Invented By The Navajos Maybe, But Alaskans Swear Fry Bread Is All Their Own

Non-native Alaskans associate the state with many things – oil, gold, salmon, moose, dog mushing, Sarah Palin, etc. But native Alaskans add a fairly obscure – some say “magic” – item,  with murky origins in Southwest U.S. Navajo culture, to the list: fry bread. Whether made savory or sweet, the high-calorie airy treat crafted by Garfield Katasse, starts the day as 175 pounds of wheat dough. Katasse – owner of the Famous Fry Bread shop – spends all day hand working the dough, stretching slices into disks that are then cooked in hot canola oil in a big stainless steel tub until puffy and golden brown. Devotees from as far away as California swear his product is better than any other fry bread they’ve ever tasted.