The Seattle Foodie Boxes

For my calling card project, I ended up going with the first idea from my mind map post. I created a set of 3 boxes and puzzles, each with their own theme surrounding Seattle's food scene. To unlock the box, the user had to solve the puzzles to find the code.

The "Research": Researching for this project was a lot of fun! I used my day off to go to Pike's Place Market and explore local artisan stores. I had to take a break from being bombarded by tourists and had lunch at a place called Umma's Lunch Box underneath the 5th Ave Theater. It was really great food for the price, and a nice, quiet escape from the hubbub outside. I asked if they had any kimchi I could use in my project, but sadly it was not vacuum sealed, therefore perishable. I spoke to a lot of store owners and managers about their local products and what they thought was truly "iconic Seattle" fare. The most helpful person was the manager at Eat Local, as their store features frozen meals prepared with locally sourced produce and meats. They even had local non-perishables such as potato chips, mustard, and pickles. It's not exactly fit for a college student's budget, but it's definitely a neat store to look around in! They have several Seattle locations.

Box 1: Sweets- This box contained Theo peanut butter chocolate cups, EatLocal Scottish shortbread, Dilletante chocolates, and Seattle Chocolates. This was definitely the easiest box to shop for, as I was determined not to spend over 5$ on any single item. The Scottish shortbread was sweet and buttery, which was very surprising for something that wasn't supposed to expire until October! The puzzle for this box focused around bakeries and sweet shops, such as Trophy Cupcakes or Full Tilt Ice Cream.

Box 2: Savory- This box contained jam from Maury Island farms, a beef jerky stick from BB Ranch Butcher Shop, plantain chips from Miss Marjorie's Restaurant, and salt from the Puget Sound. This was a bit harder to shop for as proteins are more expensive. The puzzle for this box made the user figure out which restaurant the picture was from. I included some iconic foods such as a burger from Dick's Drive-In and fish and chips from Ivar's.

Box 3: Drinks- This box contained a reusable Starbucks cup, local honey sticks from the Sunny Honey Company, and peach and coconut white tea from MarketSpice, a Seattle based tea company. For these puzzles, I focused on breweries or local drink manufacturer's, such as Fremont Brewing and Jones Soda.

Reflection: This project was a lot of fun to work on and really made me think about where my favorite foods came from. Most of the store owners were excited to share their knowledge about their goods, but a few misinterpreted what I was trying to do and attempted to sell me premade gift baskets. Otherwise, this project was perfect for a foodie like me to work on, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. After the presentation, I gave most of the food homeless people- and a dog, on the Ave.

Thanks for reading!

-Kristen