We are surrounded by a natural pantry here in Sitka. From beach asparagus to salmonberries to rockfish, the woods and waters in Sitka Sound teem with edible organisms. Nearly everyone here has a favorite way to prepare salmon or a secret recipe using local plants. The annual Sitka Conservation Society wild foods potluck celebrates our local knowledge about available natural foods and showcases their abundance. Additionally, it gives the community a chance to share an incredible variety of dishes, as well as the stories that came with them. This year over 200 people joined us for our 2014 potluck, bringing dishes from herring egg salad to stir-fried fiddleheads. Become an SCS member to stay abreast of our 2015 potluck plans. Stay in touch with the wild and keep cooking!

The WildFoods Potluck is our annual celebration of all things harvested, hunted, fished, grown, and gathered. The Tongass National Forest and especially the Sitka Community Use Area are rich and abundant places to support our thriving subsistence communities.

Thank you to all our members and friends who came out to celebrate with us this year! And remember, it's never too early to start planning your dishes for next year!

The winning dishes from the 2013 Best Dish competition will be posted shortly, so be sure to check back in!

Want to see photos of the event? Check out the albums on Facebook:

Photos by Christine Davenport

Photos by Andis

Thanks to everyone who came out to the 2012 WildFoods Potluck! Check out the photos, get an update on the prize winners, and even see the presentation on SCS's Restoration work below.

And the Winners Are:

Ellen Frankenstein—Crab Loaf

Chris Leeseberg—Lingcod Curry

Prizes: Pickled Beach Asparagus (donated by Gimbal Botanicals) and a Eating Alaska DVD donated by Ellen Frankenstein

Best Dish/ Most Wild (Judges: Jud Kirkness and Wendy Alderson)

Linda Wilson—Potato pepper pickle pea salad

Kerri Fish—Panang Curry with halibut cheeks

Prizes: $100 gift certificate to Alaska's Own (co sponsored by AO and SCS) and a homemade hemlock/cedar cutting board made by Spencer Severson with a Victorknox knife donated by Murray Pacific

Best Side (Judges: Marsh Skeele and Tachi Sopow)

Kerry O'toole--venison, goat cheese, and pickled crab apple

Anonymous--Sauteed scallops

Prizes: one night paid in a FS cabin and two summer boat cruise tickets (both prizes sponsored by SCS)

Best Dessert (Judges: Fred Fayette, Veronica, and Kerri)

Darlene Orr --Cloud berry bites

Prize: $30 gift certificate donated by the Larkspur Cafe

Most Creative/Artistic (Judges: Chelsea Wheeler and Elena Gustafson)

Judy Lehman--salmon lingnon berry pizza

Prize: $60 gift basket donated by WinterSong Soap Co.

SCS's Watershed Restoration Mission presented by Scott Harris

2012 Potluck Photo Gallery

[frame src="http://archive.sitkawild.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/wild-foods-line.jpg" width="600" height="600" linkstyle="normal"]

Join us at the SCS Annual Wild Foods Potluck

November 29th, 5:00-7:30 pm at Harrigan Centennial Hall

This free, community event gives everyone a chance to come together and share meals made with locally foraged food, from fish and wild game to seaweed, berries and other traditional subsistence foods. All folks are asked to bring in dishes that feature local wild foods, and if you can't bring in a dish that features wild foods you can use a wild plant to garnish a dish made with store-bought foods. Doors open at 5 p.m. to bring in your dish, with dinner starting at 6:00 p.m. Non-alcoholic drinks will be provided.

This year's theme will be "Restoration in the Sitka Community Use Area" where we will be sharing with you the hard work we've put in to the Tongass National Forest. There will be prizes awarded for the best dishes made in categories like:

-best entree/most wild

-best side

-best dessert

-most creative/artistic

-most filling (we have a lot of folks come to the Wild Foods potluck, so if you cook a big dish that can feed a lot of people, that would be very mindful and considerate and definitely worth rewarding!)

The doors open at 5:00 pm so you'll have a chance to visit the community booths from the following groups:

• Sitka Local Foods Network
• Sitka Trailworks
• Sitka Maritime Heritage Society
• Alaska Longline Fishermen's Association
• Alaska Way of Life 4-H Club
• MEYEA
• Forest Service
• Sitka Cooperative Extension Service
• SCS Fish to Schools
• Wood Utilization Center

Look through photos of past years for inspiration, or view an article on the stories behind the dishes that were entered in the 2011 potluck.

[gallery link="file" columns="6"]