A few weeks ago, in a blog, I described our experience of parts of Santiago as being an endless market, where everything from treasures to trash was for sale, chaotically.
Today’s visit is about the more organized, somewhat less chaotic established Central and La Vega Central markets, the first specializing in fish and seafood, the other in everything else—although they overlap.
But even organized markets aren’t always easy here, and the Santiago city tourism office gently suggests that if you’re not ready to put up with crowds, confusion, noise and a seemingly endless market hall, you might try instead the “tamer market experience” at the Mercado de Abastos Tirso de Molina, which lies between the two.
But where’s the fun in that?
Mercado Central
The previous blog has pictures of the huge domed roof of Central, fabricated in Scotland and then shipped in pieces to Chile and re-assembled. It’s not the only structural glory: These are parts of the original ironwork.
And since the specialty at Central is seafood and fish, that’s what’s in my pictures from there.
This lucky cat has a job at Mercado Central…and it’s expected to keep down the rodent population, not snack on the seafood!
La Vega Central
After visiting the Mercado Central as part of a food walking tour, we went back another day to tackle Vega Central. And, as advertised, it is huge, loud, confusing, chaotic, and full of beautiful summer fruit and vegetables, because December in Chile is summer.
Unfortunately, our habit of buying bits and pieces to take home or nibble as we walked doesn’t work here: Even though it is both a retail and wholesale market, nearly everything is sold by the kilo, and most vendors won’t sell anything less. In return, you get prices that are sometimes as little as 25% of supermarket prices…but what were we going to do with kilos of everything?
We also found that Chilean Spanish often uses different words than we expect for common items; the wonderful apricots that were in full season were ‘damascos,’ not ‘albaricoques’ and strawberrries were ‘frutillas,’ not ‘fresas.’
Despite all the commotion and noise in La Vega, not everyone finds it hard to take…
Among the fascinations for us was the variety of different types of corn available. We’re used to very little choice in the U.S.; here there seemed to be a corn for every purpose. Some to be ground for flour, some to make ‘pastel de choclo,’ a wonderful corn and meat casserole pie, others for the table.
Bulk avocados…avocados and mayonnaise seem to appear with nearly every meal…potatoes of many kinds…citrus galore…
Grapes of many varieties; several stands had wine grapes for those planning on making at home (although winery people told us that Chileans drink only a small part of the country’s production).
Eggs, nuts, grains and meats…
Not to mention ready-made dessert…
We could have gone on forever; it is beyond question the largest market hall we’ve ever been in, more than three times the size of Barcelona’s La Boqueria. It has over 500 stands, and no one has ever taken an accurate count of how many daily visitors it gets. With dozens of ways in and out, there’s probably just no way to do it!
Of course, it’s not just food…La Vega can supply just about any household need you can imagine, and some you can’t. There’s even a stand that specializes in nothing but supplies for families staging Quinceañera parties for their daughters’ 15th birthdays.
But back to the main business of the market for some more lovely fruit and vegetables…
Great photos of a fabulous market! Thanks.