Central Market Tales
So I just got back from my first time at the Athens Central Market. It was quite the adventure--so much so, that I feel the urge to write it about immediately. But before I continue, a little background info on the Central Market is in order.
The Athens Central Market is the city's main and largest fresh food market. Depending on how well you know me and how much we communicate, I may have already told you that I regularly visit my local fresh market every Friday to pick up fruits, vegetables, and other goods for the week. However, up until today, I had never ventured to this "mega-market"; and let me tell you, I've been missing out!
Not only they do have much more agreable prices, but the selection is much greater and there's a lot more bustle in the aisles than at the fresh or supermarkets.
But anyways, back to the story. So immediately upon my arrival, I was greeted by long aisles of butchers trying to lure me to their stalls to buy their meat. Each one is so persistent and relentless that you tire rather quickly of nodding your head upwards and replying "ochi" (Greek gesture for 'no'), and must basically push your way through the endless sellers to find the meat cut and price that suits your needs. I was at first quite astounded by the cheap prices of meat that I didn't catch on to the importance of breezing through, and I was pretty much paraded from stall to stall, each butcher seemingly wanting to make best friends with me.
Eventually I turned the corner and came across the beloved fruit section. After stocking up for the week on cherries, apricots, and oranges, (Greek fruits are so juicy!) I made my way back to the meat section.
I turned another corner and arrived in the seafood section. For the first time in my entire stay in Greece, I saw affordable fish and seafood prices. As I walked past one vendor, I inquired about how much his octopus was going for (I don't think I've tried octopus yet ... and if I have, I don't remember, so it doesn't count). In any case, he told me they were going for 4 EUR to the kilo. Me being the scrupulous and fund-short student I am, I asked how much one small single octopus (they were about a foot long), would cost me. Realizing how little octopus I actually wanted to buy, the vendor just said "Oh..." and shrugged; so I walked off. A couple of moments later, however, he came up to me, and handed me an octopus he'd wrapped in newspaper. I'm not quite sure what the exact reason was--be it generosity, nearing of closing hours of the market, or perhaps a foot-in-the-door technique to get me to come back again--he refused any payment I offered for me and insisted I take it for free.
So I walked away with a free octopus. For FIFA-related purposes, we'll call him Paul. I've told a bunch of friends already that I'd eat Paul the Octopus (especially after his unfortunate call against the Germans in the semi-final against Spain), so now I've got the chance to live up to my word. As I write this, Paul the Octopus (or what's left of him) is already sitting in my oven. But more on this later (maybe... I seem to be promising a lot of blog posts, many I never get around to starting/finishing).
And now, it's time for Central Market Tale #2: So I was walking back out of the seafood section and towards the regular meat section. But just as I stepped into the meats area, one butcher shoves another one right beside me. The other one runs to his stand to fetch an empty beer bottle, and it looks like all hell is about to break loose. The other guy lunges at him and places him in a headlock, at which point all the other butchers start to crowd around and try to break the fight up. The second butcher releases his headlock and jets over to his stand to grab a butcher knife. And he immediately charges at the guy with the bottle... Thankfully, by now there were enough other butchers intervening between them that nobody was seriously injured, but as you can probably imagine, the whole incident really took me by surprise.
In any case, this trip down to the Central Market proved to be yet another lesson in the many lifestyles of the inhabitants of the ever-lively city of Athens. And now to tend to Paul...
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| Athens Central Market |
Not only they do have much more agreable prices, but the selection is much greater and there's a lot more bustle in the aisles than at the fresh or supermarkets.
But anyways, back to the story. So immediately upon my arrival, I was greeted by long aisles of butchers trying to lure me to their stalls to buy their meat. Each one is so persistent and relentless that you tire rather quickly of nodding your head upwards and replying "ochi" (Greek gesture for 'no'), and must basically push your way through the endless sellers to find the meat cut and price that suits your needs. I was at first quite astounded by the cheap prices of meat that I didn't catch on to the importance of breezing through, and I was pretty much paraded from stall to stall, each butcher seemingly wanting to make best friends with me.
Eventually I turned the corner and came across the beloved fruit section. After stocking up for the week on cherries, apricots, and oranges, (Greek fruits are so juicy!) I made my way back to the meat section.
I turned another corner and arrived in the seafood section. For the first time in my entire stay in Greece, I saw affordable fish and seafood prices. As I walked past one vendor, I inquired about how much his octopus was going for (I don't think I've tried octopus yet ... and if I have, I don't remember, so it doesn't count). In any case, he told me they were going for 4 EUR to the kilo. Me being the scrupulous and fund-short student I am, I asked how much one small single octopus (they were about a foot long), would cost me. Realizing how little octopus I actually wanted to buy, the vendor just said "Oh..." and shrugged; so I walked off. A couple of moments later, however, he came up to me, and handed me an octopus he'd wrapped in newspaper. I'm not quite sure what the exact reason was--be it generosity, nearing of closing hours of the market, or perhaps a foot-in-the-door technique to get me to come back again--he refused any payment I offered for me and insisted I take it for free.
 |
| Paul the Octopus |
And now, it's time for Central Market Tale #2: So I was walking back out of the seafood section and towards the regular meat section. But just as I stepped into the meats area, one butcher shoves another one right beside me. The other one runs to his stand to fetch an empty beer bottle, and it looks like all hell is about to break loose. The other guy lunges at him and places him in a headlock, at which point all the other butchers start to crowd around and try to break the fight up. The second butcher releases his headlock and jets over to his stand to grab a butcher knife. And he immediately charges at the guy with the bottle... Thankfully, by now there were enough other butchers intervening between them that nobody was seriously injured, but as you can probably imagine, the whole incident really took me by surprise.
In any case, this trip down to the Central Market proved to be yet another lesson in the many lifestyles of the inhabitants of the ever-lively city of Athens. And now to tend to Paul...
Man I love me a good market. I will say that the butchers at St. Lawrence aren't quite as aggressive. How are you going to cook the octopus?
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