The Whale and the Cupcake Audiobook By Julia O'Malley cover art

The Whale and the Cupcake

Stories of Subsistence, Longing, and Community in Alaska

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The Whale and the Cupcake

By: Julia O'Malley
Narrated by: Alice C. Schoo-Jerger
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From fish and fiddleheads to salmonberries and Spam, Alaskan cuisine spans the two extremes of locally abundant wild foods and shelf-stable ingredients produced thousands of miles away. As immigration shapes Anchorage into one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the country, Alaska's changing food culture continues to reflect the tension between self-reliance and longing for distant places or faraway homes. Alaska Native communities express their cultural resilience in gathering, processing, and sharing wild food; these seasonal food practices resonate with all Alaskans who come together to fish and stock their refrigerators in preparation for the long winter.

In warm home kitchens and remote cafés, Alaskan food brings people together, creating community and excitement in canning salmon, slicing muktuk, and savoring fresh berry pies.

Touching on issues of subsistence, climate change, cultural mixing and remixing, innovation, interdependence, and community, The Whale and the Cupcake reveals how Alaskans connect with the land and each other through food.

The book is published by University of Washington Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

©2019 University of Washington Press (P)2021 Redwood Audiobooks Alaska Gastronomy Food & Wine State & Local Americas United States

Critic reviews

"Here's a book recommendation for you: Julia O'Malley's The Whale and the Cupcake." (New York Times)

"A thoughtful and enticing culinary text." (Foreword Reviews)
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Julia O’Malley’s prose (which I’ve been reading since she was a teen) is both plain and wonderfully descriptive. The narrator has a singsong style which just doesn’t seem to fit the words.

Not too fond of the narrator

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