KC, Barcelona: They're Not So Different

Mercat de la Boqueria—or the Boqueria Market in Barcelona is a lively, modern food market, purposely situated off of la Rambla, a heavily-pedestrian-travelled road, to bring in the most clientele. I set out early in the morning (relatively speaking, given “Spanish time,” getting up at 8 am is quite early), to watch the goings-on before the market becomes inundated with pesky tourists.

Photo submitted by: Megan Burik

I realize that I myself am a tourist, but I have this strange inclination to not consider myself one. Perhaps this is because I currently boast a Spanish address, or speak a little of the language, or am not nearly as rude as some I’ve seen. Despite my foreign nationality, La Boqueria rewarded my early arrival with observations only available in the morning.

I arrived at the market. The energy, the zest—the vendors readying their wares. Cutting mushrooms, slicing fat off large slabs of meat. Orders taken on tiny notepads as vendors yell quantities to men with carts. There is an art to the assortment of fruit—the colors like rainbows of juice. Peel, press-labeling the meat, cheese in size, in price, in marketability. Stories traded by locals with smiling mouths of satisfaction. Keepers smoke while they wipe a display case clean—sweeping the walkway around the shop.  Then I noticed the wide-eyed (like always) tourists, eyes spread to try to take in the array of colors, people.

Photo submitted by: Megan Burik

I imagined living close-by and making daily trips to buy fresh, cook fresh, live fresh. A woman walked by holding a scarf to her nose—it is an olfactory assault here—smells up and down the food pyramid. Bags of shell fish, oysters, in thick nets. A man slaps slabs of fish onto display hooks for those chefs imaginative enough to turn the raw into a refined dish.  Steaming octopus, suckers and all, waits to be cut up and served in the style of Galicia (the best way to eat octopus, even Barcelona admits it). Seafood is sold still writhingly alive, as though grasping for the ocean it will never feel again.

A little jolted by the scary-fresh lobsters, I felt a sudden tug for my hometown—Kansas City. The City Market in downtown Kansas City is the region’s largest farmers’ market bringing in fresh, locally produced food.  La Boqueria is like a cramped, busier, more eclectic City Market, but nonetheless has a very similar feel. While living abroad has augmented my world perspectives, sometimes things close to home are just as cool.