The Beloved Alaskan Food People In Most Other States Have Never Eaten

There really is no other state quite like Alaska. Colonized by Russia before being sold to the United States in 1867, Alaska has a multitude of cultures — American, Russian, Native American, and Finnish — and a stubborn independent streak, all of which manifest in a state that sometimes feels like its own country. Its unique qualities are even found in its food. Case in point: Alaska's love of reindeer sausage, a dish we're fairly sure most people in the other 49 states haven't tried.

Reindeer sausage is just what it sounds like: sausage made with reindeer meat, rather than more common options like pork or beef. In Alaska, it's a beloved dish statewide, and one that you can find at just about any time of year. The sausage isterrific grilled or pan-fried, as the star of a dish, or as an addition to stew. All sorts of local restaurants serve the dish in major cities like Anchorage and Fairbanks or in tiny huts on the side of the road. If you're worried that it'll taste too gamey, don't be — reindeer sausage is a little stronger than the sausage you may be used to, but it's still milder than venison.

Reindeer meat may sound exotic to those of us who don't live in the North Star State, but it's important to bear in mind that the state's isolation and forbidding geography makes it difficult to grow food and expensive to import it. Alaska doesn't have many pig farms or cattle ranches, and the astonishingly high prices in Alaskan grocery stores may make those Jimmy Dean sausage links eye-wateringly expensive. But it has plenty of reindeer, and Alaskan herders can and do raise them as livestock. So why not make use of all that protein-rich meat?

Other places around the Arctic Circle use reindeer meat in a similar way. You'll find reindeer sausage in Finland, just like in Alaska, and you'll find the meat in soups and cut into steaks as well. Meanwhile, in Scandinavia, you'll be able to buy canned or ready-made reindeer meatballs (although the ones you'll find in IKEA are still made of boring old beef, at least until IKEA gets that plant-based option off the ground). For a meat most of us will never eat, reindeer offers a surprising amount of versatility.