I know it's one of the traps of travelling to compare what you find to that back home, and come down on the side of the new ... but I'm confident the central market (Mercado Central) in BH leaves the Vic or Preston Markets for dead ... no comment on other ones I'm less familiar with (Prahran, South Melbourne, etc.). The sheer range and quality of 'stuff', and relatively little repetition, is really impressive.
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| OK - so far it's just a market, albeit one with chaotic parking above the stalls. |
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| Abundant and cheap spices .... |
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| A house of cheese! |
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| If you're going to make caipirinhas, here's where you start - at the cachaça shop. |
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| Eggs galore - chook, quail ... |
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| brasileiros eat these desserts in tiny amounts - just as well they ARE sweet - but the candied pineapple and orange rind are delicious - so too the guava paste, milky desserts .... mmmmm |
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| the big ones under the knife are palmito (palm hearts), and manioc (cassava) to the right - starchy staples here. |
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| Fantastic fresh produce ... |
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Carne de sol (sun dried meat) at the 'palace of feijoada' (Palácio da Feijoada). If you want to know more about Brazil's national dish, Google feijoada, but not if you're squeamish.
Common in stall and shop names around here, the words palácio (palace) and rei (king) tell you that these folks consider themselves at the pointy end of excellence in whatever it is that they're selling. Consequently though, palaces and kings abound - they can't all be right ;-) |
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