GREEN & SUSTAINABLE

From coastal Alaska southward into northern California, Salmon Nation encompasses all the watersheds whose streams and rivers flow into the North Pacific. The Columbia River, in particular, has served as an effective trade route for foods between the coastal bays and tidelands and the Montane headwaters to the east. Since time immemorial, several species of salmon have run the gamut of habitats between these two extremes, but in modern times their migratory pathways have been disrupted by dams and degraded by pollution from pulp mills.

Today, nearly ninety-five of Salmon Nation’s traditional foods are threatened or endangered. Despite these losses, it remains the richest region on the continent in terms of the numbers of fish, shellfish, berries, mushrooms, wild corms, bulbs, and tubers it supports. Its First Nations cultures include many master fisherfolk and retain many of their ancient food traditions, although some, such as the preparation of fermented ooligan grease, a highly prized trade item, have nearly disappeared.

– excerpted from Renewing America’s Food Traditions, edited by Gary Nabhan, with the permission of Chelsea Green Publishing (www.chelseagreen.com)

Disappearing Foods | Recipes | Tips | Related Links | Full List of Disappearing Foods | Back to Map

Disappearing Foods

• Black Republican Sweet Cherry
• Charlotte Peach
• Columbia River Chinook Salmon
• Columbia River Steelhead
• Marshall Strawberry
• Nez Perce Bean
• Spokane Beauty Apples
• Spurgeon Special Walnut
• Walla Walla Sweet Onion
• Wenatchee Moorpark Apricot
• See Full List

Back to Top

Find EatingWell recipes for:

• Apples
• Apricots
• Beans
• Cherries
• Nuts
• Onions
• Peaches
• Salmon
• Seafood
• Strawberries

Back to Top

Tips to preserve heritage and heirloom foods:

• Become a seed saver through the Seed Saver Exchange (seedsavers.org).
• Purchase heirloom produce and heritage livestock breeds (American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, albc.usa.org).
• If you think a food is endangered, nominate it to the Slow Ark of Taste, slowfoodusa.org.
• Support community agriculture, farmers' markets and local food groups.
• Attend events that celebrate local foods.

Read more about Renewing America’s Food Traditions (RAFT).

Back to Top

Related Links

Farm-Raised Salmon Goes Vegetarian
Good Things Come in [Omega] Threes
Essential EatingWell Seafood Guide
Shining Light on Vitamin D
Inflammatory Foods
The Wild Salmon Debate
Green Choices: Seafood Buyer's Guide
Food for Thought: Can healthy eating help your brain stay sharp?
America’s Best Farmers’ Markets
Native Nutrition: A movement to preserve heritage foods

Back to Top

Disappearing Foods (Full List)

Berckmans Grape

Bird or Oso Plum

Black Republican Sweet Cherry

Boccacio Rockfish

Brilliant Grape

Buffalo Currant

Bull Trout

California Variegated Sheep

Campbell's Early Grape

Cascade Moose

Charlotte Peach

China Rockfish

Coastal Cutthroat Trout

Colonel Wilder Pear

Columbia River Chinook Salmon

Columbia River Chum Salmon

Columbia River Steelhead

Columbia White-tailed Deer

Concord, California Grape

Cow Cod

El Dorado Pear

Eulachon, Ooligan Smelt

Flat Abalone

Geoduck Clam

Gillette Fig

Green Sturgeon

Haida Potato

Hooker's Sweet Indian Corn

Horse, Gaper, or Great Washington Clam

Immigrant Bean

Jesse (Champion) Plum

Kilham Goose Bean

Lingcod

Low Growing Mountain Huckleberry

Lower Columbia River Coho Salmon

Lower Salmon River Squash

Lucas Navy Bean

Makah Ozette Potato

Marshall Strawberry

Muscat of Alexandria Grape

Nez Perce Bean

Northern California Coho Salmon

Northern Giant Cabbage

Northern Oregon/Washington Steelhead

Northwestern Blackberry

Olympia Oyster

Olympia Peninsula Chum Salmon

Olympic  Blackberry

Orcas Pear

Oregon Delicious Melon

Oregon Giant Bean

Orenco Apples

Ozette Lake Sockeye Salmon

Pacific Black Cod

Pacific Bluestem No. 47 Hard White Spring Wheat

Pacific Hake

Pacific Herring Roe on Western Hemlock Boughs and Kelp

Pacific or Trident Lamprey

Paint Bean

Pink Fawn Lily

Pink, Southern Salmon

Pinto Abalone

Pride of Multnomah Potato

Puget Sound Chinook Salmon

Puget Sound Steelhead

Rescue Pear

Roosevelt Elk

Russian River Chinook Salmon

Sacramento River Chum Salmon

Seaside (Chilean) Coastal Populations Strawberry

Snake River Chinook, Fall Run Salmon

Snake River Sockeye Salmon

Snake River Steelhead

Southern Oregon Coho Salmon

Southern Oregon Steelhead

Spokane Beauty Apples

Spurgeon Special Walnut

St. Croix Sheep

Steller's Sea Lion

Tlingit (Marks) Potato

To-le-ak Potato

Trailing Blackberry

Umatilla/Yakima Marblehead Squash

Upper Columbia Steelhead

Walla Walla Sweet Onion

Wenatchee Moorpark Apricot

Whatcom Half Runner Lima Bean

White Sturgeon

Winter Bartlett Pear

Wood Bison

Woodland Caribou

Yampa (Gairdner's Yampah)

Back to Top