Market Day in Milan

We arrived in Milan, Italy by train. After a short walk around the train station we found a bus that would take us to our Hotel. Eight stops I calculated and then it was time to walk about six blocks to the hotel. We headed down the street and immediately walked into a street market. On one side of the sidewalk were an endless row of vendors selling everything from underwear to cook pots. On the other side of the side walk was another endless row of food vendors. Stalls sold fruit and vegetables, fresh fish, meat, cheese and salami. Baskets of freshly picked wild mushrooms, fresh baked breads and other baked goods. The market went on for about six city blocks. Oh to have a kitchen in my backpack. What a feast we would have. The last time I cooked in a hotel room was 15 years ago in Paris when we ran out of money, but that is another story.

This was not the big city market, but a smaller regional market that sets up in a different part of the city every day. This is what a farmer's markets should be. Smaller regional markets where you can shop locally. What was significant here is that the market was full of people buying their groceries. The key to a successful market is that you have lots of customers buying food. Some markets in Canada have lots of people playing tourist, spending a couple of hours looking around, maybe buying a few berries or some baked goods, but after the market they are off to supermarket to buy their groceries. A farmers market is a business with many individual vendors. Without customers it would not be there. Case in point is the Hillhurst-Sunnyside Farmer's Market in Calgary. At one time it was the best market in Calgary and last year it was canceled. The customers stopped coming so the vendors found another location to sell and make their living.