Pati Jinich Explores Panamericana

We got, uh, sockeye, silvers, pinks.

Hey, Mom, you want some fish?

How many?

Martha: Why don't we get a couple reds?

Pati: Sammy, what's your favorite?

Sammy: My favorite is the dollars I get from bringing these in.

[Laughter] It's Alaskan seafood, man.

That's the way to go.

Pati: Yeah.

Pati, voice-over: My life's work has been about forging bonds between my homeland of Mexico and my new home of the U.S. Now I'm embarking on a journey inspired by the Pan-American Highway, a network of roads connecting the Americas and a symbol of collaboration across countries.

Oh, my gosh!

Pati, voice-over: Join me as we share meals, make friends, and reimagine what it means to be American.

I'm Pati Jinich, and this is "PanAmericana."

Pati, voice-over: The Pan-American Highway is a network of roads that connects most of the countries in North and South America, from Alaska to Argentina, and has been a source of inspiration for artists, poets, writers, politicians, and even dreamers like me as a symbol of connection and collaboration.

As I begin the first leg of my Panamericana journey, from the top of Alaska to the bottom of Canada, I can't resist but start at the northernmost city of North America.

This is Utqiagvik, Alaska.

[Barks] Pati, voice-over: Alaska may be part of the United States, but, for me, traveling from the Lower 48 from Washington, D.C., means crossing Canada and then journeying across the vast expanse of the state itself and is like no place I've visited before.

It's home to the Inupiat people, who've thrived in the Arctic for thousands of years, living off the land and sea.

It's a subsistence lifestyle that continues today because it has to.

Aside from the extreme weather and environment, with no roads connecting Utqiagvik to the rest of Alaska, if the cargo plane skips a flight, grocery store shelves start to go empty.

Richard: There's planes that fly up here every day.

Yesterday they got canceled.

Pati, voice-over: Being so far from home, it feels like a distant country, yet small reminders that we're still in the U.S. pop up in unexpected ways.

Go on your sides.

Go on your sides.

Pati, voice-over: Basketball is almost as popular as fishing and hunting.

Basketball really is, it's poetry.

[Whistle blows] Wyman: It's a huge opportunity for these guys to come out and keep their minds and bodies occupied.

It's--it's a huge positive.

Pati, voice-over: You can get amazing drive-thru coffee and football.

Around here, a bad throw can land in the Arctic Ocean... [Men shout] [Gulls squawking] but there's one sport that predates all of these, a tradition central to Alaska, kept alive in this town by one man.

[Dogs barking] Geoff Carroll is the last dog musher here... Come on, Pika.

Pati, voice-over: hoping to preserve a way of life that's been mostly replaced by snowmobiles and ATVs.

Bobok, Pika, come on.

Ha ha ha!

Pati: What's going on?

Oh, the eyes are so beautiful.

Hello.

I mean, I've had dogs for 30 years.

Pati, voice-over: When the roads end, dogs keep going.

In Alaska's history, Indigenous people like the Yup'ik and Inupiat partnered with dogs for transportation, hunting, and mail carrying long before outsiders arrived, thriving in the Arctic's unforgiving winters.

Geoff took it up during his career as a scientist to get around in the snow.

In the summer, though, it's just endless mud and mosquitoes... Pati: Let's go.

Geoff: Kiita!

Pati: Whoa!

Oh, my gosh.

Pati, voice-over: yet, no matter the season, these athletes still need exercise.

Pati: They're so beautiful, Geoff.

Geoff: Oh, I know.

The white dog, Kobuk, he's, like, 16 years old.

He's a very remarkable dog.

He belonged to a friend.

He run the Yukon Quest, which is a thousand-mile dog race, and then they run the Iditarod, which is another thousand-mile race.

Pati: Wow.

Do you do it with this 4-wheeler because there's no snow?

Geoff: Right.

I was the area fish and game biologist for 27 years, and I would travel to the villages.

Now it's, you know-- it's more just all recreational.

It gives them exercise and gives me exercise.

Pati, voice-over: Geoff is leaving out a few parts.

He's faced down whales, survived two bush plane crashes, and dog-mushed the thousand miles on sea ice to the North Pole.

[Dog barks] Pati: Oh, they want to drink water.

Oh, that's adorable.

That's adorable.

Geoff: Whoa... [Panting] Geoff: It's always hard to tell when they're going to stop and get a drink, but they do that every now and then.

Pati, voice-over: He is passing his knowledge along to young people like Asa Elavyak who are eager to learn the ropes and me.

You want to drive?

We're switching.

I'm driving.

Kiita.

Whoa!

Ha!

They're kind of wild.

It's like being with a wolf pack, almost.

[Barking] Pati, voice-over: Geoff moved from Wyoming to Alaska in the 1970s, drawn by his interest in bowhead whales, unaware he would play a crucial role in helping to preserve an ancient Indigenous tradition and a way of life.

The Inupiat have been here for millennia, living off the land and sea, foraging, preserving, and harvesting caribou, seals, walrus, fish, and their biggest catch-- bowhead whales.

