Don’t Forget the Fresh Produce
“Cooks come from all cultures and walks of life. They are often curious about new ingredients. I frequently have spontaneous interchanges while shopping in the crossed produce stall, cheek by jowl with other cooks, picking up an unfamiliar vegetable and turning to the person next to me — “Have you ever cooked this?” — or telling someone which one of these bunches of greens is the Italian parsley. These conversations require no preliminary formalities; just ask the question, exclaim over the beautiful tomatoes, or catch a frown and whisper that the green beans at another stall are better. This exchange between food vendors and food lovers is the foundation of the atmosphere at the market.”
As we were going around the fresh produce and meat section of the Granville Market last December 2018, we asked our friends if Granville is still being visited regularly by the locals. They looked at each other, mentioned the name “Armando” in the same breath, and started nodding. They were both referring to a quite famous proprietor in one of the meat shops at the Granville Market, whom everyone knew by his first name. They confirmed that the Granville Market is still functioning as a traditional market for the residents of Vancouver’s Downtown, because of the excellent quality of meat, seafood, and fresh produce which it offers.
Granville Market, Vancouver
Special Beef Cuts
When I first visited the Boqueria market more than twenty years ago in 2009, I was amazed at how the locals were still doing their early morning shopping in the meat and seafood section of the market. I eagerly listened in to their conversations, with the little Spanish that I knew. The vendors and the shoppers knew each other and were exchanging greetings and stories, as they were exchanging wares.
Boqueria Market, Barcelona
Fresh Seafood Section
However, the Boqueria market that I revisited sometime in 2015 was a different one. Tourists overpowered the place, with digital cameras clicking every second. Most of the items available for sale were also packaged for tourists — cut up pieces of fruit, slices of jamon serrano in paper cones, and ready to drink fruit shakes.
Boqueria Market
“The first 20 percent of stalls, the ones to the front, they’re like Disneyland,” says Oscar Ubide, the urbane managing director of the Boqueria traders’ association.”
— Barcelona’s Market Forca, The Financial Times [6]
Most successful food halls have a fresh produce market inside the same structure or in an adjacent facility. The produce market is the best way to get members of the community to come more often. Eating out may not be a daily activity, but cooking usually is. When you offer fresh produce, meat, and seafood, you ensure a regular flow of locals who will come for their weekly market needs [9-13]. They pass by on their way home from work. They make a special trip for the weekend, in preparation for a special Sunday roast. The locals are the ones who will reach out and get to know the vendors by their first name [1, 9, 11], ask more questions as the butcher explains why a certain meat cut is best, and compare notes with other shoppers, as to which vegetable is fresh.
BOQUERIA MARKET, BARCELONA
FRESH PRODUCE, SEAFOOD, AND VARIETIES OF CHEESE
Aves y Huevos (Poultry and eggs)
Bares (Bars)
Tocineria y Charcuteria (Pork butcher's shops and Delicatessen)
Carnicerias (Butcher)
Especialidades (Specialties)
Fruta y Verdura (Fruit and Vegetable)
Frutos Secos (Nuts)
Legumbres (Legumes)
Despojos (Offal Shops)
Mercado (Market)
No Alimentario (Non-Food)
Aceitunas y Conservas (Olives and tinned food)
Pescado y Marisco (Fish and Seafood)
Pesca Salada (Salted Fish)
Colmado (Groceries)
Locals in Barcelona have been protesting the influx of tourists into their town [7]. In 2015, Barcelona officially banned tourist groups of more than 15 people inside the Boqueria market during peak hours of 8 am to 3 pm, Fridays and Saturdays [7]. The city responded to the complaint of the vendors that the large groups of tourists were blocking access for the local shoppers. This ban is a positive move on the part of the city, to prioritize its residents and local stall owners in terms of access to its public market and food hall.
“‘The Boqueria is a special market,’ says Colom (councilor of Tourism, Commerce, and Markets). ‘One of the main challenges is to keep tourism from affecting the regular clients—to keep the Boqueria from turning into a theme park.
Colom runs through a number of the measures they’re exploring as safeguards for the market, including capping the percentage of take-away food sales from a given stand. I point out that the Boqueria has been under the siege of tourism for nearly a decade now, and that many of the vendors believe that the city lost its chance to effectively control the chaos. “I realize the situation is more complicated now than if we had acted earlier but we’re obligated to at least try. It would have been better to implement preventative measures, but it’s not too late.’”
— The Battle for the Boqueria
Roads & Kingdoms [5]
Boqueria Market’s recent issues remind us of the importance of sustainable tourism, which espouses a balance between the needs of the community and the economic sustainability which tourism visits bring [2-4]. Principles of sustainable tourism include recognizing that the host community is important and that the economic return of tourism must be for their benefit [14]. It also espouses tourists to respect staff and behave responsibly [14]. Sustainable tourism also includes practices which respect the environment and slows down the speed of development [14].
Sources:
Elijah Anderson, The Cosmopolitan Canopy: Race and Civility in Everyday Life (New York, New York, W.W. Norton & Co., c 2011. 1st ed.).
Montserrat Crespi-Vallbona and Darko Dimitrovski, 'Urban Food Markets in the Context of a Tourist Attraction: La Boqueria Market in Barcelona Spain', Tourism Geographies, 20 (2018), 397-417.
Karen Franck, 'The City as Dining Room, Market, and Farm', Architecture Design May/June 2005.
———, 'Food for the City, Food in the City', Architecture Design May/June 2005.
Matt Goulding, 'The Battle for the Boqueria', in Roads & Kingdoms (2018).
Tim Hayward, 'Barcelona's Market Forca', in Financial Times (London, United Kingdom, 2015).
Jessica Jones, 'Barcelona Bans Tourists from Famous Market', in The Local (Barcelona, 2015).
'La Boqueria Market', Mercat dela Boqueria (<http://www.hlloret.com/barcelonahotelramblasblog/la-boqueria-market/>.
Alfonso Morales, 'Marketplaces: Prospects for Social, Economic, and Political Development', Journal of Planning Literature, 26 (2011), 3-17.
———, 'Planning and the Self-Organization of Marketplaces', Journal of Planning Education & Research, 30 (2010), 182-97.
———, 'Public Markets as Community Development Tools', Journal of Planning Education and Research, 28 (2008), 426-40.
Susan Parham, 'Designing the Gastronomic Quarter', Architecture Design, May/June 2005.
'Public Markets as a Vehicle for Social Integration and Upward Mobility', in Phase I Report: An Overview of Existing Programs and Assessment of Opportunities (New York, New York, Project for Public Spaces, Inc. & Partners for Livable Communities, 2003).
Rosario Scarpato, 'Sustainable Gastronomy as a Tourist Product', in Tourism and Gastronomy, ed. by Anne-Mette Hjalager and Greg Richards (London and New York, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2002).