Yep, it's a real thing!
When I tell people what it was like to grow up in Alaska, I have learned that reindeer sausage is one of those things that really blows their mind. Like they want to be cool, they know that Alaskans don't all live in igloos or commute to work by dog sled. But reindeer sausage? That can't be a real thing, can it?
Oh yes, it certainly can. Most places offer it as a pizza topping, and a lot of restaurants offer it as a breakfast option.
And it's… okay, I guess. Honestly, I don't think anyone would ever be able to pick reindeer sausage out of a reindeer sausage line-up. If you did a blind taste test with seveal different kinds of sausage, do you really think you could tell the reindeer sausage from the beef, turkey, or pork sausage?
The truth is, sausage is sausage. And one reason why you turn a meat into sausage is that it wasn't that good to begin with. Wild meat is notoriously "gamy," which is one of those slippery terms that are difficult to define. You know "gamy" when you taste it. It's like the taste of chicken dark meat, times a hundred. An acquired taste, to be sure.
I always found it somewhat irksome that it gets called "reindeer sausage" in the first place. Obviously the name is a bit of clever Alaskan branding, designed to tweak the sensibilities of Outsiders. (Which is what Alaskans call everyone who is not from Alaska.) The idea of eating reindeer makes you think of Santa and Rudolph. But in sausage form.
That's what passes for humor, in Alaska. Rudolph sausage.
In reality, it should be called "caribou sausage," because that is what we call them. No one calls caribou "reindeer," it's a term that only comes into play when you are trying to sell overpriced sausage to tourists.
I shouldn't knock the practice, though. Caribou husbandry is an important source of income for Alaska Natives. Most of the reindeer farming is done with animals imported from Sweden and Norway, since they are smaller and somewhat more tolerant of humans. Alaskan Caribou proved to be too wild, and too gripped by the urge to migrate thousands of miles a year.
The reindeer sausage doesn't come from caribou feed lots. The animals are free range, allowed to wander as they wish. These days they are tracked by satellite collars until it's time for the round-up and slaughter. They have a much better life than the other animals we turn into sausage. So even though it's silly and overpriced, reindeer sausage is still pretty great. (Seriously though, it just tastes like sausage.)