It's about survival-- one catch feeds the entire village for months-- but it's also spiritual, and it's how they work together, celebrate together, even mourn together... Crowd: Whale killers, we don't want your... Pati, voice-over: but that way of life was threatened when anti-whaling protests erupted in the 1960s.

Geoff and his Inupiat wife Marie were critical in keeping the age-old tradition alive.

He helped through science, and she went to Washington, D.C. Pati: Does it matter to you that there are voices out there that think that subsistence whaling is not OK?

There's a few societies around the world that have been engaged in subsistence whaling forever, and it wasn't them that-- that drove the number of whales down.

Pati, voice-over: Long before they were colonized by the Russians and their land sold to the United States, the Inupiat lived in harmony with nature as part of a subsistence lifestyle that included whaling for thousands of years.

By the 1950s, foreign commercial whaling had driven many species to the brink of extinction, with massive industrial fleets hunting whales by the tens of thousands for oil and other products, in contrast to only a small fraction of whales harvested by the Inupiat for subsistence.

Geoff worked with Inupiat leaders to accurately count bowhead whales, proving the population was growing at sustainable levels, eventually allowing the community to continue their ancient tradition.

Marie, what is Utqiagvik without subsistence whale hunting?

Pati, voice-over: In the 1970s, Marie was the first female director of the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission, and her lobbying in Washington, D.C., made her something of a local hero.

Pati: What would have happened if you lost this fight?

Pati, voice-over: Luckily, she didn't, and her efforts give me the honor of trying some of her people's traditional food-- caribou stew and muktuk.

Mm.

Mm.

Pati, voice-over: So how did a biologist from Wyoming marry an Inupiat in Utqiagvik?

Geoff: The story sort of starts when I was charged by a polar bear.

You were charged by a polar bear?

Yeah, and I had a gun, but the gun jammed, so I turned it around and used it for a baseball bat and hit the bear in the ear, and it broke the stock off the gun, but it knocked the bear down.

Pati, voice-over: When word spread, Marie had to meet the man who had started to become a legend.

[Sound of rifle being armed] But no one had fought a polar bear.

No.

Ha ha!

Pati, voice-over: Science helped save subsistence hunting here.

Now the Inupiat people have fully taken science into their own hands.

This sleek, James Bond-looking facility is owned by UIC, the Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation.

Ironically, the lab sits adjacent to an abandoned naval yard from the 1950s, when the government shut out the Alaskan Natives.

Now the Alaskan Natives charge the government to use their labs, land, and equipment.

Cody: This is a state-of-the-art research laboratory that is the hub for some of the most cutting-edge climate science that's happening today.

These are all things that are known about throughout the world.

Pati: The work that's done here is helping two things that may seem contradictory to the outside world, which is preserving the subsistence hunting and the traditions that are so elemental for the survival of the community with top-edge science.

Cody: You know, on the one hand, the science is telling-- the sea ice chemistry, the atmospheric chemistry, the--the temperature data that goes back 100 years-- but the community, they know why when, you know, the sea ice is not multiyear ice against the shore anymore and they can't go out whaling, why that is important to people's real lives, and the Arctic is very important.

It's warming, you know, twice as fast as the rest of the planet.

It's important for everybody, but when you live here, that is very real.

It's real in everyday life.

Pati, voice-over: I've also noticed how wonderfully diverse it is here, with people from across the U.S. and around the world choosing Utqiagvik as their home, enriching the community in countless ways... Oh, thank you.

Pati, voice-over: and, of course, as a Mexican, I'm always trying to take the pulse of where our food and where our people are going.

Pati: Hola.

Liliana: Hey.

Ha ha ha!

Pati, voice-over: Liliana Peuelas and her husband Cruz run a bakery and Utqiagvik's only Mexican restaurant under one roof.

She is from Pinar del Rio, Cuba, and he's from Sinaloa, Mexico.

Pati: What do you consider yourself to be at this point?

I consider myself a local because I've been here for 34 years and we go on vacation and we want to come back home.

Pati, voice-over: When she came to Alaska, she was living in Puerto Rico but moved here to accompany her friend.

Liliana: I left Puerto Rico when it was 90 degrees.

I came here on November 13, and it was -24.

I go, "What are you doing?"

[Engine starts] Pati, voice-over: Burritos are meant to be eaten on the go.

I heard of a secluded beach at the northernmost point of the city.

It's a bite that tastes like home while I'm here, sitting at the top of the Americas with a view that feels like the ends of the Earth.

The size of Alaska is staggering.

If you laid it over the Lower 48 at full scale, it would stretch almost coast to coast.

That's why much of the state, like Utqiagvik, is so remote, it depends on planes, boats, or float planes.

Now I'm back on the road system and heading to Anchorage, Alaska's most populated city, where, just like in the state's remote villages, subsistence living remains central to the way of life.

Anna: There are a couple of berries in here... Pati: Oh, I see.

and then, if you dig just a little bit, there's a whole bunch more.

Pati: Oh, here.

Oh, look, look, look.

Anna: Yeah.

Pati, voice-over: Anna works with remote Indigenous villages across Alaska for an Anchorage-based infrastructure company.

All the while, she honors her Yup'ik traditions, like foraging.

