Our final night at the One River One People Tribal Summit in Whitehorse. Fish Camp ladies served up moose, beef, ham, hooligans (local sardine-like fish), salmon, and porcupine. Wow.
I was helping out in the camp kitchen and one of the ladies thought it would be funny to have the white man cook the bannock (north country staple food). The elders sitting around the fire pit thought it was hysterical to see the white man cooking the bannock.
One of the cutest little girls ever (but not one of my nieces) came up while I was frying this deliciousness in pork lard and asked in a shy sweet voice if she could have some of my bannock. I said of course she could, and she picked one from the pile. She took a bite and smiled her approval to the watching crowd. I asked if it was ok and she nodded vigorously. A sigh went out among the people. The white man bannock might be edible after all.
As everyone ate, some of the crowd didn’t know it was “white man bannock”. I caught the eye of one of the chiefs who was on his second piece. I asked if the bannock was up to his standards and he raved about how good it was. I explained the bannock story and he smiled and welcomed me. I am now one of the family he said. Score one for the white man.
Final treat post dinner was the moose nose! Wow again. The elders watched us trying to get through it. It was, how to describe it, pretty strong, both strong looking and strong tasting. Did I mention the hairs? It really looks and tastes exactly as you might assume moose nose would be. Laughing as we ate, they told us AFTER you are supposed to peel the hairy outer parts before eating it! Mmmmoose nose...
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