Markets

          I have been in Italy for about a month now and I must say that one of my favorite things is to wake up early, go to the markets in the morning, and cook things with all the interesting things I find. The markets here in Italy are a bit different from the traditional supermarket in America. While there are many American style supermarkets here in Florence, I don't understand exactly why many of my classmates prefer them so much. Perhaps it is the convenience (The big markets close at 1 and aren't open on weekends), or maybe they just think they are getting a better deal. Whatever the reason is, I try and avoid the american supermarkets and get all I can from the big markets here in Italy.
           The big markets that I go to have super fresh food that is almost all grown locally. In Italy, fresh is cheap!

Here is a picture of Al Mercato Centrale, the market I go to the most. Its right down the street from me and it is really big. This is just a small part of it. To the left you can see the Duomo.

Here are some of the meats in the Centrale market. Check out those Pig hoofs! most things are priced by the kilo. A kilo is about 2.2 pounds and is a lot and usually you don't end up buying a kilo. When I buy Prosciutto, it is usually 24 euro a kilo but I only buy 200 grams and thats more than enough to last me a week or two with me putting them on sandwiches and eggs in the morning and pizza. (a kilo is a thousand grams).

 More meats. If you look at the top right of this photo you will see lots of eggs. In Italy, eggs aren't refrigerated, and neither is orange juice and other fruit juices.

There are a bunch of booths with "Funghi" or mushrooms. I haven't tried them yet and I have been tempted to try and throw a bunch and make a stew with some meats. Ali however would not want to eat it so I need to get more creative.

Al Mercato Centrale also has lots of fish. In Italy, it is illegal to sell many things without the head on them. A skinned cat could be sold as a rabbit without the head. This makes walking through the markets really fin sometimes. Fish always have the head still on and shrimp are sold with the head still on. Even on zucchini, they leave the flowers still attached. In this photo, you can see a swordfish with its head still on.

 Some of the fish displays will have giant swordfish heads in the middle of them from huge swordfish that they get. They can only keep them for so long though before they start to smell.

 I think that big fish is tuna? One day I wanna buy some of it and cook it up. Ali always hates it when I get fish. I think she needs to try some really fresh fish. The salmon I got here when I got fish was really fresh. I had to pick the bones and the spine out as I was eating it. Ali really didn't like that!

There are many veggie stands. The veggies are dirt cheap and very fresh. Its amazing how many kilos and bags full of veggies you can get with just 5 euro. Things like bananas, oranges, and corn however are shipped here as they cannot be grown locally. One really amazing thing about being in Italy is that we are so close to Africa. Things can be grown in Africa and in the middle east almost year round. There are lots of illegal immigrants coming to Italy from Central Africa looking for a better life. Italy welcomes them. The other day, a raft carrying around 500 women and children from Africa sank at night of the coast of Sicily. The Italian coast guard was only able to save about a hundred of them. All of Italy mourned their deaths even though they were illegal immigrants. Amazing.

 Fruits and veggies. I get alot of veggies and some fruits from here but I really like to get fruits and veggies (and even cheese and meat sometimes) from the fruit and veggie market on the other side of town. The market is kind of like a giant farmers market in some spots.

Some cheeses. Notice how none of them come shredded in plastic packages? 

These stands are pretty gross and these, I am really hesitant to try. These stands have all the "other" parts of animals. I believe there is lung all the way to the left and intestines are in there somewhere and there are hoofs and all kinds of things. I think they even had some brains one time but who knows. there are some seafood stands like these at the fruit and veggie market with all sorts of little octopus and strange squid and other gross things. Liver is never in these and I believe Italians treat it as a standard meat.

 As you might be able to see, instead of there being aisles of things and you pay at a register, the entire market is shared between a bunch of vendors who all sell things. I often buy one or two things from one vendor and then a few more things from another. This makes the large Mercato Centrale into a bit of a maze and I still get disoriented there sometimes. Al Mercato Centrale has more "pre packaged" stuff and even a few stands that only sell pre packaged food. Nothing however is frozen like in America. There are no frozen pizzas here!

