Wild Salmon Has Been a High-Protein Food for Millennia

Wild salmon is a time-honored protein, one that has been a staple for humans for millennia. Long before “high-protein” was in fashion, wild salmon was an essential source of sustenance and nourishment. A manifestation of vibrant food webs and the infinite cycles of nature. A defining feature of diverse cultures and communities. Eating salmon was not a transaction with nutritional content but rather a connection to all of the things that make up a meaningful life.

Foods and practices that have fed people well, for a very long time, tend to need the least explanation or adaptation. So I can’t help but contrast this multidimensional understanding of salmon with the new flood of radical high-protein options for consumers. Turn on your TV, scroll through your feed, walk through the grocery store aisles, and you’ll notice that everything from fast food to matcha teas to literally packaged water seems to have been “boosted” with protein in pursuit of optimal health. 

Personally, to achieve my protein goals, I’ve been reaching for a pack of Wild Alaskan Company’s Hot Smoked Salmon Nuggets after a workout — they’re my wild-caught stand-in for a protein bar or shake, a satiating snack that happens to naturally contain a whopping 29g of protein. Will it help me achieve my specific health goals? Probably. Does it give me a delicious dose of pride, knowing the work that the WAC team put into what has become my go-to post-workout fuel? One hundred percent. 

But wild salmon of course checks off so many other boxes. Even if food webs and family legacies aren’t top of mind the moment I step off the yoga mat (though to be honest, those things sometimes are exactly what do come to mind), there is a slowing down that inevitably happens when one opts for “real food” over a trendy treat, a moment to appreciate abundance and a connection to the cycles of nature, even for something as quotidian as a midday snack. I’ve also learned the value of trusting what has endured. No need to look for a fortified, inflated, or disguised rebrand of wild-caught salmon. It just is.

If there’s one thing that wild-caught seafood has taught me, it’s this: eating is not a transaction. It’s a relationship. A connection. With history. With place. With the people who harvested the food, cooked it, and gathered together around it. Wild salmon has been nourishing humans — body and spirit — for thousands of years. No trend cycle required. 

Live Wild, 

Monica

Pictured above: A snapshot of (and shameless plug for!) my favorite high-protein snack, Hot Smoked Salmon Nuggets, which I really hope you get to try for yourself in one of your upcoming boxes.