Top 5 Must-Try Alaska Food & Drink: A Tasty Guide

If you find yourself thinking about making a trip up to Alaska, you might want to think about all the fantastic food there, too, right? That cold, vast landscape isn’t just a pretty picture; it’s also surprisingly home to some incredibly unique and flavorful treats. The local scene up there really dishes out some food adventures. Very far away from what you’d get down here.

1. Wild Alaskan Salmon

Wild Alaskan salmon, seriously, isn’t just fish. It’s almost an icon up there, and when folks talk about it, it gets people real excited. This isn’t farm-raised stuff. So, you know it’s leaping and swimming in crazy, cold rivers, which pretty much gives it that flavor folks rave about, which some may argue is next-level. And the color? It’s super vibrant, usually, that, too, hints at just how healthy it might be.

Whether it’s grilled, smoked, baked, very even in sushi, there are endless ways to enjoy it, that taste really highlight Alaska’s fresh, natural bounty, and the textures alone, when prepared correctly are sure to make your taste buds feel as if they’re doing a happy dance. Give it a taste! When you go, definitely seek some out.

2. Alaskan King Crab

Oh man, king crab in Alaska? I mean, basically, this isn’t some appetizer, right? It’s the king. Seriously, it’s famous all around because of its crazy size, but also that tender, kind of sweet meat you get out of it, right? These guys are harvested right out of some freezing waters up there.

Cracking open a leg, maybe even dipping that giant chunk of meat in a little bit of butter—it’s one of those experiences you think about for days later. You might find it in swanky restaurants and just some little roadside joints. But people always rave. It really hits different than crab you get anywhere else, you know?

3. Reindeer Sausage

Okay, reindeer sausage is maybe an unusual thing for someone to wrap their head around, yet it’s truly a staple up in Alaska, is that something you could see yourself getting into, huh? It might sound very odd to some, so reindeer meat can actually give this kind of sausage this slightly gamey, a bit rich flavor that you’re not going to find in any old pork or beef sausage, right?

Lots of times you find it served simply on a bun from a street vendor, too it’s almost the thing people grab really quick, right? And for some people the spice mixes are as diverse as you can believe, so, that means every bite tastes just a little bit different and more interesting, kind of. It is something that feels authentically Alaskan!

4. Fry Bread

You can think of fry bread very much as that warm, pillowy hug made out of dough, right? It’s just, as I was saying, deep-fried bread that just about always plays this super important part in the heritage of the indigenous Athabascan peoples, but has found a huge fan base right throughout Alaska! As a matter of fact, it’s not at all uncommon to catch a booth up there passing this out at various celebrations and events.

Served one way, simply, it’s very much the blank canvass, alright, for some honey, but in other places, and for some folks, as I was saying, its totally the way to have tacos, or other such treats! The absolute charm of this food doesn’t come just in what it tastes like, but very much in how that flavor has, for a long time, kept people going.

5. Alaskan Amber

Listen, when people up in Alaska want to toss one back, Alaskan Amber might as well be a household name, right? It’s brewed there locally by the Alaskan Brewing Co. Which may give you this almost perfectly balanced blend that many love for this not too heavy not to light place, basically!

You might like it, or know others that would if you usually tend to look for that caramel kind of flavor, and a bit of that malty, almost toasty feeling, is that your thing? When visiting up there in Alaska, very finding the local amber is like this great experience of just fitting right in there, especially when watching a sunset on some porch. What a sight that is!