Seattle’s Novel New Trend: Skinny People

The Dog Blog
by:David Dog

In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, the misty city of Seattle produced at least two significant trends that began with youth and ultimately trickled into older generations. One was the coffeehouse culture (sorry Europe). The other was the grunge culture (both music and fashion). Their passion for java caught on in other cities full of wannabe intellectuals, and subsequently has breathed new, sustainable life into the once-sinking coffee industry. And grunge is a relative term, as teens continue to push the edge on just how scruffy they can make their whole appearance to frustrate their parents..

So on my latest trek to Seattle after an 11-year absence, I was on the prowl for insight on the next fashion, music, or food trend to come from this trend-setting town. (By the way, when you’ve finally replaced your daily cup of coffee for a cup of Bubble Tea, don’t credit Seattle as the source of this trend – which Seattle is certainly helping to promote with all the Bubble Tea shops popping around the University of Washington campus).

Disappointment clouded me after a few unfruitful days and nights of walking the streets and interviewing taxi drivers. Then, at last, I had inspiration while on my journey to visit a friend on Bainbridge Island, which requires a ferry ride. There were plenty of walk-on and drive-on passengers on board, but the first sign I was on to something came to me when I saw hundreds of ride-on passengers taking their bicycles off the ferry to ride home. Presumably they have day jobs in the Seattle area and ride to and from the ferry every day, rather than face lines of cars congesting the roadway infrastructure that is unable to keep up with the city’s growth. My middle-aged professor friend rides 18 miles each way several days a week it turns out.

My trend revelation came to me during a sidebar conversation with my friend who, though he had always struck me as being in good shape, now appeared to have melted any fat that remained between his skin and his muscles. In a word, he was cut. I asked him what he’d done. In his case, he’d become a triathlete. But he said that in general, Seattle doesn’t have all the fat people like he saw when he was living in the Midwest (i.e., Chicago). He said it’s partly because the temperature seldom falls below 45 degrees so people are out all year. And people bike, hike, walk, run, and do all kinds of activities. He says there’s almost a pressure or at least a culture to be active.

Before I go on, if you’re someone who says, “But Dog, it’s too cold or too hot where I live, and I really don’t have time for all this exercise stuff. And besides, my metabolism is just slow, I have some advice: Close your eyes, picture yourself holding one of those Bubble Teas, grab a straw, put it to your mouth, and SUCK – IT – UP.

On top of the fitness thing, my buff friend notes that Seattle has a pervasive obsession with fresh, seasonal, local food, like fish and fruit, that is really much better and fresher than the stuff that has to be shipped all the way to the Midwest (where carb-heavy corn and wheat is abundant), he says. I knew this attitude prevailed among picky Pacific Northwest chefs who are quoted in uppity food magazines, but here was an average guy from the Midwest talking like some James Beard groupie. He sent me out to his garden (probably organic) in the backyard, which overlooks the Olympia peninsula and Puget Sound, to pick some tomatoes, zucchini and berries for the salad he was making.

Now granted, it’s a lot more compelling to buy a cup of coffee or slip on a grungy shirt than it is to hop on a bike or go climb Mt. Rainier. But culturally, my friend is on to something. According to a recent study that I quoted in my blog a few months ago titled Skinny People Don’t Go to Obesity Conferences, the obesity problem is fed in America by the fact that, when it comes to weight gain, people compare themselves to their peer groups. If you’re surrounded by a lot of fat people, you don’t have too much inspiration to do something about the few extra pounds on yourself. But if you’re in Seattle, where all your friends are grilling locally grown fish, hiking and getting their bodies ripped, you’re at least going to be careful about being seen at the Krispy Kreme too often (not sure it would make it here, by the way).

Now there’s an appealing alternative for those of you still reading who fear they could go outdoors and get their arm stuck under a rock in the wilderness and have to cut it off with a razor blade. Right now, Seattle is ripe with the REI / North Face / Patagonia rugged outdoorsman look (because they actually need this stuff to protect themselves from the elements), and I predict that people in the rest of the country will increasingly wear trail shoes and expensive adventure gear so people will think they’re active. Only question is, do they sell that stuff in an XXXL.

Comments

[a.brain]

Maybe it's a wave that will make shore...why wouldn't it...fat people float great don't they?

[cancer]

Is their loss our gain? Seems like I'm seeing more and more fat people around here these days...

[gigi]

As long as the midwest grows corn and bakes twinkies--and the manufacturers see a "big" market in XXXL adventure gear, there will be someone to buy it--also those who indulge in a mountain of carbs for breakfast every Sat. and Sun. a.m--will want to dress appropriately for the hike up that pile of krispy kremes. Trail shoes are great for first impressions, even on fat or out-of-shape people. Wasn't it the fitness craze a couple or so decades ago that got even old granny into athletic shoes, aka "tenny pumps" and now EVERYONE owns a pair or two, or more.