Queen Victoria Market

In the US we are generally used to buying our groceries at a supermarket. And, while they exist here, you can’t forget the old European-style market. Welcome, then, to Queen Victoria Market, the biggest and best of them here in Melbourne. The market has been running here since the 1850s, if I remember correctly.



Although it is vaguely similar to the Dallas Market, it reminds me more of Pike’s Market in Seattle, except that it is much bigger. Segmented between wares and food, fruit & vegetables and meats and deli cheeses & spices, it spreads across several buildings and shelters, and runs with relatively sporadic (but consistent) hours throughout the week and weekend.





For a haggler (like me, thanks to genes from my mom), the best time to go is near closing time, as merchants are trying to unload their wares before they close down, especially in the meat sections. Merchants beckon patrons with bellowing offers of last minute great deals, and you can see people scuttling about from site to site like rodents mesmerized by the pied peddling pipers (try saying that five times fast) to attract the foot traffic back from would-be competitors.



With cheeses and bolognas hanging from the walls, and meats spread out in glass cases, breads and other wares along back shelves, the market is one of those rare wonders that takes you back in time. It is fashioned among older buildings with hints of their age in the cracks that almost make you feel like you’re walking through a Charles Dickens book, but with better health standards and more fashionable clothing.



One challenge I encountered early on was the conversion between pounds and kilograms (which is about 2.2 kilos per pound), which really threw me off when I was buying meat and vegetables. Not only did I have to consider price differences because of the currency, I had to endure the aggravation of figuring out how much I needed to buy in kilos, and if I was really getting a deal. It sounds easy enough, until vendors are pressing you to say what you want, and you have no idea what to say. However, once I got the hang of it, I loved to go, and to figure out how to get the best deal of all.



I can’t say that I am ready to give up supermarket shopping altogether, but I can say that I will miss the market when I leave. I’ve always wanted to live in a city where I could go shopping for fresh foods and turn them into culinary masterpieces. Now I’ve at least found a place to find the food….