vic market (day 3, saturday)
mmmm. yes. the market was fabulous. queen victoria market is huge market with open air and indoor stalls. produce, meat, cheese, delis, bread, shoes, crafts, clothing, toys, cookware, tea, candy, and the cutest women i've seen in ages. i was moaning to myself the entire time. if there's anywhere that''s best to have an orgasm, it's the market.
i cycled to the market, so i was able to check out more of the neighbourhoods. the architecture here has quite a lot of character...lots of pastiche. it was quite crowded and the diversity was lovely to see – there were families buying roasts for midweek meals and cute trendy kids in the organics stalls, older earth mother ladies, gay men (they make excellent foodies), college kids, etc. i am fascinated with the marketplace, and i love checking them out when i travel. everyone was so friendly and there was no feeling of urgency to push through the crowd. i actually felt comfortable taking photos there, which is rare for me at a market, especially when i'm being a 'tourist.'
i spent at least an hour just walking around and checking things out, and then i spent another in the organics stalls. vic market has its organics sort of quarantined from the rest of the produce. at first i didn't like it because it made the market feel slightly ghettoized and because i was afraid that there would be no variety between stalls in the single laneway. i asked one of the hippies who worked there what the deal was with the other produce that wasn't in the organics lane, as in the states and in the uk you'll often find that many of the farmers are using organic practices but can't afford (or are rejecting) the certifying process, which apparently costs quite a bit. but he told me that all of it was sprayed or not biodynamic, so i guess it makes sense to set off the stuff that is.
i got a lot of fruit. mangos, peaches, bananas, apples, a 'golden' kiwi (not sure what it is yet), cherries, and melon. all of it smells incredible. it's really cool to be able to get organic tropical fruit at the market. there's someone at the ferry building market in sf who is growing papayas, kiwis, and mangos, but they're nothing like this stuff.
the meat and fish stalls, which were indoors, were totally buzzing with energy. the butchers were all yelling out their specials and there was so much commerce going on. i took some photographs, but i'd really like to be able to capture the sound of that particular part of the market as it created such a pulse. i'm thinking about taking the video camera back next week.
i rode home with two bags of fruit & veggies on my back, which was rather difficult but made me feel like a total trooper since i had never ridden on these roads before and because i haven't been on a bike in months. when i got home i laid them all out as a sign of victory over the safeway food i'd been eating. dandy got to share in my market glory when i made her a snack with my carefully-purchased food.
more soon on the adventures and the big fucking high i'm on from being here and feeling so comfortable and feeling like this was totally the right thing to do to come here. i'm already plotting my next visit. everyone here is fucking awesome and so hard-working and brilliant and open. and today i did a studio shoot and it felt lovely and had a great deal of good energy going round in it. for those into enthusiastic wankers, you may thank me in advance for the good show.
will try to get a flickr account started soon to share more photos.
xo,
bs