Anna: I just think that we're closer to the land and closer to each other because we're all about, you know, gathering and sharing and community and family, and-- and I'm going to cry because I--I think about my family and how close and tight we are, and this is, the gifts of the heart are go--going out here for the weekend and berry-picking and coming back home and giving my little sister a 5-gallon bucket of freshly picked berries for her.

The state is so big, everybody has a little bit different game and fish and berries and greens and, you know, other things, so we trade a lot throughout the state.

I always trade with people that have muktuk.

Even though Alaska's geographically very large... Yeah.

we're very, very, very small and, you know, tight-knit.

Pati: Yeah.

Anna: We all know each other.

Pati, voice-over: I'm trying to wrap my head around, like, the beauty of the richness and depth of the culture here.

And I'm from Mexico.

We have so many Indigenous communities, so much history, and I feel like we-- we're starting to understand the diversity difference, but what do you think is the perception of the rest of the United States of Alaska?

Honestly, I think that, um, a lot of people still think we live in igloos, which we do.

I have a two-story.

Just kidding.

Yeah.

Ha ha ha!

We ride polar bears.

I think that we should just embrace all of those Indigenous cultures and--and celebrate them and then allow them the space to be able to celebrate them.

I mean, you have very limited exposure, especially in my region, to the Western culture.

Meetings every single day are spoken in Yup'ik, and so when you're growing up, there could be some conflict there because speech is different.

In the Western culture, you have to have really good soundbites to be noticed, but in the Yup'ik culture, you don't, uh, you know.

Is it more quiet, more subdued?

More quiet, and you're all there to take care of each other, and you don't have to talk.

Really, that is how we communicate out there, and so when you come into town and you raise your eyebrows by saying yes or acknowledging and you-- but you don't have words, you know, it can be considered rude.

We just need to own that and be proud of it because it's OK.

I mean, look.

I mean, does it get any better than this, to be able to go out and forage and get your own food and know where it comes from?

Pati, voice-over: Alaska's beauty and complexity also come from its diversity, with 229 federally recognized tribes, each with unique languages and traditions.

[Projector whirring] Anna: My mother was of the generation she would walk in a hub or in a--in a city, and there would be signs on the door-- "No dogs, no Natives," and there's some ver--trauma there, and that has some repercussions to my generation, my kids' generation, you know, on and on that if we don't start addressing them, we're gonna keep stumbling.

Pati: And I know that we're gonna use this Pati: to make... Anna: Yes.

something delicious.

Pati: Well, I'm so used to this because I whip the fat to make flour tortillas or tamales, and I like to do it by hand.

Anna: Wow.

See, Mexicans and Alaskans, we like our fat very whipped... [Both laugh] and airy and fluffy.

Pati, voice-over: Akutaq, or Alaskan ice cream, is a simple yet significant dish from Alaskan Native cultures, traditionally made by whipping seal fat or even vegetable shortening, combining it with sugar, and mixing in wild berries.

That's it.

Pati: OK, so now-- Anna: Try some, 3 fingers.

Mm.

Mm.

Little tart.

Pati: It's like sweet... Anna: Good.

buttery, fresh, tart berries.

Fresh.

Right.

Mm.

I know we're sharing, but I would totally finish this.

Anna: [Laughs] Pati: Mm.

Anna: I wanted to thank you for being so open.

Sometimes eating any kind of ethnic food, people can get grossed out about, but you've really embraced it.

Pati: No.

Of course.

This is an honor for me.

It's absolutely delicious, and I love eating with my hands.

[Both laugh] Pati, voice-over: In Alaska, you can forage in this park and only a few minutes away catch silver salmon downtown, both within your lunch break.

Here, subsistence living blends effortlessly with everyday life.

Julia: Food is connected to survival here in such stark terms, and I think everybody who lives here feels that in one way or another because we're really far from everything else.

I mean, anything that goes to the grocery store has to travel 1,500 miles.

Pati, voice-over: Julia O'Malley is a local foodie and author.

Julia: Almost every region in the state, people are catching salmon to live off the land, and the rhythm of the fish, the idea that they go away into the ocean, everything freezes up, it gets super dark, and then things melt, and the fish come back, it's like it's a miracle.

It's, like, magical.

It's a miracle.

Pati, voice-over: Another miracle is a good halibut sandwich.

Julia recommends the White Spot Cafe downtown.

Julia: It's kind of hard to get halibut.

Like, when I was growing up, people would go out, the halibut were huge.

Then your dad would get one, and then they'd put them in the freezer, and then you're eating halibut.

Man: Start with the tartar, onions, lettuce, tomatoes, American cheese.

Julia: You know, people here are like, "Halibut is so fancy and delicious."

When we were growing up, we were like, "Oh, halibut," and always this was the recipe.

It would be, like, halibut, mayonnaise, and then, like, crushed Ritz crackers on top with, like, onions underneath.

It's called Halibut Olympia.

[Splash] That would be, like, 1989 dinnertime in March.

You grew up with that.

Yeah, exactly, but this is deep-fried halibut.

It smells so good.

But lookit.

It's got, like, the panko going.

Julia: Ha ha ha!

Pati: Oh... Mm-hmm.

