Feet on the Street: Getting Foodies to Look Closer
Cutting up a watermelon on the roof of her car might not be one of Linda Yellin’s proudest moments on her food tours, but it does show how far she’s come.
These days, her popular food tours are a much smoother operation. Ten years after launching her Feet on the Street, the experienced guide conducts “Come Hungry, Leave Happy” strolling brunch tours at Eastern Market on a regular basis. Guests are shown around the sheds, introduced to specialty stores and are exposed to the history of the area. Locally produced pizza, pastries, specialty sausages and seasonal nibbles are all on the sampling menu and visitors get to know local growers and vendors.
But it’s about more than just showing off Detroit’s culinary scene. Yellin aims to connect Detroit residents and visitors to the market and expose them to what’s available in their own backyard. It wasn’t an instantly popular concept.
“When I first started people thought I was crazy,” Yellin admits.
Part of the problem was a lack of interest from metro Detroit residents in exploring the downtown area. Yellin explains that frequenting the city was a somewhat unusual concept, and often considered dangerous.
“There was such a divide between the city and the suburbs,” Yellin says. “Between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots.’”
She’s seen it change a lot in the past ten years. Yellin began volunteer work in 2001 and caught the Detroit history bug, setting up tours for family and friends. When she realized the interest that was building, the former psychotherapist embarked on whole new path.
“I’m on the other side of 70,” Yellin says. “This was an unexpected second career.”
Yellin’s initial historical and social tours, titled “The Good, the Bad, and the Hopeful,” sparked some controversy. Aimed at giving participants an insight into Detroit communities that had been hit hard by the financial crisis, and exploring how suburbs were surviving and (in some cases) rallying, the tours were not part of the usual “everything’s rosy” narrative.
“We were honest,” Yellin says. “We’d look at the burned-out houses and talk about plans for the future.”
The style proved a hit. Going from strength to strength, Yellin’s tours grew almost too fast for her to logistically keep up with, and she has had to focus on how to make them manageable and maintain the personal connections she wants for them.
Not all food vendors initially welcomed Yellin’s foodies with open arms, either.
“Some stores saw it as a hassle, having large tour groups come in,” Yellin says. “But now I have it down—I have my guacamole guy.”
Now, Yellin’s food tours of Eastern Market run all year around, and she is launching another walking tour this spring in the historic Capitol Park area that will cover food, history and art.
Lately, Yellin has noticed her tours have gained a lot of traction with corporate and team-building groups. More and more, people are seeking out knowledge about their city.
“There’s tremendous history in the city,” Yellin says. “I like to find the hidden nooks and crannies.”
Feet on the Street Tours
313-393-2055
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