Queen Victoria Market - Night 118

The stormy, wet weather continued today. Low, thick clouds kept temperature down, but the humidity was hovering near saturation again. I set out north in search of the Victoria Market. Not knowing what to expect, I sort of figured a glorified flea market. Was I wrong. The Victoria Market is three square blocks of enclosed and semi-enclosed buildings absolutely full of vendors hawking everything under the sun. The buildings are divided up between manufactured goods, fruit

The Queen Victoria Market

and veggies, and meat. A small prepared food structure lies nearby as well, not to mention the numerous adjacent retail shops taking advantage of the agglomeration of shoppers. I started in the manufactured goods area. Belts, shirts, shoes, jewelry, sunglasses, paintings, and of course souvenirs. All cheap, all likely made in China. If you can put the words “Australia” or “Melbourne” on it, they have it. The vendors in this area were primarily middle age Chinese men or old white couples. Next door in the fruit and veggie barn the Greeks seemed to dominate. Melbourne has the largest Greek population in the world outside of Athens, so quite naturally these immigrants are drawn the chaos of running a market stand. Rows and rows of every kind of fruit and vegetable imaginable. Old women with large carts perused the alleys, hoping to catch a deal on potatoes or onions. Here the vendors were much more vocal and aggressive, actively yelling out prices and limited time offers. Luckily I was standing near a vendor who momentarily dropped the price of bananas from $2.00 a kilo to $1.60 a kilo. Immediately the vultures attacked and half of the vendor’s bananas were gone in five minutes. Walking around, I noticed that almost everyone else had priced bananas at exactly $2.00 a kilo. The absolute veterans of the market seem to have extensive knowledge of prices and jump on a deal when they see one. I filed across the street to the enclosed, refrigerated meat market. Again, I was flabbergasted at the choices; lamb liver, diced goat, ox

The Meat Market

tongue, 30 kinds of sausages (including Texas Chili and Spicy Mexican), every fish known to the Southern Hemisphere, as well as an inconceivable combination of cuts and pre-marinated offerings of beef, chicken, pork and lamb. Next door in the dry foods annex, all manners of dead animals hung dried and salted. In short, if you’ve ever eaten it or dreamed of eating it, you can probably buy it here. As a manner of comparison, the Victoria Market is at least ten times as large as the Pike Market in Seattle, although it does lack the brass pig and the guys in orange suits actively tossing fish through the air.

Overwhelmed, I did finally manage to settle on some mandarins, a bag of fresh salad greens, and a pair of lamb and mint sausages. In my time down under I’ve developed a real taste for lamb and mint…it’s a good combination, especially in sausages. After lunch I strode down to the Visitor’s Centre in search of decent city and transit map. One could not be had for less than $10. I eventually ended up near the University of Melbourne and took an opportunity to browse the massive campus, which was surprisingly active considering it is summer break. A glutton for punishment (or maybe just a seeker of knowledge), I hit up the library to do a bit of research on some projects that I am tangentially working on while overseas.

In the evening, Matt, one of the volunteer from Brisbane who is now in Melbourne, stopped by my hostel for a few beers. Later on we met Jana, another volunteer from Brisbane, in Chinatown for dinner. Hidden deep in an alleyway was an unassuming little blue door with “Shanghai Noodle Company” written on it. Inside was a bustling, unpretentious two-story restaurant absolutely filled to the brim with patrons. We were quickly seated, prodded for an order, and delivered food within 7 minutes of arrival. The table turnover here is quick as demand is high. The food did not disappoint, either. The first decent Chinese dish I’ve had since crossing the equator in October. When it came time to pay, the old man running the till (likely the proprietor) knew exactly what we had by memory, quite a feat considering the volume of customers. After dinner we met up with one of Matt’s old roommates, Scott from Tasmania, and retired to The Lounge for some drinks on the outdoor porch overlooking Swanston Street, one of the main nightlife streets in Melbourne. Nearly 75% of the patrons on the porch smoked, the polar opposite to the situation in New Zealand, where hardly a smoker could be found. There is some interesting sociological research just waiting to be done on regional/national nicotine habits.

What I Learned Today: The industrialized supermarket has greatly reduced our abilities to handle the medieval market setting. I am used to going into a store with a list of grocery items and then choosing between the generic, the mid-level, and the high-end brand and that’s it. Here in this market setting, you’ve got 35 vendors selling tomatoes of all qualities and all different prices. Trying to keep track of the best deals on just one item is tough, doing it on a whole list of groceries must be damned near impossible, at least for a novice like myself. The old Greek women, however, seemed to be right at home, demanding samples, haggling over prices and slowly filling their carts with fresh produce and meat. This, in all actuality, is a “Super Market” in all facets of the word, far, far superior to the imposters bearings such names as Safeway, QFC, and Albertson’s.

written by

exumenius on February 5, 2008 from Melbourne, Australia

from the travel blog: Kiwis and Kangaroos

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