Mm.

It's incredible.

Mm-hmm.

Pati, voice-over: Anchorage is young.

[Horse neighs] We're in Ship Creek, where it began as a humble tent city just a century ago.

Anchorage is so young that many names of places and landmarks come from families only a few generations back.

Julia: This is such a dumb story.

Anyways, but then in order-- It's a great story.

Pati, voice-over: Julia's grandparents moved here after World War II to homestead, and her grandfather, a prominent doctor, signed a petition for a new road.

Since his name was written first, they decided to name the road after him.

[Car horn honks] Julia: And then everything else got named after the road.

There's, like, two peaks... Pati: Yeah?

Julia: like various restaurants, a school.

It's ridiculous.

Oh, shoot.

Look at this guy.

Oh!

Ooh!

Speaking of wildlife, here comes a-- This guy was trying to eat our French fries.

Pati: Oh, my gosh, so cute.

Oh.

Ah!

Ha ha ha!

Julia: I don't think that's his first fry.

Julia: Gonna be honest.

Pati: No.

Pati: He looks like too big of a French fry expert.

Pati, voice-over: Loving French fries is not unique to this squirrel.

Isolated at the top of the Americas, Alaskans go crazy for the flavors of the Lower 48.

Sometimes I say food has magic on it here.

Either it comes from really far away and maybe even represents a world that you've never seen.

You know, like, chain restaurants are always kind of popular in Anchorage because people are like, "Whoo, the Olive Garden like they have outside," and, like, Dairy Queen, used to never be able to go there because it was, like, everyone wanted to get Dairy Queen because they, like, heard about it.

Pati, voice-over: Sprinkled into the chain restaurants, you start to notice something else-- an enormous amount of global flavors on every corner.

The various booms and busts of Alaska's natural resources-- from fur, gold, oil, fishing-- have continually attracted workers from around the world... [Neo soul combo playing] making Anchorage one of the most diverse cities in the United States.

Denali: Oh, babe, I'm dreaming again I'm thinking that we could be more than friends I'd like to take you out Sit in the Benz And driving to the moon when the sun gets to setting And, hey, babe, give me a chance I know you'll fall in love once we get to dancing We'll enjoy the music, ignore the glancing Then you'll fly away with me Maybe we'll float... Pati, voice-over: Sazn is a neo soul funk band whose sound is shaped by each member's unique cultural roots, and today they happen to be recording their first studio album.

Denali: With you Maybe it's love Who knows?

It may be love Ha ha ha!

[Pati clapping] Brava.

It's beautiful, so happy to be here, you guys, crashing your recording.

Man: No, no.

You're good.

Pati: Tell me a little bit about neo soul.

Neo soul is--it's a really hard genre to kind of lock down.

It's like alternative R&B, which is something that we're also really good at, and then neo soul is kind of just, like, a even more stripped-down, slightly experimental version of that.

Let me love, oh, let me And when I do, oh... Pati: And the band's name is Sazn... Denali: Sazn.

which I love so much.

I feel like it says so much about things that come from the soul, like you have the knack for seasoning something, or you don't.

It's not like you can't get to it without practice, but some people just have that sazn.

It's not like the Earth is turning Somewhere... Denali: We're like a whole seasoning packet.

Like, look at us.

We all come from different cultures.

Oh, I love that.

And I can't believe I'm alone In my heart... Pati, voice-over: Denali Romero is a second-generation Peruvian.

Josh Antonio is first-generation Filipino.

Denali's partner Kengo Nagaoka is first-generation Japanese.

Garrett Monroe is second-generation Korean, and Levi Betz is a fifth-generation American.

Denali: We all see we need our own... Pati, voice-over: Every band practice ends at Home Town Korean Restaurant.

It might look modest on the outside, but inside is a riot of bold, explosive flavors.

Pati: The food is insane.

Denali: I know.

Pati: It's so real.

Pati, voice-over: Spicy army stew, sizzling bulgogi, and stone pot bibimbap-- it's all complex and layered.

Pati: What is it like to grow up in Alaska, like, going to a school where they may talk 50 or 70 different languages?

I went to West Anchorage High School... Pati: OK. very diverse, so I felt very welcomed.

You know, I didn't really feel judged about my race.

Denali: I went to a private school here where there was little to no diversity.

It was really isolating because it was not healthy at all.

It was not a great place to be not white or somebody who was of a different culture, even, or somebody who spoke a different language, who brought different food.

I was reminded constantly of my race when I was there, so it was not-- it was not the best experience.

It was kind of after I left high school where I was like, "Oh, no.

This place is super diverse."

I was just in such a tiny bubble.

Kengo: I feel like whenever, like, people from outside of Alaska, like, meet us, they're like, "Oh, like, there's Japanese people in Alaska?"

Garrett: Even though we're, you know, part of the nation, I guess, we sort of have this sort of disconnected.

We're--we're all alone up here, and, yeah, yeah, it's like there's a whole country-- there's Canada in the way, and it's, um, we definitely have our own sort of separate identity.

Pati: But--but tell me, like, the different cities and communities of Alaska feel connected as Alaskans, even though they're geographically...

