SEATTLE-TACOMA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT — When Riddi Mehta Neugebauer and her mother found a bunch of amaranth leaves at the new Farmers Market at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, they couldn’t believe it.
“My girlfriend and I both saw it and thought, ‘We have to eat a lot of this, it’s so unique,'” said Mehta Neugebauer, a Seattle-Tacoma International Airport resident who cooks mostly South Asian food. “I hope they keep it going, it’s amazing.”
That’s the plan. African Community Housing and Development is launching a new monthly farmers market on Wednesdays at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, modeled after the success of a weekly market in Delridge.
The SeaTac Farmers Market sources food and goods from farmers, cooks and entrepreneurs of color, providing local refugee and immigrant communities with culturally meaningful dishes and ingredients they might not be able to find at their neighborhood markets or grocery stores.
“Whenever I bring food that has cultural value, they always ask, ‘Can you bring more? Can you bring more? Can you bring this and that?'” Umoja Ingvu farm owner Beatrice Similimana said as she peeled green garlic sprouts.
Organizers said the new farmers market will be an important hub for food access and community building for SeaTac’s racially diverse low- and moderate-income residents, breaking the stereotype that farmers markets are places only for wealthy, white foodies.
Mehta Neugebauer picked up a bunch of amaranth at Hughes Blooms and Greens, a Kent Valley farm owned by Nia Moore that has been selling at the Delridge Farmers Market since 2021.
Moore said she likes to grow common vegetables suited to the Pacific Northwest climate, as well as harder-to-find plants like horsetail and bitter melon.
Last year, she began growing and selling managu (an African nightshade, not to be confused with the poisonous nightshade) after a neighbor in Auburn gave her seeds from a family in Kenya, and the crop quickly became popular among the East and West African customers at Delridge Market.
“I do not know [African] “Even though nightshade isn’t cultivated, they eat a ton of it,” said Moore, who plans to bring the crop to Seattle International Airport later this season. “I didn’t know about it until I saw them buying nightshade and getting excited because you can’t get it at a regular store.”
The market will be held at the Matt Griffin YMCA on the first Wednesday of each month through November from 3pm to 7pm.
Officials with African Community Housing & Development, based at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, said the market not only serves one of the region’s most diverse communities, but also an area with extremely high demand.
Nearly a quarter of the people in the census tract where the market is located live in poverty, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. At least a third of the population lives more than a mile away from the nearest large grocery store or supermarket. Officials say many of the people who visit the market are East African, Southeast Asian or Latino, who have few healthy, affordable food options nearby.
“Local families can walk there, and just seeing that gap closed is so important,” said Zazie Collins, director of development and communications for the foundation, “and they can pick up their kids and walk over and spend time with them.”
The Farmers Market accepts SNAP benefits, every child receives $5 to use at any food vendor, and food-insecure people can receive a free bag of fresh produce.
Sadio Tohobo was among the visitors who received a free bag of kale, blueberries, radishes and snap peas, as well as a whole halal chicken, on the store’s opening day.
“I love it,” Tohobo, a Des Moines resident, said as she stood near a salon worker selling henna and looked out over the market.
Vendors can attend the market for free or rent tents and tables for $10, and the organization also buys back some of the unsold produce and products at the end of the day to later distribute in the community.
Danitra Porter, owner of Queen Sugar Baking Company, was selling an assortment of pastries and baked goods Wednesday inspired by her Southern roots and her experiences traveling overseas while growing up in a military family.
She started her small business during the pandemic using her stimulus check and personal savings, and she said the Delridge Farmers Market is one of the few markets that caters to the needs of budding small business owners and farmers.
The market fosters a strong sense of community, where vendors and shoppers “feel welcomed coming to the market and don’t feel out of place,” Porter said.
“I’ve been at a lot of markets and the feeling of being one of the few brown or black people at a market is the worst. I’ve had to leave some markets because I don’t feel welcome and there’s no community spirit,” Porter added.
Luis Marquez, pushing a stroller through the market, initially stopped in with his son just to check it out. He lives next door to the YMCA.
Marquez, a regular at the Burien Farmers Market, said he was excited to see the new market and appreciated the variety of products, free items, $5 discount for children, etc. He said he plans to return next month with his whole family.
“We go through a lot of food quickly,” Ms. Marquez said as her son licked a hibiscus tea popsicle. “I’d rather have him eat berries and small vegetables than go through the pantry and find super-sweet, carbohydrate-rich foods.”
Aashay Sabra, owner of Aash Farms and a regular vendor at the Delridge store, said he wasn’t sure how many people would come to the SeaTac market.
An hour into the market, as the fruit and vegetables on his table dwindled, he said he was overwhelmed by the turnout.
“I’m amazed at how many people have come out and I feel so, so supported right now,” Sabra said. “The support that I’ve seen is people are excited and they’re like, ‘I’m so glad you’re here. I can’t believe it took this long.’
