Places
Cusco’s offally interesting Mercado Central
Though I’ve explored the aisles of markets all over the world, the meaty bits on display at the Mercado Central (Central Market) in Cusco, Peru challenge even my steady stomach.
Dried alpaca mouths in Cusco’s Mercado Central
The world’s markets fall between two extremes:
Super — in which food is coddled and swaddled in shrink wrap and styrofoam, with automated vegetable misters and deep freezers to keep things “fresh” for days or even months; and
Bootstrap — in which food is sold soon if not immediately after it’s been picked, fermented, brewed, plucked, gutted, or skinned, with each vendor specializing in a small set of offerings.
Guess which markets I like best.
A dog stalks the meat aisle in the Mercado Central
My brother worked at a suburban supermarket, and for all the store’s appearances of control and sanitation, the staff’s favorite late night distraction was playing hockey with long-frozen hamburger patties in the warehouse, cracking the occasional whippit between periods (he swears they left the meat disks in their plastic casings).
Herbal tea bucket in Cusco’s Central Market in Peru.
In supermarkets, the things you don’t want to see — and especially the things management doesn’t want you to see — are kept out of sight. That doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
A mushroom seller naps
Animals get butchered. Fruit rots and molds. Buckets of cast off sinew fill to the brim.
Lunch gets eaten.
A vendor eats lunch in the Mercado Central’s meat section
Going to a town’s markets, bootstrap or super, is one of my favorite things to do when I travel, whether it’s the hipster farmers markets in the U.S. or the floating produce markets of Vietnam.
Orange wheels of cheese
I just may not necessarily be mentally prepared to eat what’s for sale at the market. From a supermarket, I would rather skip a meal than eat processed, packaged aberrations like Lunchables. At Cusco’s Mercado Central, it’s more that I don’t even recognize most things, no less have any idea of how to cook them.
That mystery is the bootstrap market joy.
Animal parts hung by hair — Yes, you can click to enlarge this one
Where in the world is your favorite market?
NatalieJun 27, 2012
That first picture is freaky and the last one is just laughable if they are what I think they are! Despite gruesome pictures, I still agree with you that the original markets are better than any superficial supermarket any day.
LaurenJun 27, 2012Author
Ha, that’s funny because I think the last picture is freaky and the first one makes me smile. Maybe I’m just smiling back at the alpacas though!
Simon PJun 27, 2012
That first pic is sick! I’ve never eaten offal and it’s easy to see why. Interesting post, though.
LaurenJun 27, 2012Author
We’ve had some hard core offal before and it’s really not so bad if it’s prepared correctly. Nothing worse than poorly cleaned tripe!
CassieJul 9, 2012
I just found your blog and laughed because I recently posted about this same market with a similar (but not as good!) photo of the mouths! (thanks for clarifying they were alpaca, I didn’t know!) I love this market, fascinating things at every turn!
LaurenJul 9, 2012Author
Well I think they are alpaca! My and Todd’s Spanish is not so good that we know all the camelid names. But it seemed to be what the woman selling it was saying. It was such a fun market.