High-quality food is the bedrock of health and community.
This month we bring you stories from two of our members that prove that healthy nutrition is as much an art as it is a science in the different ways they use wild foods to feed themselves and foster connection with friends and family. I could go on about all the health benefits of Omega-3 fatty acids or lean, wild protein, but members Susan Fettes and Suzanne Simmons provide powerful examples of how good food can sustain us through adversity.
JUST SUE HERE, FROM CENTRAL NY
“Facebook told me I needed you,” Sue states. “I did some due diligence looking up the company; I liked what I read.” Sue Fettes became a member of Sitka Seafood Market in November of 2020 after trying out a few freezer boxes. “My first share box was in April of 2021, and I could not wait,” Sue says.
Since she joined, Sue has been a passionate member of our Sitka Salmonsharsians Facebook Group. If you’ve checked out the community, chances are you’ve seen her posts, which have become a mainstay of the group. Her posts often start with her familiar sign-on “Just Sue here, from Central NY…” Usually accompanied by a dozen or more photographs, Sue shares her wild seafood journey with members, dispensing helpful advice and encouragement to our community of home cooks. “I feel like I've pulled up a chair at Sue's table,” member Mary Godlewski wrote in response to a post Sue shared about a salmon dinner with her daughter during Christmastime.
Sue got an early start in life preparing meals. “My mom encouraged me to help her make dinners, back in the day,” says Sue. Her father cultivated an interest in wild foods and her family enjoyed adventurous ingredients such as steamed cattails and the fruit of wild roses. Nor is Sue a stranger to seafood. “I’ve gone fishing mostly for yellow perch in Lake Ontario and wished it would never stop when they were biting,” she says. The Sitka Seafood Market model offered her something she had been missing. “Having a connection to not only the fishermen, but to all the people who work to bring our fish, to us, the consumers, is amazing, and new to me,” Sue says.
When Sue went off to graduate school, accompanied by the cookbooks her parents had helped her to accumulate, her culinary experience paid off. With a little help from Food & Wine magazine, Sue was able to cater dinner parties on a student budget. Life became hectic once she graduated with a PhD in mathematics, earned her first academic position, and started a family. The kitchen provided an anchor through it all. “After decades of life, food remains central,” Sue says. “Sitka [Seafood Market] has been a great find for me.”
Health and nutrition are even higher priorities for Sue ever since an autoimmune disease diagnosis several years ago. Sue had to scale back an active life that included running a marathon, thousand-mile biking trips, being a hot air balloon pilot, scuba diving, and hunting, as well as her academic careers and family responsibilities. “I would not have moved from physical pursuits to more sedentary ones if I had not been forced to,” she says. Cooking remains an important part of her life and now she loves sharing her journey and connecting with other members.
SUZANNE, ROCKY MOUNTAINS M.D.
“Our family NEVER bought fish in a store,” Suzanne Simmons says. Suzanne grew up in New England and spent her youth fishing from docks and piers with her father. Although her free time evaporated when she entered college in Boston, she has fond memories of eating local seafood. “We could go down to Atlantic Ave. and adjacent streets where there were huge fish markets and warehouses,” Suzanne recalls. “We could buy fish just caught — it was great.”
When she moved to Colorado to finish her training as a board-certified Internal Medicine Physician, she lost her connection to the sea. “When I moved to Colorado, I was dismayed,” Suzanne says. “I could not find any decent fish in a market. So, I stopped buying it.”
Suzanne doesn’t remember exactly how she first heard about Sitka Seafood Market, but she remembers what motivated her to subscribe to a box. “I loved that we would be receiving fish caught by Sitka Seafood Market, and that the fishers would be paid a decent wage for their work and dedication,” Suzanne recalls. “I also loved that Sitka [Seafood Market] truly cared about the seas, the fishing grounds, the whole ecosystem in your area in Alaska.”
The verdict? Suzanne says, “The fish are finally what I am used to eating!”
For Suzanne, Sitka Seafood Market has done more than just rekindle memories of good seafood fresh from the dock. Suzanne’s hospital has been hit hard by the pandemic and mealtime has suffered as a result. “I try to work part-time, but with the COVID pandemic, we all need to work extra shifts to care for the large numbers of patients, especially critically ill ones,” Suzanne says.
“Since we never had time to rest, and the only food available was junk or fast food, I started bringing in food for us,” Suzanne says. She made mealtime a priority for her crew. “We initially set a rule that everybody had to meet in our office at midnight, with no exceptions allowed, unless you were in the middle of an emergency,” Suzanne says.
Dr. Simmons nourishes her crew with fillets of salmon from her subscription box. Photo courtesy of Suzanne Simmons.
“When I joined Sitka [Seafood Market], I would poach a salmon and bring it for our feast. Everybody loved it!”
From salmon to hot-smoked sablefish, Suzanne brings the best from her monthly box. “We eat well when I am on at night! It really lifts our spirits, as we are working under very stressful conditions,” Suzanne says.
We started Sitka Seafood Market with the intention of connecting seafood lovers to Alaska’s fishermen. The stories that Susan Fettes and Suzanne Simmons share show us that whatever path we are on, dinnertime is worth making special. With the right food on hand, it can feed more than our growling bellies. Thank you to all of the members who share part of their journey with us. We wouldn’t be here without you!
