"When I was growing up I can remember how we would go down to the beach and pluck ducks. We would have fish head soup. Mom dried lots of fish. We also had salted deer, goat, bear, and seal. Mom would smoke fish and seal. She even used to clean out the stomach of a seal. She would blow it up, stuff it with sausage and smoke it. Then she would slice the stuffed seal stomach and it tasted soooooo good..."

--NVE tribal member Barbara Olsen, on growing up in Tatitlek

Subsistence is an essential element of Native life. Smoking fish, picking berries, and gathering other foods from the land are activities that our people have practiced for thousands of years.

Learn more about subsistence lifestyles from our tribal members. Virginia Lacy shares family subsistence stories and even some recipes. You can also purchase the book, We Are the Land, We Are the Sea: Stories of Subsistence from the People of Chenega from our online store.