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Appeared on sonomapicnic.com
by Vanessa Barrington
When I was in Mexico, I was struck by how different the markets are. Like our modern farmers’ markets, they are the social hub and the heart of both the cities and the countryside. But, in addition, they serve as the “supermarkets” for everyone.
Here in the Northern California Wine Country, we go to our Farmers’ Markets on specified days and in season, so we can stock up on fresh produce for the week. In contrast to a trip to the grocery store to buy food, the farmers’ market provides a more complete experience. People shop at their local farmers’ markets for a variety of reasons: to socialize with their neighbors, to support local farmers and to obtain the unusual, organic, and heirloom varieties of fruits and vegetables that many grocery stores don’t carry. Since survival for a small farm often depends on specialty products, the markets in Sonoma County are filled with an astounding variety of baby vegetables and unusually colorful tomatoes, beans, peppers, and peaches. A relatively small percentage of people take advantage of this resource. Issues of time, inclination, money, habit, or convenience mean that most people in the United States patronize farmers’ markets only occasionally, if at all. Our markets, with their limited offerings, are not substitutes for grocery stores.
In Mexico, the markets in the larger cities are open all day, every day, and have literally everything, almost like large shopping centers in the US. In many parts of Mexico refrigeration is still unreliable and most people do not own a private car with a trunk in which they can load a week’s worth of groceries. So, people set out to buy their food daily in buses, on foot, in taxis, on bicycles or crowded into the backs of the tarp-covered pickups that serve as public transport. Mexicans carry their purchases in colorful, woven reusable bags, just like we do here. In fact, many of the “market bags” we buy here are made in Mexico.
The larger markets have fresh meat, fish, and chicken, cheeses, tequila, dried chilies and herbs, canned goods, teas, coffee, dried fish, leather goods, pottery, shoes, clothing, kitchen ware, soap, shampoo and other toiletries…and of course the fresh vegetables. The better markets in large towns display the fresh fruits and vegetables in towering, artistic displays. There are baskets filled with assorted reddish brown dried chilies next to piles of watermelons, bright yellow papayas, orange mangos, bananas, fresh green chilies, dark leafy greens, citrus, pale tan jicima, yellow pineapples, bright red tomatoes, long strands of garlic, and grapes. The variety is so great because the climate in Mexico allows many different types of produce to be grown year round. The next time you shop in your local grocery store during winter or spring, look at the stickers on the peppers, cucumbers, eggplants, melons and berries, and you’ll see how much of the produce here is grown in Mexico or other parts of Latin America.
Of all the markets I visited in Mexico, my favorite is the one in the center of Oaxaca City called Juarez. It encompasses about three city blocks, and can be entered from any point along any of the streets. Because of its maze-like aspect, it is difficult to see everything, but after a few trips a pattern of sorts emerges. Leather goods, knick-knacks, clothing, toiletries, rugs, notions and CDs dominate the periphery of the market. As one walks further into the middle, there are canned goods, cheeses (the local stringy salty Oaxacan cheese is delicious) dried chilies, and large booths filled with different brands of fiery and incredibly intoxicating Mescal. Food stalls called comedors, which consist of a little lean-to type shelter with a sink, a grill and/or a small hot plate, dominate the next layer of the market. Each small structure has a counter where the food is assembled and where the customers can sit on stools, facing the person preparing the food. The comedors serve a simple, everyday type of food. People can stop in to get a quick bite, and rest their feet while shopping. Most of these meals are around 1-2 dollars, making them fast and affordable like our fast food chains, but the similarities stop there. These meals are nourishing and authentic and are cooked by hand.
There are no menus, just pick a likely looking (busy is better) counter and sit down. The person behind the counter will tell you what they offer, usually 2 or 3 different dishes. Most comedors are friendly and helpful. (Spanish helps, but pointing works). You may get simple soup, such as a delicious full flavored broth sporting a large chicken part on the bone and some chunky pieces of carrots and/or potatoes. For me it was all about the broth. The broths are clear and flavorful, like tonics. The person behind the counter will give you some fresh cilantro and lime to squeeze into your soup, and it will taste strangely refreshing in the hot weather. You may also be offered a perfect chili relleno a la carte, a taco filled with pork or chicken and topped with onions, cilantro, and hot sauce, or a meal of stewed chicken with rice and beans.
In addition to the comedors you’ll find booths that serve liquados and agua frescas. For breakfast you can get a thick “smoothie” of different types of fresh fruit blended together or an agua fresca of mango, pineapple, melon or lime. Agua frescas are served in plastic baggies that are tied at the top with a straw sticking out. These are popular with school children on break.
Beyond the comedors, you will find the fresh food section of the market, arranged by category. Fresh beef and pork are organized in one row. The small booths are crammed close together, with the meat hanging on giant hooks out front. Behind the curtain of meat, there will be a person, often a woman, cutting meat into serving portions to sell. All of the chicken booths are in one row arranged in piles by part. Whole chickens in one pile, feet in the next, legs in another. The person behind the chicken counter will be furiously chopping up chickens with a cleaver. Likewise, the fish is displayed together. Most of the fish is sold whole, and the person in the booth will be cleaning and hacking off the heads of the fish. Throughout the fresh food section, you’ll see bits of moist flesh flung around; you’ll smell blood and you’ll hear the crack of bones breaking. This noisy, smelly experience is a bit disturbing to an American accustomed to purchasing fresh meat neatly placed on Styrofoam trays, covered hygienically with plastic wrap, dated reassuringly with a “sell by” date and lined up in refrigerated cases.
Besides the official booths, there are sort of traveling or, I think probably, squatting unofficial merchants. Women walk around selling fresh tortillas, and homemade masa dough, or carry baskets filled with just one type of produce, like garlic. Other groups of women and children sit on the floors of the market with meager baskets of a few tired looking chilies or a couple of bunches of greens. These “unofficial” merchants hope to eke out a living on the fringes of the legitimate market. One of the unofficial items sold is fried grasshoppers. The grasshoppers are arranged on baskets that are carried around the market by women who will thrust them into your face like waiters at an hor’s douevres party. On the flat baskets are small, medium, and large grasshoppers arranged in a sort of amorphous pattern. They are fried earlier in the day and then sprinkled with chili, salt, and lime. You can get a little plastic baggy full of these salty, crunchy, buggy, morsels for a few pesos, or about 10-15 cents. I chose the medium size. They were OK…. I thought they might have been more delicious hot, like French-fries…. But, I didn’t finish mine. There are too many other good things to eat in Mexico. It’s a little different than hitting the Healdsburg market on a Saturday morning, and munching on a sticky bun from the Downtown Bakery while perusing the tiny carrots and beets, the perfect squash blossoms, and the rainbow colored tomatoes, but that’s one of the reasons why I enjoy travelling.
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