If You’re Looking for a Real Taste of Alaska, Try a Food Truck

25.07.2023 - 13:43 / nytimes.com

Last summer, on an overcast July day, the coastal town of Sitka, once the capital of Russian Alaska and long a popular stop on Inside Passage cruises in Southeast Alaska, was thronged with passengers disembarking from three cruise ships. To accommodate the crowds, the city had closed the main street to cars. In their place, food trucks, carts and stands had popped up, creating a festival atmosphere where ambulatory diners spooned seafood chowder and gobbled tacos.

“In summer, street food seems like the way to go in a place like this,” said Gretchen Stelzenmuller, who cooked professionally in San Francisco before moving back home to Sitka during the pandemic and opening her mobile food business, Enoki Eatery, which serves Japanese-inspired comfort food. “It’s healthy and uniquely celebrates Alaska ingredients, but you can also roll in and grab a bite and still do your tour.”

In the wake of the pandemic, as cruising returns to full strength in Alaska, food trucks and other vendors have proliferated in ports from Ketchikan to Seward.

“With a food truck, you can get into the restaurant business without the full brick-and-mortar entrepreneurial costs,” said Jon Bittner, the state director of the Alaska Small Business Development Center. “That’s pretty attractive in smaller communities that service cruise ships.”

For passengers with only a few hours in port and lots to see — including ferry riders taking the Alaska Marine Highway — food trucks offer local fare at relatively reasonable prices and in less time than full-service restaurants.

“Food trucks are a natural extension of what draws people to Alaska, being outside,” said Aaron Saunders, the senior editor at Cruise Critic.

Expect to pay a little more than in the Lower 48, given the high cost of living. Last summer, I bought a chicken and rice dish for $16 from a stand in Seward, a few dollars more and a free can of Pepsi less than the equivalent truck fare in New York City.

For the 2023 cruise season, which generally runs April to October, Alaska cruise authorities expect 1.65 million cruise passengers, up from the record of 1.3 million in 2019. Most will sail the Inside Passage, a roughly 500-mile route in Southeast Alaska that weaves through islands protecting it from the churn of the Pacific Ocean.

While ship-bound visitors may make their way through Anchorage — which has its own thriving food truck scene — the following popular cruise stops form a locally grown coastal culinary trail.

Often the first call in Alaska for northbound Inside Passage cruises, Ketchikan — a traditional Tlingit fishing camp that today thrives on tourism, commercial fishing and forestry — booms with the arrival of cruise ships. Passengers disembarking for day trips in the