Mercat de Mercats – The Mother of Markets

 

I’d been wanting to go to the Mercat de Mercats ever since its first event four years ago. I kept missing this feast for the eyes and stomach. This annual food fair features local vendors and restaurants who give visitors a taste of Catalan cuisine. Attendees could also check out some cooking workshops from famed local chefs.

Luckily I was on schedule this time and was able to catch this weekend gastronomic event, set in the plaza of the Barcelona Cathedral in Ciutat Vella.

We got there at 4pm, knowing that it would get very crowded very fast. Not a bad backdrop to eating some Catalan food and getting toasted, no?

You can’t deny the ever-present embutidos (sausages) lurking at every corner. We got hanging meat, rolled up meat, reclining meat…

… and sliced meat on a stick! Never seen that before!

A nibble here, a nibble there. It all seems so innocent after hitting up 27 vendors. Hope everyone brought their fat pants!

This vendor brought some seafood to the event. Any tourists want to ice pack some dorada or lubina to take home? Pintxos are always so inviting. Look at them with their sticks hanging out, looking delicious, so you could easily snatch it up and pop ’em in your mouth. Devious.
There was a lively drumming band making its way through the crowd. People couldn’t help but eat and move their hips at the same time.I love this kid in the corner. Boom-boom-boom-BOOM!!

If someone forced me to be in this band, I would be this woman. I am pretty introverted, but I try to make the best of every situation. She was ROCKING OUT!!

Crazy iPhone-wielding mobs trying to Instagram the band.

The usual Barcelona masses = hordes of people trying to have fun in this already overcrowded city.

What can I say, I’m one of them. We loco!