Because I grew near a public market, I have certain affinity with it. The trucks making early delivery (I am not talking about large corporations but cooperatives or the farmers themselves), all the activity which dies down by noon, the smell of the fondas (small food stands), the carcass of an animal and the butchers chopping them into the different cuts, the nearby seafood market with the (literally) catch of the day and so on. Vancouver’s Chinatown offers a so-so substitute and most of the farmer’s markets fall short. Which now brings the best known market in Vancouver: Granville Public Market in Granville Island.
I arrived relatively early (around 10:30 a.m.) and there were not that many people yet. Although I could go to the market right away, I decided to walk around. Now, I have an odd question… Why Granville Island is called an island if it is not physically detached from the mainland? Anyway…
Burrard Bridge
Could not help myself try snap a picture of a seagull (?) flying around. It was a bit more difficult than what I thought!
Rowers early in the morning
Boats and more boats…
But, there is something else I like to take pictures of…
Since the Emily Carr University of Arts + Design is in the area, it was expected to see some of their projects there, right? In this case, Home for Less.
Part of the idea is to use some shared facilities (kitchen, laundry, bathroom, etc.) but, other than that, this is a place I can feel comfortable living in!
By now, the weather was starting to clear up a little bit…
The sign reads: “Danger – Unstable”. Really?! ^_^
And, finally, to the Public Market itself:
This is a picture I took early in the day, when the market itself was partially empty.
Of course, those are not sugar canes; rather was for a box of sugar cane under the sign.
Oh, yeah, it is almost time of Halloween!
At this point, I was starting to get hungry. Originally, I was planning to get small stuff to try to taste different things. This is the first “snack”…
A bagel! This shop is called Siegel’s Bagel. Of course, since they have a bagel oven, I couldn’t help myself taking a picture of it.
Yup, they are being tossed after they are baked. As for the bagel itself I had, a multi-grain bagel with butter for $1.50.
Although a bagel was slightly filling, I was still hungry. Instead of going for the food court area, I went for some sweets instead, in this case, Stuart’s Bakery (I think this is this stand!).
Originally, I wanted an English Fruit Trifle (in the picture above, what you could see at the bottom left). However, I was told it was still frozen so, unless I was planning to take it home, it was suggested I order something else. And I ended up with…
A fruit tart ($4.79)…
The tart after a bite
It was OK, nothing remarkable. Probably high expectations given the volume in this shop, which I found slightly funny as at times it was completely packed and, a minutes later, completely empty! While I was outside eating it, there was a juggler…
Needless to say… Don’t try this at home!
After my snack, I decided to purchase some goods… Since I wanted to really make it worth, I wanted to find something unique. One of these places is Oyama Sausages.
I ended up buying some of the sausages: duck orange, elk and buffalo (the last two seen above). They were $2.19/100g.
A place I visited but did not take picture of was the brewery. Since I was driving it was not such a good idea to have some beer… But, I did buy some to take home!
And a final picture…
So, did I manage to revive/remember those old memories? Unfortunately no. Don’t get me wrong. As an experience on its own, it was fun. However, there are some public market characteristics I was hoping but were absent. It is a bit difficult to explain… I will certainly go back again some other time but not to buy groceries (unfortunately, most of the shops does not offer anything unique enough) but rather for a change and the experience. From that perspective, recommended.
You must log in to post a comment.
{ 1 trackback }