Saturday we found THE greatest venue ever. Hello dear Vila Madalena farmer's market, I am your long lost local friend. Yes, I have marveled at the Mercado Municipal down town, paid the 5$ foreigner price for one mango and gawked at the wondrous displays of color and variety of harvest. But, I don't have the time or the patience to go over there every time I want inexpensive (minus the mango hangup) produce, spices, cheeses and meats. I think our new found gem beats the MM, its cheaper (they 'list' prices rather than negotiate) and you can sample anything you want without getting stalked by some rambunctious chap needing validation. You might have to put up with a good deal of screaming and yelling as one banana man stands off against his banana man neighbor in hopes one will be the winner of your dollar, but thats just par for the grocery green course. All in all though, we were the winners. Spending a lonely R$20 bill ($12 USD) on:
1 big bag of cherries
10 bananas
2 heads of lettuce
6 eggs
1 bag of spinach
3 large red peppers (seriously 60 cents?)
3 mangos
2 cleaning rags
2 notebooks
1 heavy duty scissors
2 very happy happy Vila Madalena residents.
Oh and we had change. Take that coupon Suzy! Who said this city was expensive?
1 big bag of cherries
10 bananas
2 heads of lettuce
6 eggs
1 bag of spinach
3 large red peppers (seriously 60 cents?)
3 mangos
2 cleaning rags
2 notebooks
1 heavy duty scissors
2 very happy happy Vila Madalena residents.
Oh and we had change. Take that coupon Suzy! Who said this city was expensive?
You can find this lovely event Saturdays on the corner of Mourato and Aspecuelta....
Happy Pickin's
4 comments:
seriously awesome prices! I love markets, you can find such good deals here. And it's entertaining too!
Looks beautiful!
Jana,
You have to check out CEAGESP!
See, the Mercado Municipal was built in 1932 and it was the main distribution hub for produce in the city, today it's merely a place that sells specialty gourmet stuff for fancy restaurants and to entertain tourists, your local markets are very good too and they get their stuff from CEAGESP.
CEAGESP is the place that supplies the Sao Paulo metro with produce today.
It is a gigantic place, a modern, well, not so modern, it was built sometime in the 50's or 60's, it is very rustic, simple, but HUGE, they are actually getting ready for a major renovation, it's probably already under way.
CEAGESP is where most of the farmers bring their stuff and then all the produce retailers go to CEAGESP for their produce, including our local markets.
The cool thing is that they also sell small quantities for individuals, very cheap, you don't have to be a business to be able to purchase anything at CEAGESP.
They sell different things in different days of the week, if I remember well, Saturdays they sell only plants and flowers and things for lawn and garden, so most of the folks who need to buy flowers and plants, pots and tools for their beach house or their country house head to CEAGESP on that certain day of the week...it is a place worth checking out!
Ray
Ray thanks for the CEAGESP tip!! I lived in downtown LA by the wholesale district and missed the ability to buy cheap flowers. Looks like it's off the metro too! This post just made my day.
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