Learn more about “The Whale and the Cupcake”

“The Whale and the Cupcake: Stories of Subsistence, Longing and Community in Alaska,” came out in December 2019, just a few months before the beginning of the pandemic. It’s a collection of news stories, interviews and historic recipes that explores Alaska’s food culture. It has a forward from New York Times food writer and former Alaskan Kim Severson, was produced in collaboration with Anchorage Museum and was published by University of Washington Press.

WHERE CAN YOU GET IT? I recommend buying the book online or in-person at the Anchorage Museum store. But, you can also find it at booksellers in Anchorage (including Title Wave Books and at Johnny’s Produce and Metro Cooks) all large online booksellers, and, on occasion, Costco. The audio book is coming soon!

Do you want me to read, sign books or teach a workshop? Get in touch.

Here’s what people are saying about it:

“Gorgeous, tenderly reported essays & interviews about food in Alaska. So immediate and human.”Helen Rosner, The New Yorker.

“There is a reason that Julia O’Malley has been recognized by The James Beard Foundation and featured in the New York Times. She brings a level of self-awareness to the Alaska experience that is rare. What we eat as Alaskans and why we eat it is central to that experience. Julia O’Malley has the skill and tenacity to get to the core of it every time and she brings the reader along with her. Her voice is unmistakable and deeply authentic. I trust that her influence on Alaska’s food movement will long outlive her.” — Maya Wilson, author of the Alaska From Scratch Cookbook.

Press for the book: 

Edible Alaska: The Writer and Her Book

The New York Times: food newsletter.

KTVA Channel 11: morning show.

The Anchorage Daily News: Launching a book on Alaska food, Julia O’Malley talks food trends and the surprising beauty of a Jell-O salad

Alaska Public Media: Alaska has a real food culture, says author Julia O’Malley, it includes subsistence foods, day-old Krispy Kremes and plenty of longing

The Juneau Empire: New book tells stories about Alaska’s singular food culture

KFQD talk radio.

The Anchorage Press: Aesthetic Subsistence: Julia O’Malley’s, ‘The Whale and the Cupcake’

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