I have a confession to make. I fell in love….with the Heart of Adelaide on my first visit. Now I always look forward to seeing her again. Love may be blind; everything about her is good.
Generally, I am enthralled by markets. The goods that people buy or eat are on show. They become food for thought for me about the way of life and perhaps the culture of the society.
Food does tell a fair bit about a place. The American blacks created food out of the parts of the pigs that were not fashionable to put on the dining table, because as slaves, their ancestors could only have what their masters discarded. The parts of the animals they eat are no different from the parts that the poor Chinese and French love so much.
Great dishes came out of poor societies. Do you just cook something that can look quite off-putting or do you create a great dish in which the main ingredient is no longer recognisable? And then grace the dish with a distinct name.
It is another perspective of “we are what we eat”.
The Central Market is a foodie paradise. The abundance, quality and variety of food signal that Australia is the lucky country. Food is in abundance. The stallholders have the passion for what they do. The food is always displayed like precious goods.
It is not just the best fruits and vegetables. There are fish and meat stalls, delis, pastry and nut shops, and even a pub.
On offer are foods of various ethnic origins - German, Dutch, English, etc. The market has the European flavour, something that I do not see in Sydney.
Today I spotted a Russian café, breads of various types from black rye to sour dough, game meats, kangaroo pepperoni, emu sausage, neison topside, wild goat shin, Scottish haggis, black pudding, and Sarawak laksa, just to illustrate the diversity.
It is not hard to get lost in this smallish market. One distraction and you cannot not sure if you are going clockwise or anti. It is best to accept that you are lost. Make no attempt to find out where you are. Just keep circling the rectangles of stores.
Today, I understand why. Each store has front and back exposures. Sometimes the back has the same display as the front. You get mesmerized by the display and confused by the duplication.
What did I buy today? Wild goat sausage, kangaroo tomato and fennel sausage, venison chop, three seed black rye bread, and fuji apples.
Still in a daze with my love. My eyes have feasted. As Anthony Bourdain would say in A Cook’s Tour, I am happy.
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