." And darned if she wasn't right.

How do we build bridges between cultures, if not by sharing the foods we are raised on? How do we begin to understand each others lives and values, if we don't touch - with our hands, not our intellects - the sources of our lives?