Yes.

so disconnected because there's no roads from Barrow to-- Kengo: I think we all feel proud as Alaskan people.

Denali: Yes.

Pati: Yeah.

In that way, we're connected.

I think that urban Alaska and rural Alaska-- very separated.

Many people, you talk to anyone in Anchorage or Fairbanks, and they have probably never been out to a village before, Denali: Yeah.

Kengo: you know.

That's true.

Pati: This is ridiculous.

Josh: Yeah.

Pati: It's so good.

Salud.

Sazn: Salud.

Kampai.

Crowd: Whoo!

Willie: I'm Washboard Willie.

Welcome, you all, here to the Alaska State Fair.

This is almost as much fun as going to Grandma's house.

Used to go down to Grandma's house Every month end or so We'd have chicken pie, country ham Homemade butter and bread Best darn thing about Grandma's house Was the great, big feather bed The children went, "Whoo hoo!"

Whoo!

Pati, voice-over: The state fair looks different in Alaska.

In some ways, it feels like red-meat, blue-ribbon United States of America in a pair of muck boots.

In others, it's traditional, and in some case, it's so unique.

Man: Pink, pink, pink, pink, pink, pink.

Pati, voice-over: but there's no denying that the food here is fabulous... Pati: There's gourmet tamales, and there's steak tacos over there.

Mm!

Oh, yeah.

Pati, voice-over: and if you want to try it all, you've got to come to the state fair.

I'm glad I saved room because now my new friend Kendra Arciniega and I are going for the Alaskan snow crab legs.

Pati: Oh, oh.

Kendra: Oh, my gosh.

That--What's the name of that crab?

Man: This is a red king crab.

It's out of the Bering Sea.

This is the best.

Pati: Oh, oh.

Kendra: Oh, my gosh, stunning.

Pati: This is perfect.

Kendra: Perfect.

Pati, voice-over: Kendra is a Mexican American who moved here from the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.

Now she runs an organization that supports the LGBTQ community in Anchorage.

Kendra: So you want to break it... OK. opposite of the way the joint goes.

Pati: Like here?

Kendra: It can be really tricky.

Oh, my goodness.

Pati: Oh, wow.

Kendra: Oh, my God, you got a beautiful piece.

Pati: Want to share?

Kendra: Are you sure?

Pati: Yes, please.

Kendra: All right.

This is so succulent and lush and generous, and it feels like such a luxury...

Absolutely.

a gigantic piece of crab leg like this.

Best crab in the world, best salmon in the world, hands down.

I will die on that hill.

Ha ha ha!

Pati: What do people come here for?

I definitely think this is kind of, like, the quiet assumption is that people come to Alaska from outside for pretty much 4 reasons-- Pati: Mm-hmm.

Kendra: oil and gas industry, the military, they're going to find themselves, or they're running away from something.

Why did you guys come?

My father worked for a very long time in the oil and gas industry, which is interesting, right, because it's an extractive industry.

You know, do we really have the right to extract those--those resources from here?

I have dedicated my life's work to moving away from resource extraction and also building community through intersectionality.

Like the--you know, the Latina community up here, uh, Black, Indigenous, BIPOC communities, and the queer community, we all come up here for different reasons, but it's really what you make of your experience here and how you honor this place.

Pati: Your dad is originally from... Kendra: Oklahoma.

Pati: OK. OK. OK. Kendra: My wife and I lovingly refer to it as the White Dad Club.

We both have white dads.

Pati: Oh, yeah?

Kendra: My mother, uh, is from San Antonio and Laredo, as well.

Like, those are my ancestral lands because, um, my ancestors were some of the founders of the City of San Antonio, Texas, and so, like, Arciniega Street, which is the name of my-- my production company to build community up here, Arciniega Street's a real street in Downtown San Antonio.

I've been.

I've walked it.

Ah!

You have?

OK.

I love San Antonio.

I love Laredo.

The U.S.-Mexico borderlands are such a home to me.

Pati: Look at the-- Look at the mountains over there.

Yeah.

I hadn't even noticed.

Kendra: Glaciers in them and everything.

Kendra: Growing up in Laredo in the nineties, I did not have any proximity to queer culture, and I--I knew I was, uh, gay since I was 4 years old-- ha ha ha!-- and so when I moved here, it was still the case 'cause Alaska is also a pretty conservative state.

It is.

Growing up here as a queer kid was difficult.

Like, it wasn't safe to be out an--and gay in Alaska when I was going to school here, um, and I lived in Los Angeles for about 5 or 6 years, and when I came back as an adult, I told myself I wouldn't stay here for very long, and I found community, and I saw, oh, there are a lot of people in Alaska who are of the LGBTQ community.

I realized how meaningful that was for other queer Latinos and also just, like, queer people and Latino people to kind of have a slice of home up here and then also just, like, realize how they're not alone in community, and that's been really meaningful.

Willie: Everybody now.

I I believe in music I Kendra: Yes.

Willie: I believe in love Hold your phone.

Sing along, everybody.

I... Pati: This is the first time that I eat a funnel cake.

Pati: Really?

Kendra: Yeah.

Kendra: You never had one?

Pati: I've never had one.

