Food Markets of the World

These are the food markets we found in out travels

Hong Kong

Outside our hotel in Kowloon there was a local food market where the ordinary residents of the city came to shop.

Here you could buy anything that grew, walked crawled or swam. There was a whole pig, fish alive in aerated tanks,eels and toads.

The food was fresh but the health inspectors obviously never payed a visit here.

No diary.

Purple

not sure about these

The fishmonger

This little piggy went to market

Green

The Butcher

Simple pleasures..abalone soup

Takeaway

I would not eat these...toads

London

The Borough Market @ Southwark

Alex suggested we check out this market. Wow.

The best cheese shop that I can ever remember coming across.

Spanish hams, wonderful seafood, bread, cheese, fruits and vegetables of all kinds and game.

The pictures tell the story.

Bread anyone

hommos, falafel, dolmates, cakes ...yumm

berries of every sort

soft cheese for lasagne maybe

Wild game..watch out for the pellets!

Little Margie big cheeses

volcano of tomatoes

dont tell me to buy mushrooms...what sort of mushrooms

more morels

Spanish ham aged for 3 years

this is my sort of fast food

This market has such a diversity of marvellous fresh food and authentic regional produce. Greasy fish & chips anyone.

No I thinkI'll have lobster flambe

Venice

Just across the Rialto by the canal

You may think that there is not much to this market when you first come across it. However it goes on and on. Italian also eat a great diversity of foods and when it comes to seafood whether it swims or clings to a rock you can eat it. After all this is Venice.

lets put some heat in it

mushrooms and artichoke

shark

this is all produce from the sea

cross this to get to the market

scollops, prawns, mackeral....

vongole, octopus and sardines

You could come to this market every day for a month and never have to cook the same thing. Grilled mackerel, squids ink risotto, tagliatelli fungi,spaghetti vongole or perhaps swordfish in hot tomato sauce....the list goes on...

the colours of Venice

Paul Bocuse Les Halles @ Lyon.

a nice way to say thankyou

Paella to go

Rib roast, veal escallops, NY Cut porterhouse...

If you feel like a pilgrimage then Paul Bocuse Les Halles, Lyon is a good place to start. Make sure that you leave leave lenty of time for indulgences.

This is the grand daddy of all food markets. It is covered, permanent and pretty swish. There are nice bars and little restaurants that sell the produce (see below).

There are no demountable stalls, takeaway tables or produce piled on the ground here and in that way it is different to the markets of Hong Kong, London and Paris that we have visited. Here food is a serious business surpassing the basic need to eat to survive. Here food is a spiritual or religious experience. A diety you can see, touch, smell and consume. It has some attraction.

We have a second pilgrimage to make sure that we were not dreaming the first time.

The second time we were stocking up for Olonzac. I think that the realization that you cannot buy, try, eat every one of the offerings here in the time left on the planet must rate as one of life's great disappointments.

In any event we bought too much.