There they were. Four Japanese boys sitting side-by-side eating giant polish dogs and waiting for the Sean Paul Concert to begin. This was just one of the many interesting/amusing food scenes I saw at Bumbershoot 2007.
Bumbershoot is a huge music festival in Seattle. Along with a variety of musical performers, there are art exhibits, literary works, comedians, and food venders from all over the world. This would be an exciting break from dorm life, especially in terms of food.
One of the most interesting foods I had was in the morning of the fist day. It was an African appetizer called Bajiya, a patty of ground split peas combined with garbanzo beans and a variety of Horn of Africa style herbs and seasoned with African style seasoning. Deep fried in vegetable oil. It was a two inch green patty that came with a yummy yogurt dill dip. The Bajiya was a good way to start off a weekend full of ethnic foods.
After seeing Forgotten Soul, Crowded House and The Shins, and checking out the Indie market, our tummies were rumbling once again. We needed a break however from the festival scene, so we went to a nearby café connected to the EMP (Experienced Music Project) museum called the Revolution Café. There two other friends and I shared amazing warm spinach artichoke dip on garlic toast. Then I split a chicken burger with avocado, cheese, bacon, tomato and lettuce. The burger was excellent, but the fries that came with it were even better! Our Linner (Lunch/Dinner) was rather pricy for us poor college students, but I would say it was well worth it. We were ready for another round of musical performers.
Next in line were the Avett Brothers, The Aggrolites, Gym Class Heroes and Finally the Incredible guitarists, Rodrigo and Gabriela. Right before Rodrigo and Gabriela, I started to get a chill so I got a hot coffee from Starbucks; A one pump, extra hot, soy, pumpkin spice latte. It hit the spot. One the way out we asked the strawberry shortcake venders for directions to the correct bus stop and after giving us directions they kindly gave us strawberry shortcake and a big, fudgy brownie. An $8 value completely free! This was a terrific top to a great day.
The next couple days were similar to the first, music, wandering and interesting foods. The musical highlights for Sunday and Monday were The Wattson Twins, Kings of Leon, Fergie, Sean Paul, John Ledgend, Adrien Xavier, and Ohmega Watts. The culinary highlights were Hawaiian wok fried soba noodles (which contained lots of yummy vegetables), and a Lebanese Sandwich (which really wasn’t all that good, but interesting nonetheless).
There was one food item at Bumbershoot in particular that caught my eye; roasted corn. All I could think about whenever I passed the corn venders was, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan. I realized then that because of this book, I would never think of corn the same way again. They were selling full ears of roasted corn which I now realize is quite a rarity. In the Omnivore’s Dilemma, I learned that an American eats less than a bushel per year of fresh corn, but indirectly consumes over a ton. These delicious, fresh ears of corn would be added to that bushel. The soda one could buy to go along with it would be added to the ton. It was good to see completely unprocessed corn being consumed. “To eat corn directly is to consume all the energy in that corn, but when you feed that corn to a steer or a chicken, 90% of the energy is lost.” In fact, every step in the chain reduces the amount of food energy by a factor of 10. Corn offers the cheapest calories and that is why it is processed and put to so many different uses. People often forget what a great, nutritious food it is completely unprocessed and eaten at its natural state.
So basically I am trying to say, my Anthropology of food class is now following me wherever I go; from when I wake up in the morning and choose between organic and non-organic milk with my cereal to when I pass by a roasted corn booth at Bumbershoot, I will now think of eating and my food choices in a much deeper way. As Janet Hoskins puts it, “eating is one form of creative activity in which subjects are allowed to make choices about what will come to constitute their very being, both corporeally and symbolically.” Eating is more than a day to day biological need. It is a vibrantly cultural activity that effects relationships and changes the way one lives life.
Bumbershoot is a huge music festival in Seattle. Along with a variety of musical performers, there are art exhibits, literary works, comedians, and food venders from all over the world. This would be an exciting break from dorm life, especially in terms of food.
One of the most interesting foods I had was in the morning of the fist day. It was an African appetizer called Bajiya, a patty of ground split peas combined with garbanzo beans and a variety of Horn of Africa style herbs and seasoned with African style seasoning. Deep fried in vegetable oil. It was a two inch green patty that came with a yummy yogurt dill dip. The Bajiya was a good way to start off a weekend full of ethnic foods.After seeing Forgotten Soul, Crowded House and The Shins, and checking out the Indie market, our tummies were rumbling once again. We needed a break however from the festival scene, so we went to a nearby café connected to the EMP (Experienced Music Project) museum called the Revolution Café. There two other friends and I shared amazing warm spinach artichoke dip on garlic toast. Then I split a chicken burger with avocado, cheese, bacon, tomato and lettuce. The burger was excellent, but the fries that came with it were even better! Our Linner (Lunch/Dinner) was rather pricy for us poor college students, but I would say it was well worth it. We were ready for another round of musical performers.
Next in line were the Avett Brothers, The Aggrolites, Gym Class Heroes and Finally the Incredible guitarists, Rodrigo and Gabriela. Right before Rodrigo and Gabriela, I started to get a chill so I got a hot coffee from Starbucks; A one pump, extra hot, soy, pumpkin spice latte. It hit the spot. One the way out we asked the strawberry shortcake venders for directions to the correct bus stop and after giving us directions they kindly gave us strawberry shortcake and a big, fudgy brownie. An $8 value completely free! This was a terrific top to a great day.
The next couple days were similar to the first, music, wandering and interesting foods. The musical highlights for Sunday and Monday were The Wattson Twins, Kings of Leon, Fergie, Sean Paul, John Ledgend, Adrien Xavier, and Ohmega Watts. The culinary highlights were Hawaiian wok fried soba noodles (which contained lots of yummy vegetables), and a Lebanese Sandwich (which really wasn’t all that good, but interesting nonetheless).
There was one food item at Bumbershoot in particular that caught my eye; roasted corn. All I could think about whenever I passed the corn venders was, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan. I realized then that because of this book, I would never think of corn the same way again. They were selling full ears of roasted corn which I now realize is quite a rarity. In the Omnivore’s Dilemma, I learned that an American eats less than a bushel per year of fresh corn, but indirectly consumes over a ton. These delicious, fresh ears of corn would be added to that bushel. The soda one could buy to go along with it would be added to the ton. It was good to see completely unprocessed corn being consumed. “To eat corn directly is to consume all the energy in that corn, but when you feed that corn to a steer or a chicken, 90% of the energy is lost.” In fact, every step in the chain reduces the amount of food energy by a factor of 10. Corn offers the cheapest calories and that is why it is processed and put to so many different uses. People often forget what a great, nutritious food it is completely unprocessed and eaten at its natural state.
So basically I am trying to say, my Anthropology of food class is now following me wherever I go; from when I wake up in the morning and choose between organic and non-organic milk with my cereal to when I pass by a roasted corn booth at Bumbershoot, I will now think of eating and my food choices in a much deeper way. As Janet Hoskins puts it, “eating is one form of creative activity in which subjects are allowed to make choices about what will come to constitute their very being, both corporeally and symbolically.” Eating is more than a day to day biological need. It is a vibrantly cultural activity that effects relationships and changes the way one lives life.
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