What's the verdict?

It's incredible.

Of course, I've had donuts and other Mexican stuff, you know, churros and buuelos and-- Kendra: Pan dulce.

As far as American, to me, like this, the Ferris wheel, and anything that's entertainment is like taking a bite out of the United States of America.

[Woman screams] Pati, voice-over: The coldest temperature ever recorded in Alaska was 80 below zero Fahrenheit, so, yeah, hot coffee is a thing... Hi.

Pati, voice-over: and so is not getting out of your car.

Coffee drive-thrus are everywhere... Pati: What am I having?

What do you recommend?

Woman: We've got our bialy, which is kind of like a bagel, but it's softer.

I love bialy.

Pati, voice-over: but birch & alder, just outside Anchorage, takes it a step further, serving up gourmet coffee and food super fast.

Christina and Reuben Gerber blend Italian breads from her heritage with Jewish classics from his, creating a quick-stop menu with depth.

Pati: And what does your bialy come with?

Woman: It's topped with caramelized onions and gruyere cheese, and it's filled with sauteed shiitake mushrooms with thyme and cherry, a fried egg, and arugula.

OK. That--that sounds like I want that.

Woman: OK.

Sounds good.

Oh, this is amazing.

Pati: Haven't had one bialy since, like, 20 years ago.

This is so good.

I mean, mm mm mm.

The bialy is different from a bagel.

It's much more chewy and soft, but it's packed with flavor because it has the caramelized onions.

It's like a bread with so much personality.

I grew up eating bialys 'cause my grandfather was Polish, and this is a food that they used to eat in the shtetl where they lived in Poland with that Jewish community.

It speaks to the movement of Polish Jews that have had to move around the world and find a new home and bring in something so delicious as a gift, and it's just making me a little emotional because I was very, very close to my grandfather.

I don't think he would ever imagine that he could eat a bialy overlooking the Alaskan mountains.

Reuben: You know, what's-- what's so fascinating to me, too, is, it's a similar story of my grandparents coming here.

My grandmother came through Ellis Island into New York, and my grandfather came to Ellis Island, as well, but was deported right back.

His papers were not in order, so he snuck on a ship and ended up in Mexico.

Oh, stop.

Reuben: Yeah, ended up in Mexico and snuck into the United States and worked his way to New York and married.

And they were both Polish.

Reuben: Both Polish, both from the same town outside of Warsaw.

In this new journey that I'm taking, I'm trying to explore what it means to be an American.

You lived in New York, California, different places around the world, and now you're in Alaska, so what do you feel like?

I feel like the longer you live in Alaska, the more you feel... Reuben: Alaskan.

Christina: Alaskan... and different from the-- what we call the Lower 48.

Mm-hmm.

Christina: It's so great to visit what was home, uh, but it's harder and harder to connect with where I'm from because of what Alaska does to you.

Pati, voice-over: It's hard to imagine better water for bagels than what I'm seeing on my drive to Southern Alaska.

[Thunder] If Bob Ross painted Middle Earth, it would look like Homer, Alaska.

It's a collision of worlds-- mountains and sea, drifters and pirates, the U.S. and Russia.

The village of Nikolaevsk, just outside of Homer, was founded in 1968 by Russians seeking religious freedom from an oppressive Soviet regime... not much of a stretch, considering Russia is only 55 miles away from Alaska at their closest points.

Pati: Hello.

[Knock knock knock knock] Nina: I will be there.

[Speaks Russian] One minute.

Pati: Hi.

I've heard about you, and I've heard about your food, and, oh, this is beautiful.

Oh, I love your tray.

Pati, voice-over: Nina Fefelov runs Samovar Cafe, serving the flavors of the old country.

Babushka, finish your dinner.

Pati, voice-over: These dumplings are called pelmeni, made with seasoned ground beef and spices.

Just don't cut into them.

Do not cut.

Just enjoy.

OK.

I will be back.

Enjoy.

Don't cut the dumplings?

Nina: Not cut, just whole thing.

Just eat.

OK.

I--I really want to cut the dumpling.

Pati, voice-over: It's best to do what she says.

[Rain falling] Mm.

Mm.

Pati: Nina, this is really good.

There.

More tea.

This is my zavarka, very strong tea.

Oh, it smells beautiful.

Pati, voice-over: This is Nina's own blend of fireweed tea.

Nina: Please take a spoon... That's a very beautiful spoon.

and taste it.

I give you little sugar, little sugar.

Pati: OK.

Please, please, please drink.

Pati: Drink from the spoon.

Not vodka, very good.

OK. Oh, oh, very sweet, very sweet.

Pati, voice-over: Nina came to Nikolaevsk in 1991 to teach Russian in the school... [Projector clicks] and she's since become a key figure in keeping the culture alive, writing extensively about the traditions and history of the Old Believers.

Pati: Are you-- are you filming us?

Always.

Pati: Oh.

Hello.

Nina: Hee hee hee!

Pati: Is this Nina's show?

Nina: Yes.

Pati: You guys, I thought we were filming a show, but I think they're filming us.

This is my shawl.

This for you for a while.

Pati: What--what is it called in Russian?

Shawl.

