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Papua New GuineaFlavors · Alasca
A whipped fat mixture combined with wild berries, sometimes with cooked fish, prepared by the Indigenous peoples of Alaska. The name comes from the Yup'ik language and means "mixture."
Traditional sweet from Alasca
Also known as: agutak, Eskimo ice cream
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Akutaq — Alasca, the United States
Akutaq is a traditional food of the Indigenous peoples of Alaska, especially the Yup'ik of the western part of the state. The name comes from the Yup'ik verb meaning "to mix," and that is what happens: animal fat — reindeer, caribou, moose, or seal oil, depending on the region — is hand-beaten until white and fluffy, then mixed with wild berries gathered on the tundra in summer.
The most commonly used berries are blueberry, cranberry, and salmonberry. In some recipes cooked, flaked white fish is added; in towns, many families have swapped animal fat for vegetable shortening and added sugar. In English it became known as Eskimo ice cream, even though it contains no milk.
Akutaq appears at festivals, family gatherings, and community celebrations, and is featured in demonstrations and contests at cultural centers and Native Alaskan festivals.
Animal fat (reindeer, caribou, moose) or seal oil, or vegetable fat in modern versions; wild berries (blueberry, cranberry, salmonberry); sometimes cooked white fish and sugar.
Cold, eaten with a spoon, served in bowls for sharing.
Year-round; commonly present at festivals, family gatherings, and community celebrations.
Your questions
It is a whipped fat mixture combined with wild berries, sometimes with cooked fish, prepared by the Indigenous peoples of Alaska.
Because of its creamy texture and because it is served cold, even though it contains no milk. The native name, akutaq, means "mixture."
Wild tundra berries such as blueberry, cranberry, and salmonberry.
Flavors of the United States
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New Orleans sandwich made on the local French bread, with a thin, crisp crust, filled with fried shrimp or oysters, roast beef with gravy, or other fillings. The name is linked to the 1929 streetcar operators’ strike.
New Orleans cocktail with rye whiskey or cognac, sugar and the bitter created by Antoine Amédée Peychaud, served in a glass scented with absinthe and a lemon peel. It is the city’s official cocktail by a 2008 state law.
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Large pizza with a thin, crisp yet flexible crust, thin enough to fold a slice in half. It originated among Neapolitan bakers in New York and is sold by the slice throughout the city.
Pastrami sandwich: cured, seasoned and smoked beef, hot-sliced on rye bread with mustard. It’s the sandwich of New York’s Jewish delicatessens.
Buttery New Mexico cookie, traditionally made with lard, scented with anise and rolled in sugar and cinnamon. It has been the state cookie since 1989, the first official state cookie in the United States.
Hamburger topped with melted cheese and roasted, chopped New Mexico green chile. The state’s official tourism promotes a trail of restaurants that serve it, and several towns claim to have created it.
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Clam and potato chowder in a tomato broth, with bacon and the sweet heat of datil pepper. A family recipe from descendants of Menorcan settlers in Saint Augustine.
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Carne asada burrito with French fries inside, cheese, pico de gallo, sour cream and guacamole. San Diego’s tourism authority presents it as a creation of the city from the 1980s.
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Low St. Louis cake with a dense, buttery base and a moist, sticky topping of butter, sugar and eggs, dusted with powdered sugar. Local tradition attributes it to a baker’s mistake in the 1930s.
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Cuban sandwich made with Cuban bread, roasted pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles and mustard, pressed on a griddle. In Tampa it also includes salami. The City Council declared it the city’s signature sandwich in 2012.
Whiskey made in Tennessee with at least 51% corn, filtered through sugar maple charcoal before aging in new toasted oak barrels. A 2013 state law defines what may use that name.
Texas barbecue centers on smoked beef brisket as its main dish: seasoned only with salt and black pepper, cooked for many hours in wood smoke and sliced, served on butcher paper with bread, pickles and onion.
Sausage wrapped in bacon and grilled, served in a soft bolillo-style roll with beans, tomato, onion, mayonnaise, mustard and hot sauce. It came from the Mexican state of Sonora and became a symbol of Tucson.
Thick stew of chicken, lima beans, corn and tomato, cooked for hours in iron pots. The Virginia General Assembly points to Brunswick County as the place of origin, in a long-standing dispute with Georgia.
Soft roll baked with slices or sticks of pepperoni inside, which release fat and season the dough. It originated among coal miners of Italian descent in West Virginia.
A sausage thicker and spicier than the hot dog, smoked and grilled, served in bread with chili, onion and mustard. Washington’s tourism agency calls it the city’s signature dish.
Oval puff pastry, made of very thin layers, filled with fruit, nuts, or cream and topped with icing. Brought by Danish immigrants, it is Wisconsin’s official dessert.
