The market

I enjoy the market. At the moment I live in Adelaide, South Australia where the Adelaide Central Market is a focus of my activity. Living very close to the market, it is easy for me to go there more than once a week. Also, being retired, I have time to enjoy the often long time it may take to prepare a particular meal.

The Adelaide Central Market is somewhat unique in that it brings together the various stalls under the one roof. You can be buying vegetables at the one stall and immediately to your left will be fresh meat and to your right a coffee outlet. There are stalls for spices, flowers, fish, baked goods, cheese and, of course, places to sit and take advantage of all this food and enjoy a breakfast or lunch with the freshest of ingredients.

While I lived in Melbourne, Victoria there were two markets that I frequented. The Queen Victoria Market (known as the Queen Vic) was huge. However, the various types of food were in separate buildings. You went into one building for meat and fish, another for deli items and smallgoods and yet another vast area for fruit and vegetables. It made shopping somewhat segmented.

The South Melbourne Market, on the other hand, was much smaller and easier to navigate. However, it too had one section for meat, fish and smallgoods, another for baked items and being able to sit and eat and the remaining space a mixture of fruit and vegetables and other goods such as clothing, shoes, house-hold items. The best thing about the South Melbourne Market was the Cheese Room. That was a joy! You could go in there and see the cheeses in their rounds, sample and select your cheese surrounded by the aromas.

Other markets in my life had significance. When in Manila I rarely visited the markets. I had household staff, Clare and Lisa (sisters), who did all my shopping as they would also be doing the cooking. On those occasions when I did go to the market it was somewhat confronting as the chickens were all alive and you selected the live chicken you wanted and then waited while it was killed and cleaned. Likewise with the fish. They would be swimming in tanks and received a blow to the head on purchase.  I did learn that there was value in having a ‘suki’, a regular stall holder one frequented and became known so that you would get the best service and goods.

While living in Manila I would frequently spend weekends in Hong Kong. I was fortunate to have a friend who was housekeeper of a large hotel. She would arrange for me to have a large room and would also ensure that there were a lot of vases in the room waiting for me to visit the market the first morning of my visit. The flower market was fantastic. I really missed having flowers around me in Manila, so for a few days while in Hong Kong I would buy roses, daffodils, sweet peas, carnations, etc and bask in their colour, sweetness and variety.

For two years I was based in Houston, Texas, USA. It was here that I found the Mexican market. It took a long time to find this market as the majority of people I worked with or at church thought I was mad wanting to go to a market and would not help me. At last one couple said they would take me. At last! Real food not wrapped in plastic, and not looking as if they had been fed steroids. I particularly enjoyed seeing all the chilli – such variety! And the cactus leaves, which I never learned how to cook.

Markets have the ability to reduce everything to its natural state – remove the packing, labels, etc and be acquainted with the ‘real thing’. The Adelaide Central Market is still for me that place where I can sit and various places I have visited or worked float back to me through the sights, sounds and, in particular – the smells.

One of the reasons why I think I like the markets so much is that they are open – everything is transparent.  There is no packaging to hide what is inside, no labels to read, nothing to veil the truth of something.  I find as I have got older that I am less tolerate of any form of subterfuge – whether overt or covert.  This includes saying what we mean, being transparent in our speech and actions.  This means that it also opens us up to criticism just like having the goods in the market exposed and open for us to see the flaws and failings.  But it is honest. 

Many years ago when I worked with Kinhill we needed to develop a Code of Ethics.  I have never forgotten one of them:  “To be open and honest in all matters”.   Each word is deliberate. 

• “be” – active, not passive
• “open” – transparent, not to hide anything
• “honest” – be truthful and hold to the truth, whether it helps or hinders us
• “all” – this is not selective, it pertains to all that we do
• “matters” – not just in relation to staff, but clients, suppliers, partners – there are no boundaries.

A great ideal!