Shopping for meat and fish in the Chengdu wholesale market
Shopping for meat and fish in the Chengdu wholesale market
Around three years ago my wife and I walked to the huge wholesale food market, both outdoor and indoor, which was nearby when we lived in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. The public as well as restaurants and small grocery stores shop there for the freshest in meats, fish, fowl, vegetables, fruit, seeds,nuts and grains. Most of this article was posted on NT back then, but I have now re-edited and framed the photos. As it was originally posted on the Creative Arts group, not many members got to see it, so I have now promoted the revamped version to the Front Page, in case anyone is interested.
1. Different meats such as pork (the least expensive and most popular), beef, lamb, etc. are in different areas. The Chinese always place stores in groups. For example, if you wanted to buy a light bulb there would be a group of different light bulb stores side by side all selling the same items. I don't know how they compete with each other.
2. Choosing the cut of pork.
3. So much meat, so small a stomach.
4. We bought a beef tongue, and ground pork to make hamburgers and meatballs for a spaghetti and meatball meals. I think pork makes tastier hamburgers than beef. I have prepared beef tongue before, and it's one of my favourite dishes, a taste I acquired from my mother's cooking.
5. Then off to the fish market building.
6. An small assortment to choose from.
7. Longingly I look at forbidden fruit - seafood raises my uric acid level to the roof and causes gout - which I really don't want to experience again.
8. Most of these things aren't really to my taste.
9. We tried this for a change - it was delicious. The vendors are happy to scale and gut to make a sale.
10. When I posted this article originally a member asked "Where's the fruit?" So I've added a couple of photos of fruit stalls at the market.
11. In this stall you will notice the cherry or grape tomatoes up front. The Chinese consider them to be fruit instead of vegetables, and eat them as or with dessert.
12. This photo was taken when my camera was breaking down and the colours were not registering properly, but the photo does give the idea of how nuts, seeds and grains in sacks were sold there.
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The article recently posted about protein prompted me to post this one.
I have learned more about China from your posts than anywhere else
This has been the greatest adventure of my life and I'm happy to share it. Like Tolkien's Bilbo Baggins, it's never too late to go on another one.
Great photos Buzz, I was especially fond of the fish market.
Guess what Buzz, so does everybody else. That's because they actually are fruit, at least according to all the botany textbooks.
Like Kav, I too like the fish market. Very very tasty, and it's even good for you.
Thanks for that lesson TTGA. I never in my life thought of them as fruit - they still taste about the same as regular tomatoes, but obviously the Chinese put them in the right category. I still don't eat them as dessert, but they go great with eggs in the morning or as part of a veggie salad.
Hi Buzz. Just dropped in. First, tomatoes are fruits. But the US gov't passed a law naming them as vegetables for an increased tax on them. I'm serious. However, this reminds me of the old saw, intelligence is knowing that tomatoes are fruit. Wisdom is not putting them in a fruit salad.
Wow! Wheel! So good to see you! Where've you been? Hope you're well. Thanks for dropping by.
Great to see you Wheel. Definitely stop in again. There's lots of stuff around here besides the political crap.
Buzz, I also like them as snacks. They go great with crackers and smoked cheddar. Hmmm, does that also classify them as candy???
Not at all. Cheese and tomatoes go well together.
Tomato, tamaaato one is a fruit and one is a veggie...Wait, what!!!!
You say tomawto and I say tomato....LOL
Nice.
Open markets are great for photo shoots.
Thank you.
I love the big open markets.
The city I grew up in had a big open farmer's market just behind the city hall, open on weekends. This is an actual historical photo of it, from a little before my time, but exactly as I remember it.
This begs me to tell you one of the stories my father used to tell - he swore he actually heard this conversation at that market:
Woman shopper to a farmer vendor: How much are your cucumbers?
Farmer: 10 cents each.
Woman: That's too expensive. At the A&P across the road they only cost 2 for a quarter.
Farmer: Lady, if A&P can afford to lose money, so can I. You can have 2 for a quarter.
About 20 years ago I watched a documentary about Chinese food markets and all the (strange to us) things that were sold there. They had bushel baskets full of Bugs in dozens of varieties. There was all these wild foods and Bush Meat, I couldn't help thinking that they'd eat anything that moved probably because of the famines they endured during Moa's reign. One thing I though was cool was they sold deep fried Chicken feet and they were sold as street food like you'd buy a hotdog in the USA. I'm not being judgmental I'll try anything if it smells good and other people are eating it.
You're right on, zuksa. I quickly came to the conclusion that they eat anything they can chew and/or swallow. I first got the picture when they served a dish of cooked Cicadas, however I declined tasting one. There are vegetables and fruits here that I never saw before. However, my wife grew up on a farm and she really knows her veggies and fruits. I have watched her wander through an open wild field and come back with enough edible greens for a meal. By the way, she loves Chicken feet, but then so did my mother and she was born in Kiev. I prefer the wings, myself.