Eating the Yukon: Wild Game, Salmon and the Klondike

The Yukon's food culture is the food of the North — wild game, river salmon, foraged berries, and a modern Whitehorse scene that's punching above its weight. It's a remote-food story done well. Here's what to eat.

The wild game Moose, caribou, and bison are the Yukon's land-meat — lean, rich, and local. Find them as steaks, sausages, and stews; the Klondike Rib & Salmon in Whitehorse is the classic. Hunting and subsistence are central to the territory, and the game on the menu is often locally harvested.

The salmon Yukon River chinook (king) salmon is one of the richest salmon on earth — the long river makes the fish store oil. It's smoked, grilled, and cured; the Indigenous smokehouses and the restaurants both do it. The fish is under pressure; ask what's sustainable.

The foraged Berries are the Yukon sweet — cloudberries (called 'bakeapples' in the east), blueberries, and cranberries, all wild-picked. The bannock (the Indigenous frybread) and the game-and-berry traditions are the base of Yukon food. Fireweed (the territorial flower) makes a syrup.

Whitehorse restaurants The surprise — Whitehorse has a real restaurant scene. The Klondike Rib & Salmon (the institution), Burnt Toast, and the wooden-cabin-cozy local joints do modern Northern cuisine — game, fish, foraged greens, and the local beers (Yukon Brewing).

The Klondike and the gold rush The sourdough tradition — the Gold Rush prospectors' bread starter, kept alive for generations — is the Yukon's baking story. Sourdough pancakes (the 'sourdough' is a Yukon identity) are a breakfast institution. And the Klondike Gold Rush culture is still in the food.

Where to eat Whitehorse for the restaurants; the roadhouses on the Alaska Highway for the frontier cooking; the fishing lodges for the fresh catch. And eat the salmon where it's caught — the smokehouses of the Yukon River.