Alaskan Yuppies Fuel Yuppie Food Industry
Alaska is more than just the must-visit destination for helicopter snipers. It is also the place to enjoy the finest cuisine yuppies have to offer:
This former frontier city is now a place where, any day, you can purchase a hand-made chocolate truffle with an anchovy perched on top or a croissant baked the same way as the ones in French pastry shops.
"It's an entirely different experience than even shopping at a high-quality grocery," said Janice Fleischman, who with Lewanski owns the Fire Island Rustic Bake Shop in a residential downtown neighborhood.
Anchorage's specialty-food sector -- a retail category that includes fine-food shops like those above -- has emerged as a mini-industry with some strong growth. Neal Fried, a state labor economist, said the sector has grown from 299 employees in 2001 to 454 last year.