This post is part of ToadMama's Brave, Bold, Blogger Challenge (BBBC) 2017 which is an attempt to make February go by a little more quickly. There are 28 topics, one for each day.
Vegetable
On the left is what we would like to have. And the right is our Alaskan reality. At least during the winter. Some vegetables are phenomenal in Alaska with our plentiful sunshine and warm temperatures during June and July but the rest of the year, forget it. You can find almost any kind of vegetable your heart desires but be ready to pay top dollar. Vegetables that have a long storage life like carrots, onions and potatoes are reasonably priced during the long winter months. A few years ago I was making my own green vegetable juice but the cost was ridiculous. I now settle for the too sweet version from Sam's Club (too much fruit juice not enough veggies). Nowhere near as tasty as my homemade version. The tomato is included in the picture as it is one vegetable (fruit?) that I almost always have on hand in spite of the ridiculous cost though not very flavorful as they are not ripe when shipped. Whenever I think it's bad here I just need to step into the AC store in Utqiaġvik aka Barrow for some truly shocking prices.
There's something we take for granted here in the lower 48 for sure! Even during the winter, we can get decent produce that won't cost an arm and a leg. It would be interesting to see some actual food prices from your local AK grocer one day.
ReplyDeleteBack in the early '90s, one of the local grocery stores started shipping a lot of their produce by air. And most of the other stores followed. For a while, the quality of the produce skyrocketed and what we were offered was better than I saw in Southern California. And the cost was higher but not as high as you'd expect. I guess spoilage dropped to partially offset the cost.
DeleteI should do a shopping trip post. Maybe include prices up north for some real shock value...
Compared to your natural food options growing in Alaska, my backyard is an orchard. We can have regional seasonal veggies and fruit all year round, and having lived in Alberta (where lots of stuff got imported from California and further down south) we really got to appreciate the local food sources.
ReplyDeleteThe fruit and vegetables from local farms during the summer is great. But it's usually around 5x the cost of the local supermarket. There are exceptions but most of it is very tasty. At Chena Hot Springs Resort, they heat and power their greenhouses using geothermal so the restaurant serves fresh produce year around.
DeletePerspective is everything. It's good to be reminded how much we take for granted here in the lower 48.
ReplyDeleteFresh, high quality fruit and veggies are rare.
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