Shawl, too.

I'm--I'm loving the dumplings.

Nina: Yeah.

Dumplings very cold now.

Loving the dumplings.

Nina: Oh, yeah.

Pati: No, no, no.

I've been eating them.

They're so good.

Nina: Oh, OK. Pati: Mm mm.

Please sit on this podushka.

Pati: Oh, no, no.

This is good.

Please sit.

Please sit.

Oh, OK, OK, OK.

Please sit.

I know.

Well, thank you.

I give you another shawl.

Do not worry.

OK, OK. No, no.

This is good.

Pati: This is good.

Nina: Hee hee hee!

Nina: Another we will put on your-- Legs.

the right, beautiful.

Pati: Oh, now I'm very cozy.

The right, the right, the right... OK, OK. and this is my podushka.

OK. OK. Now we're very comfortable.

There.

Oh, very comfortable.

I didn't know that there was this little Russian town in Alaska.

Our Russian town.

Nina: I appreciate that these people keep tradition... Pati: Mm-hmm.

and keep language.

Can I ask you something else?

I'm not finished.

May I finish?

Pati: OK.

Yes.

Of course.

That's OK. Maybe God sent me here because this is-- this is life.

We don't know what God prepared for us.

[Man chanting] Pati, voice-over: With around 350 people, the village stays deeply rooted in the Russian Old Believers' faith, a Christian sect that split from the Russian Orthodox Church in the 17th century and has fiercely preserved its traditions ever since.

Man: ...all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away... Pati, voice-over: Nina's brother-in law Joseph Fefelov and his wife Ducia live a few houses down, and they prepared dessert.

Pati: Hey.

Ducia: Come on in.

Pati: Oh, that is beautiful.

What do you call this cake?

Mikada.

Pati: Mm.

Mm.

How often does she make this for you?

Not really.

So I have to come over more often?

Yep, exactly.

Pati, voice-over: Ducia and Joseph's grandparents fled the Soviet Union to keep practicing their faith, which had been banned since atheism became the official state doctrine in 1922.

The Town of Nikolaevsk was largely chosen for its extreme remoteness, a place where they could worship in peace.

Joseph: There was no roads coming into this village when it was established.

There was just a trail.

Ducia: It was a fear of being persecuted.

Pati: How important is it to you that your kids continue with your traditions, with the food, with the language, with the dress?

Ducia: It's really important to us.

Um, do we feel like we're losing it?

Absolutely.

They're definitely more Americanized.

Pati: So you speak Russian between yourself?

Probably not.

I feel like we kind of speak Russian and English kind of intermixed a lot.

So in my house, we're Mexican American, so we speak Spanglish... Ducia: Yep.

and we can't help but have a mixed language, so what does being in the U.S. and being American mean to you?

This is all we know.

We--we were born American.

It's all we know, and we know that we don't want to be back in, you know, communist, socialist environment.

Pati, voice-over: We started off the road system in the north in Utqiagvik.

Now we're ending off the road system in the south.

Halibut Cove can only be reached by plane or boat... and the 45-minute commute through the untamed beauty of Kachemak Bay is worth the journey alone.

Woman: Above their eye, real thick black line.

You guys, puffin on the right.

Pati, voice-over: This is Halibut Cove.

Imagine a neighborhood with roads made of water, no fire department, no police.

The rhythm of life is dictated by the tides, not a clock.

There is a post office, one of two in the country that floats.

This is Sammy, who works at the post office when he's not fishing, and this is his mom Martha-- she's the unofficial mayor-- and this is her husband Sam, the actual politician, now retired... Sam: There you go.

[Gulls squawking] Whoa.

and this is a schwenker, a tripod, a swinging grill from Germany.

Pati: Oh, he's got tortillas.

Do you taco your hot dog?

Pati, voice-over: Not just any hot dog.

It's a reindeer sausage hot dog taco.

Where Mexican food has gone, it's crazy.

[Laughter] Pati, voice-over: Halibut Cove is not only unique geographically, but also with the people who call it home.

Sam: So I served in the legislature with both Alex's grandfather and Clem... Pati: Oh, wow.

Sam: so we have-- there's a-- Everybody knows everybody.

there's a political community here in addition to being an artist community... Pati: Yeah... Sam: and a fishing community.

Pati: and from what I can tell, it's politics from all sides.

There were Republicans and Democrats.

Sam: Martha's father was Republican.

Pati: Yeah.

Sam: I'm a Democrat.

His grandfather was Democrat, but we agreed on what we thought were the important issues--fisheries... Pati: Yeah.

Sam: and how we treat the oil industry.

Alex: Alaskans, because we're geographically independent, there is that mindset, you know.

We're up here by ourselves.

We all have to get along.

Pati, voice-over: Martha's father Clem Tillion, an Alaska-famous politician, arrived in Halibut Cove in the 1940s when it was a mostly abandoned fishing community.

[Piano playing] He bought land, built it up, and helped transform it into the vibrant place it is today... an artist haven.

This is Martha's island.

It sits in the very center of the cove.

She set the foundation herself with dynamite.

Martha: Shall we... Pati: Yes.

Martha: break a bunch of eggs?

