Chinook olives

[James Crippen]

On 9/18/07, Scott Tyler <s.tylermd at comcast.net> wrote:
> I have had stinky heads once in Alaska about 20 years ago in the Bristol Bay
> area.  Some Innuit folks invited me over for a triple header---sounded like
> we were going to a baseball game. Well, I did manage to eat one fish head
> which was fermented.  The heads were torn apart with our bear hands and
> rinsed each piece in the river just before we popped it into our mouths.
> The fingerlings in the river had a treat too!  We all had some hot tea to
> 'cook up the fish' they said.

Good stuff. I always thought the hot tea afterwards was for washing
the bits out of your mouth, but heating it up in your belly is good
too, especially when it's chilly. Which it always is up in Eskimo
country.

By the way, tea in Tlingit is "cháayu", which was borrowed from
Russian. The original term in Russian is "chai" but in the partitive
("some of") it's "chaju" as in "davai pjom chaju" - "let's drink some
tea".

> In Neah Bay there is  aach paab which is fermented fish eggs. Don't know if
> any one makes it today.

It's still made occasionally in Southeast Alaska. The term is usually
"kaháakw kas'eex" (lit. "dried fisheggs") or sometimes "góokh".
There's also a term for eggs which have been mashed and dried by
smoking but I don't remember it. I've heard it called "egg cheese" or
"Tlingit cheese" in English, but I don't think there's a common
English term because it's not often used. Some younger people call it
just "kaháakw" but that actually refers to fish (salmon) eggs in
general.

Cheers,
James

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