Indian Voices: Listening to Native Americans

16. Eskimo Ice Cream: Christine Guy (Yup'ik)

307 c h a p t e r 1 6  Eskimo Ice Cream christine guy (yup’ik) Christine Guy, a thirty-six-year-old Yup’ik, sat on the linoleum floor of her kitchen in Kwethluk, in western Alaska. A beaded barrette, one of many in her collection, held the end of her black braid, which almost reached the floor. Her back was straight, her legs in a V-shape, pinioning a huge metal bowl. On the floor around her she had arrayed various ingredients. Beside her, or on chairs, or standing, were about eight other people. They included her oldest daughter, Christina, nicknamed Pooh (a lovely teenager, who crochets while watching James Bond videos), her youngest son, Big Boy (so named by a hospital nurse because he weighed three pounds seven ounces at birth), her husband, Bobby, and a number of visitors. That evening there would be a dinner to honor the birthday of Christine’s late grandfather. About fifty family members would attend. In a village of some eight hundred people, of whom nobody is unknown and many are kin (Christine is directly related to about a tenth of the village), fifty is an average-sized family gathering. In her opinion, Christine was in the optimum position for making what she promised would be a special dessert for the dinner. The table would be too confining. First, she said, reaching into a large can, you take two handfuls of Crisco. Plop. Plop. Then, reaching for a large bag, you take equal amounts of instant mashed potato mix. She stirred them together with both hands as family members looked on. Some stole glances at me, the baffled visitor. Then, she said, you add two handfuls of white sugar. She now mixed with one hand, her other holding the bowl. The final ingredient came from CH016.qxd 12/14/10 8:25 AM Page 307 Alaska itself, but much farther away than Kwethluk’s almost produce-free grocery store. In the summer, once ice has melted and rivers run, the Guy family members, like most people of Kwethluk and other Yup’ik villages, abandon their close-together prefab government-issued houses, and ride their motor boats up the Kuskokwim River into the tundra to set up fish camp. For weeks or months, depending on other demands, Yup’ik families live in tents amid the glory of Alaska’s outdoors. They catch and dry fish, hang them on stretched lines, occasionally shoot a bear (Bobby devoted almost an entire photograph album to one such event), and pick many, many wild berries. The Guys covet salmonberries, named for their color. They also harvest other varieties—Alaska has about fifty—including blueberries and a kind of sweet cranberry Christine called a bogberry. The summer berries, a traditional mainstay, once were dried. Nowadays any berries not eaten immediately are brought home, put into Ziploc bags, and stashed in the freezer. The Guys’ kitchen, essentially part of the living room, features a large refrigerator from whose freezer compartment had come a bag of beautiful, glistening berries gathered last summer: the coveted salmonberries. Christine picked up the bag, its contents thawed, and emptied the berries into the Crisco, instant mashed potatoes, and sugar. Then she resumed stirring. Ever clueless, but thinking fruit cobbler, I asked, How long do you bake it? Christine smiled, eyes behind her glasses especially lively. “You don’t. It’s ready.” The others looked on, grinning. It’s amazing, she continued, as she got to her feet, how the same recipe comes out differently depending on who makes it and how their hands blend the ingredients. The dish, she said cheerfully, is called Eskimo Ice Cream. It is the modern version of akutaq, someone explained. Before Crisco, we used seal oil. It was unclear what had preceded the instant mashed potatoes. That week and weekend, Christine Guy was especially busy. As usual, she worked all day, Monday through Friday, as assistant to the principal of the eskimo ice cream 308 CH016.qxd 12/14/10 8:25 AM Page 308 Ket’acik and Aapalluk Memorial School, also known as Kwethluk School. She also coached the volleyball team. A big game, the regional championship , was that Friday evening. There was the family gathering to prepare for, although her contribution of Eskimo ice cream was ready. There were also her roles as wife and mother. Finally, there was the big...