Pati: Do you have a jalapeo?

Spicy.

Martha: Ha ha ha!

I see them.

I'm so excited.

Martha: Put the onions in that and fold in our eggs.

Pati: OK.

I'm adding the egg.

Martha: Oh, that looks good.

Pati, voice-over: Our breakfast at Martha's-- a salmon, bacon, jalapeo, and cheese egg scramble-- is serenaded by a concert pianist, her guest for the weekend.

Martha: That's Dad on his bike... Pati: Mm.

Martha: 94 years old.

Pati: Growing up, did you see what your dad's vision was for this community?

Oh, very much so.

Well, I think the main thing is preserve the land and have it be for public use, and you don't sell out to some big corporation and turn it into a big, you know, "Let's make a bunch of money one time and ruin it."

Pati, voice-over: In the 1960s, Clem gave away some land for free to families with 4 or more children, hoping to open a public school.

Martha: But if you give it at some nominal amount to a young person-- I've seen it happen multiple times-- what they do is, they turn around, and they sell it...

They sell it.

and then it goes to somebody that's here for two to 3 weeks and has a lot of money, and they bought it for a huge amount, and the property taxes go up further, so how do you get around that?

But the risk is, if you give it away or you sell it, you have no control.

And you don't want to commit them to what they're going to do with their whole life.

Sam: I think part of the legacy involved here is that, you know, Clem had such a strong bond with the land here, and it was his whole life, really, an--and Martha's inherited that, too.

She's got the same, "We're not going to sell anything.

We're going to maintain it."

We love it here, and we hope that, you know, our kids, they enjoy being here, too, and you welcome new people, too...

Absolutely.

Sam: so it's a--I think that Martha very much carries on her father's vision of-- of what this place ought to be, and--and I think they've been very successful.

Pati: Is everything as harmonious as it looks all the time?

Martha: Like a lot of, um, families and communities, we've had our little differences.

I think what makes this community so together is that what happens here is dramatic.

It's big.

The weather when--you know, when you have major weather and a medical emergency, it takes all hands on deck.

In the end, you need each other.

Pati, voice-over: A few years ago, a storm destroyed 100 feet of boardwalk in front of Clem's house.

Martha put out a request for help.

Pati: So you sent the message and said-- "We need help."

Yeah.

Martha: "I'm going to rebuild Dad's boardwalk tomorrow," and everyone came... Martha: and it was just so cool.

I think it made Dad feel really good.

Pati: And then how long did it take to rebuild?

Martha: One day.

Pati: In one day.

Martha: We started at 8:00 in the morning, and it was done by dinner.

Pati: OK, so we're hoping to catch salmon.

Yes.

What kind?

Uh, we'd like to get a feeder king, but we'd take a silver, right?

Yeah.

Beggars can't be choosers.

Pati, voice-over: Martha's son Sammy is in his boat, working on catching some king salmon just for us.

Sam is retired from the commercial fishing business, but his son Sammy picked up where he left off.

Sammy: We got, uh, sockeye, silvers, and pinks.

Hey, Mom, you want some fish?

How many?

Why don't we get a couple reds?

Pati: What's your mom's favorite?

Sammy: Uh, well, she likes black cod, but we're not--that's-- that's next month's.

Pati: Yeah?

Sammy: Ha ha ha!

Martha: Thank you, Ursula.

Well, she gave me flowers.

You got your mom flowers... My lovely wife there, yeah.

and Ursula got you flowers.

That's so amazing.

Oh, thank you.

Sammy, what's your favorite?

Sammy: My favorite is the dollars I get from bringing these in.

[Laughter] Pati: Oh, thank you so much.

Sammy: No problem.

It's Alaskan seafood, man.

It's the way to go.

Whoa.

Amazing.

Martha: Hey, Sammy, you remember the bus stop, don't you?

Ha ha ha!

Bye, Sammy.

I love you.

I was never allowed to drop him again after that.

Pati, voice-over: Everyone is all about helping each other until... the Sunday softball game, when things get real.

Pati: Go, Nikki.

Pati, voice-over: Every week in the summer, the entire community gets together for a battle royale on the Field of Dreams.

I feel like I'm severely underdressed.

Pati: And so Martha does a phenomenal job at, like, being in touch with the extended family.

Man: Pretty much, yeah.

Oh!

Pati, voice-over: Alaska feels like a big state with a small town soul, fiercely independent, yet folks here look out for each other, lending a hand when it's needed most.

Food isn't just food.

It's life itself.

No matter who you are, everyone's out fishing, hunting, foraging, living off the land and sea and sharing.

For someone like me, who's always searched for meaning through the noble space of food, being in a place where food is the heart of life feels like finding common ground, maybe even our truest human roots.

Next time on "Pati Jinich Explores Panamericana," I continue on my trip inspired by the Pan-American Highway from Juneau, Alaska, to Whitehorse, Yukon, sister cities divided by an international border, yet united by the wild Northwest, from fiery glassblowing... Pati: [Gasps] That is, like, mind blowing.

Pati, voice-over: to wild beasts... Mm.

I love this so much.

Pati, voice-over: discover how people thrive where modern life meets untamed nature.