In Bettles, one must develop rituals around eating — innovative ways to get food to the remote place, growing veggies with neighbors, ordering food from thousands of miles away, weeks ahead of time
In March 2020, when pandemic stay-at-home orders had just started and everyone was figuring out how to get groceries and purchase in bulk for the next several weeks, I already had a chest freezer full of food and a pantry stocked with months’ worth of meals at my home in Fairbanks, Alaska. I had been living in the Arctic for more than a decade, and the fly-in community of Bettles, Alaska, had prepared me for pandemic life in ways I hadn’t realized.
Bettles began as a gold rush trading post on the west side of the river, but in the late 1950s and early 1960s, residents began to resettle in “new” Bettles, a 2-square-mile plot of land near the newly constructed airstrip, which at the time was already known as the unincorporated Alaska Native village of Evansville.
What Adam hadn’t shared — but what quickly would become second nature to me — is that in the tiny town, we would develop our own rituals around eating. Yes, things like fresh strawberries would be hard to come by, but together we’d craft innovative solutions to tasks more easily accomplished in less remote places. We’d communally grow vegetables with our neighbors. We’d order food from thousands of miles away, weeks ahead of time. And we would hardly ever be eating alone.
It’s a real feat to get frozen foods to Bettles and it’s amazing that the ice cream sandwiches and rocket pops still only cost $1 each, which seems like the shop owner’s way of acknowledging that she isn’t making a profit on these items because she firmly believes everyone should have equal access to ice cream during the summer. The shop often functions on the honor system, with a notebook in which you write down your name and what you took, or an envelope in which you can leave cash.
It wasn’t until the last few years — and really as a result of the pandemic — that it became slightly easier to place a Bush order at the grocery store. There are several grocery options in Fairbanks, but nearly all the Bush orders go through Fred Meyer, which is part of the Kroger brand.
No matter the specific dishes that find their way to the potluck table, a community priority continues to be that the Native elders have enough to eat. You’ll frequently hear someone say, “I’ll make a plate for...” as a potluck is wrapping up and the leftovers are beginning to be dispersed.spent in Bettles, I had a more sustainable plan for better eating. Bettles experiences extreme differences in both temperature and daylight.
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