AGING AND FERMENTATION AS ADAPTIVE FOOD MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES IN THE ARCTIC By Celeste Giordano Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology Temple University August 2007 Master of Arts in Anthropology University of Nevada, Las Vegas May 2013 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy - Anthropology Department of Anthropology College of Liberal Arts The Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas May 2017 Dissertation Approval The Graduate College The University of Nevada, Las Vegas May 11, 2017 This dissertation prepared by Celeste Giordano entitled Aging and Fermentation as Adaptive Food Management Strategies in the Arctic is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy – Anthropology Department of Anthropology Liam Frink, Ph.D. Kathryn Hausbeck Korgan, Ph.D. Examination Committee Co-Chair Graduate College Interim Dean Daniel C. Benyshek, Ph.D. Examination Committee Co-Chair Karen Harry, Ph.D. Examination Committee Member Carolee Dodge-Francis, Ph.D. Graduate College Faculty Representative ii Abstract This dissertation is composed of three papers: one published article, one article under review for publication, and one published commentary. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the dissertation as a whole – a work that investigates food aging and fermentation techniques in an indigenous Yup’ik Alaskan community, proposes an adaptive explanation for these strategies in the circumpolar north, and explores the potential importance of them cross-culturally and evolutionarily. Chapter 2 is a paper that describes the seal poke storage system – an indigenous food preservation and storage technique that Yup’ik Alaskans used to manage food security up until approximately one generation ago. Chapter 3 is a detailed study of ninamayuk – an indigenous Yup’ik food that involves processing and preservation techniques that are exemplary of the strategy adopted throughout the North American and Eurasian arctic and subarctic to ensure annual food security. Chapter 4 briefly summarizes an article published in Current Anthropology on indigenous aged and fermented foods in the Bering Strait region to which the published commentary (Chapter 5) is in response. Chapter 6 elaborates on the main points made in the commentary. Chapter 7 links the previous chapters to the findings in the papers of Chapter 2 and, particularly, Chapter 3 with its broader implications for understanding the evolution of the human diet. Chapter 8 discusses the implications of this research for the direction of future work in the field of Anthropology; specifically, the importance of continued ethnographic work and experimental archaeology with contemporary indigenous communities and the potential contribution of this for developing theories about prehistoric human dietary practices and modern-day diet-related health problems. iii Dedication This work is dedicated to my mother, Lynn Giordano, who always managed to keep food on the table for our big family (and anyone else who happened to stop by), despite limited time and resources. “Questionable” meat leftovers (as my sisters and I called them) were revamped into delicious casseroles, tuna salad or fried tomatoes could be tactfully plated to look like a main dish, old mashed potatoes became fried potato cakes for breakfast, and instead of processing the much more affordable skin-on bone-in chicken cuts, the whole lot was thrown in a pot with a bottle or two of beer for an hour resulting in surprisingly tasty chicken that just slides off the bone. Any leftovers, of course, perfectly suited for a chicken stock later used to make soup for lunch the next day. It is my Mom who gave me the skill of turning not much into something in the kitchen – a skill which now benefits my own family. Her creativity and expertise made something really difficult (preparing three meals a day for a large family with limited resources) seem simple. Perhaps it is because Moms make things in the kitchen look so “simple” that we assume the skills, knowledge of foods, day-to-day decision making, and future planning needed for the task are also simple. This work is the culmination of ideas over the years inspired by my realization that we may be missing important aspects of the evolution of the human diet by taking these things for granted. iv Table of Contents Abstract.......................................................................................................................................... iii Dedication.......................................................................................................................................iv Table of Contents.............................................................................................................................v List of Tables..................................................................................................................................vi List of Figures................................................................................................................................vii Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................1 Chapter 2: Women and Subsistence Food Technology: The arctic seal poke storage system........ 4 Chapter 3: An Arctic Hunter-Gatherer Technique for Maintaining Food Security in Cold Climates without the Controlled Use of Fire.................................................................................34 Chapter 4: Introduction to Commentary........................................................................................70 Chapter 5: Comment on The Rotten Renaissance in the Bering Strait: Loving, loathing, and washing the smell of foods with a (re)acquired taste by Sveta Yamin-Pasternak, Andrew Kliskey, Lilian Alessa, Igor Pasternak, and Peter Schweitzer..................................................................... 73 Chapter 6: The Stigmatization of Aged and Fermented Foods in Alaska..................................... 76 Chapter 7: Food Aging and Fermentation in Cross-Cultural and Evolutionary Perspective........ 86 Chapter 8: Conclusion and Future Research Directions................................................................97 References....................................................................................................................................104 Curriculum Vitae......................................................................................................................... 119 v List of Tables Table 1. Seal Oil Consumption Frequency (n = 32)......................................................................25 Table 2. Changes in Seal Oil Consumption (n = 32).....................................................................25 Table 3. Nutritional Composition of Raw Herring, Ninamayuk, and Cooked Herring Muscle on a Wet Weight (ww) Basis.................................................................................................................47 Table 4. Nutritional Composition of Raw Herring, Ninamayuk, and Cooked Herring Muscle on a Dry Weight (dw) Basis.................................................................................................................. 48 Table 5. Effect of Storage on Nutritional Composition of Rendered Seal Oil.............................. 50 Table 6. Nutritional Composition of Rendering Seal Oil..............................................................51 Table 7. Descriptive Statistics for Temperature (°F) in Underground Pit and Above-ground Food Shed in Chefornak, Alaska............................................................................................................ 53 Table 8. Descriptive Statistics for Temperature (°F) in Underground Pit and Above-ground Food Shed in Tununak, Alaska...............................................................................................................54 Table 9. Melting and Smoke Points (°F )of Differently Aged Seal Oils and Common Cooking Oils.................................................................................................................................................56 vi List of Figures Figure 1. Map of Study Area......................................................................................................... 12 Figure 2. Qapiarun Knife with Seal.............................................................................................. 15 Figure 3. Temperature (°F) Comparison of Undergound Pit and Above-ground Food Shed in Tununak, Alaska June 2013 to March 2014.................................................................................. 19 Figure 4. Filled Seal Poke..............................................................................................................23 Figure 5. Photograph of Half-dried Herring Packed in Seal Poke (Giordano, 2014)....................44 Figure 6. Temperature (°F) Comparison of Underground Pit and Above-ground Food Shed in Chefornak, Alaska June 2014 to September 2014.........................................................................54 Figure 7. Protein to Fat Ratio in Alaska Native versus US Domesticated Meats (Table 29 from Mann et al. 1962)...........................................................................................................................67 vii Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2 is an article (published in Food and Foodways) that describes the seal poke storage system