The Bite of Seattle

The 27th annual Bite of Seattle proved to be a success, as an estimated 500,000 people came to enjoy good food and hot weather for a three-day festival last weekend. Many vendors had to put up sold-out signs toward the end of the last day of the event.

This year’s event appeared promote healthy eating and exercise, with CNN’s Fit Nation tour and the Us Against Athero: Fighting Atherosclerosis with Knowledge tour, which featured the “Artery Explorer,” a simulator that takes you through the human body.

Kristina Li, a Bite of Seattle attendee and Western Washington University student, found the “get-fit stuff” to be ironic at a festival that promoted eating.

The health sites attracted a small crowd, as most festival attendees seemed more interested in waiting in line for elephant ears or mozzarella cheese sticks.

“You can’t go wrong with deep fried cheese”, said Dani Foran, a senior who attended the Bite on Sunday.

The Bite this year also garnered an increase in security after the shooting that took place at the Folklife Festival in May.

Alligator was sold out at the New Orleans Cookery on Sunday, leaving many disappointed. However, their Cajun stew was extremely good, though a little too warm and spicy, given the hot weather.

The beef and cheese piroshky (fried dough wrapped around meat and cheese) was very tasty, said John Werner, a graduate student.

While everything at the Bite was appetizing, many criticized the variety of food available.

“I think they need to branch out, like more African cuisine and European,” Li said. “It was a very basic food festival.”

The selection wasn’t as varied or exotic as some had hoped. Many of the same vendors also participate in Folklife and Bumbershoot.

“The things I did get were delicious in their own way, but, in general, the experience wasn’t what it’s built up to be,” Foran said. “It’s like a fair without a purpose.”

For entertainment, six music stages throughout the festival featured artists in genres ranging from acoustic rock to modern Cuban. While it did make for good background noise, the music at the Bite was, unfortunately, not very interesting.

The food prices were also a little expensive for those on a tight budget, and were observed by several festival attendees to be similar to those from the 2007 Bite of Seattle. However, this year the festival featured smaller “Just a Bite!” portions for $3.75.

“I didn’t have much money so I had to be really selective ... so that limits you,” Foran said. “Most of the stuff I got was free. There were only a few that gave some cheap samples.”

Some of the samples included Tillamook cheese, Ghirardelli chocolate, organic granola and dried fruit strips. Despite having basic fair food, the Bite of Seattle was extremely popular this year, most likely due to the weather.

“The weather was great — it was perfect,” said Werner, who attended the event on Saturday. “It was crowded, but it wasn’t to the point of Bumbershoot crowded where there was no personal space. It was slow moving because everyone had one plate in each hand and was trying not to spill.”

Sunday, however, felt extremely crowded, as it was a little difficult to navigate through the crowds. Traffic was worse than usual because of the Mariners game.

“For about two hours it was pure chaos,” Foran said. “It feels way bigger than Seattle Center’s ability to handle.”

Foran said the Bite was similar to Folklife but with more crowds and hotter weather.

“We just wandered around, mostly ... people watching [and finding] places to sit down to eat,” Werner said. “[It was a] pretty standard Bite of Seattle.”