I like this neon sign. It is a beautiful orange red color and I pass it many times. Be on the lookout for Euro neon posts. The neon here IS different and its really cool!

 Beans, rice and many other things are kept in bags like these and sold by the kilo. I often buy rice but I would like to try adding beans to a stew or a sauce one day. Today when I went to the market, I passed by a family run store on the way to the market where I found the flour I was looking for so I can make banana bread. The flour was kept in bags like these. They even had corn flakes and rice krispies in big bags like these and you could buy them by the kilo! Next time I go there, Im buying Ali her cereal there.

 Today while at the market I passed by some guys who were cutting a block of Parmigiano (parmesan) cheese. This is how Parmesan typically comes in Italy, in these big wheels. wheels of swiss are probably about 3X as big in diameter. There were guys from several of the stalls cutting the cheese and it certainly doesn't seem to be easy and simple. I think these guys were learning because someone who I think was more experienced came along to help them out.

 They scored the outer wax layer before plunging knives into the sides and cutting the top.

 This guy was the expert. He put two knives on both ends and the cheese just cracked apart. I am wondering if they age it a bit more while it is cut in half? I have seen some expensive parmesan that is in wedges and it is all lumpy and looks like it had grown a bit or changed since it had been cut. I have yet to try the lumpy parmesan.

So far, This is the most expensive cheese Ali and I have seen. 55 euros a kilo is so much! Thats more than most bars of glass color! Ali believes that these are fancy cheeses used for making truffles and things. One day, when I know a bit what I am doing, I would like to try one of these.

 This was the fish I bought. the guy cut about a 2 inch slice out of the fish and if I remember correctly it was about 4 or 6 euro. It wasn't bad at all for how fresh it was.

 I dont know what this is, but this is one giant veggie! I would have difficulty lifting it if I had to. It would easily fill up my arms. That thing was huge!

 Another stand. He has his cheeses and below those there is rice and things. To the left there is a fridge with some yogurt and milk sold in glass bottles that look like they came straight from a farm! Hanging above the display there is aging prosciutto. I don't buy Prosciutto from Al Mercato Centrale because I have not yet found a vendor who will cut it fresh for me. there are vendors who will sell you a big slab of the hanging or refrigerated prosciutto but none that will cut it fresh like in the fruit and veggie market. I have not yet tried to get meat and cook it simply because I am always cooking for Ali as well and she is vegetarian and I have not yet discovered a meal that I can cook for her while I cook a steak for myself. One day I will, and its gonna be cool!

 Pig head and chickens. They can sell chickens without heads. I believe that is liver to the left.

Here is a picture of the fruit and veggie market. I don't really have any pictures of the inside, I will have to post them another time. There is a clothing market with really good deals on clothes and things that wraps around the outside. The fruit and veggie market is smaller and more of a walk than the Centrale market but for some reason I seem to prefer it. The vendors seem friendlier and nothing is pre packaged. I can always get my prosciutto sliced really thin so I can put it on my Panini here.

Every morning, goods are delivered to the markets in a variety of trucks. These three wheelers are very popular in Italy and they sound just like little 2 stroke dirt bikes when they go down the street. I hear they are really fun to drive.

 A truck coming from the slaughterhouse. In the morning when I go to the market sometimes there are still some vendors setting up and carrying these huge hunks of meat around. They put them on hooks at the stalls where they take them apart.

There really aren't any big Ford pickup trucks here. This is the big pickup truck in Italy. Otherwise they will have an actual truck. These are all over the place near markets in the morning. The intersection to get into the market is always stop and go traffic with all the trucks trying to get in.

The markets are really great and they are one of the ways I am really immersing myself in the Italian culture. I would highly recommend anyone coming to visit Florence for awhile should stop by one of the markets even if you don't buy anything and just come to look around. They aren't as easy to find as the tourist destinations because they aren't tourist destinations. If you want to see something that is really Italian, you should go to the markets.