Growing up in Seattle, I often visited the Pike Place Market but never really thought of where the produce and food comes from, or about the people who sell it. Pike Place Market is a perfect example of eating local in Seattle. Along with local food and produce there are vendors selling arts, crafts, and clothing. One of the main attractions are the multiple fish markets selling local fresh seafood. Here is a short video showing what part of the market looks like, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVyjjWlqPqY. It shows the wide variety of flowers and produces available.
The market offers a chance for producers to directly sell their produce to the public without selling it to a corporation or middle man before it reaches a grocery store. In today's growing world it gets harder to buy local food from markets simply because farms are being pushed farther and farther away from the cities as population booms. Another benefit of buying from local producers is that you can better avoid genetically modified crops and actually know where your foods are coming form instead of guessing how food gets from the ground to your plate.
Pike Place Market is as much a tourist attraction as it a place for Seattle residents to find locally grown produce. For those of us who wish to skip the tourism and just find locally grown food there are several other options. There are farmers markets located in Broadway, Columbia City, Lake City, Magnolia, Phinney, the University District, and West Seattle. Hours and locations can be found: http://www.seattlefarmersmarkets.org/markets. These markets are based on local, "producer-only" markets. There are no arts or crafts available, only Washington State farm produce and processed goods. A few days ago I went to the University District market on 50th and the Ave and found this experience to be much more local than Pike Place Market. It is always fun to visit Pike Place Market but often it is a hassle because of so many people and tourists so if you strictly want some locally grown produce I suggest head to one of the seven farmers markets located in the Seattle area.
- Alec Haberman
1 comment:
Hi! I’m the Community Manager of Ruba.com. We’re building a website to highlight some of the most interesting places travelers around the world have discovered. We’ve read hundreds of blogs about Seattle, and we think that this post is awesome! We’d love to highlight excerpts from blogs like yours (assuming it’s OK with you of course) and to discuss other ways of tapping into your expertise if you are interested. I’m at erin@ruba.com.
Thanks! :)
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