By Katie Barnett
We started our Pike Place Market Private Chef Tour early on a Tuesday morning, cold but excited to explore the market that was famous for its uniqueness. And also for throwing fish at people, but we’ll get to that later. Our group met up with our wonderful tour guide Jonathan, and we quickly went around in a circle and said our names, where we were originally from, and our favorite foods. This allowed us to wake up a bit, and allowed us to feel at ease with our guide. After this we started what felt like an insanely long descent to the market- like, seriously long, and seriously steep at the end. The market resides right by the water, and is in turn at the very bottom of a long hill-like road.
Once we got to the market we got straight into the tour and went straight to our first stop- a place called Maiz, where we began the start of an amazing tour. I won’t name every place we went to, but I will say that there was absolutely a diverse range of cultures and foods that we tried- from Italian food to Mexican food, from chowder to salmon-jerky, from truffle-salt and butter to rockfish, and to the most incredible Greek yogurt known to mankind. The tour was beneficial for multiple reasons- one was that it allowed us to learn about the market with both experience, and with the information that our tour guide gave us as we went.
We learned that the market was mostly made up of Seattle locals, and local businesses, prioritizing allowing its citizens to be able to take up a unique space for their passions. I think that this part of the market really helps stand for the idea of diversity and inclusivity that we discussed in this class- although there is a slight idea of a blocking force, which is having to be a Seattle local business, I don’t see this as a limitation to the inclusivity/diversity of the market. Instead, I find it to be a way of shutting out bigger corporations, and letting the people create their own spaces, and put out the unique things they’re passionate about. This was evident when exploring the market, and seeing all kinds of different things it had to offer- and there were many.
There are all kinds of different cultures being shared at the market, and I think that’s what makes it beautifully diverse and inclusive. The private chef tour was a brilliant introduction to the market- it helped to put us more at ease with the idea of exploring what seemed like a labyrinth-like place later on. Which we did- we started out as a group of most of the students later in the day, and slowly as we got deeper into the market we separated and lost each other, because there were so many places to explore that uniquely catered to each of us. That’s the charm of the market.
During the food tour, we stopped at one point in the market and Professor Lietzenmayer bought something, which subsequently led to us all having a fish thrown back and forth over our heads, which felt very surreal. Every time this happened, people stopped to watch it occur, locals and nonlocals alike. It was just so odd, and so fun. All in all, the tour was probably a group favorite art of the trip; a wonderful blend of experience and information. And also, the introduction to Hellenika Cultured Creamery, which we went back to several times before the trip ended.
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