Updated: June 1, 2016 Published: August 25, 2014
Staff and elders pick fireweed blossoms off the stalks to make fireweed jelly at the Maniilaq Association elder care facility in Kotzebue, AK on Friday, August 8, 2014. Manillaq Association is working to serve traditional foods to elders staying in their long-term care facility, they found they were stifled by USDA regulation that prohibited serving foods like caribou and locally caught salmon. Now, with a little work, the regulation has been updated to allow those foods to be served in the facility -- home to 18 elders all from the Northwest Arctic. They are building a USDA-certified processing facility to accommodate donations of foods like caribou and moose.
The Maniilaq Association is working to serve traditional foods to elders staying in their long-term care facility in the Northwest Alaska community of Kotzebue, after finding they were stifled by U.S. Department of Agriculture regulations that prohibited serving foods like caribou and locally caught salmon. Now, with a little work, the regulation has been updated to allow those foods to be served at the facility -- home to 18 elders, all from the Northwest Arctic. They are building a USDA-certified processing facility to accommodate donations of foods like caribou and moose.
READ MORE: Traditional foods making their way onto elders' plates in NW Alaska
Alaska Dispatch Publishing