Going Shopping for Nature…
Altho going to the store is an option, I love to go wild for nature at the food market. It’s a feast for the senses and connects so directly to nature. Getting food seems to be quite appropriate for my second post about taking a vacation and reconnecting to nature.
Close to where I am staying, there is a market within walking distance. The first impression I had when walking in is one of color, mountains of color and so many. Carrots, peppers, egg plant, squash of several kinds, tiny bananas and plantain, avocados, tomatoes, and more create a rainbow. There’s a section for potatoes and I had no idea they came in so many different shapes, sizes, and colors.
As for the fruits, many of them are unknown. I can recognize cherries, strawberries, melons, oranges, and papaya but there are long green ones shaped like a football with ridges. These are babaca. Another one is a green ball with bumps and knobs called chirimoya. I had to walk up and down the rows several times just to sort it all out because there was so much to see.
The herbs are in another section. Here I really had no idea. I recognized the parsley because it’s familiar. The basil was wonderfully fragrant so I could attach it’s name, but as for the rest, I couldn’t tell, nor could my nose. This part certainly woke up my sense of smell. The smell discouraged me from venturing into the meat part of the market so I retreated to the part with seeds and grains.
Plants don’t make sounds but there were lots of noise at the market, mostly made by people. Because I didn’t know most of the words, I listened to the sounds of the voices and the rhythms. There was absolutely no piped in music!
I didn’t have to wait until getting back to where I was staying for tasting. On a separate floor, there were small stalls of food. Lots of rice, beans, fish, and other meats. The smells were making me hungry but it wasn’t long after breakfast, so I choose some fresh juices. It was so hard to decide with such a variety. Pineapple, peach, mangoes, and blackberries are favorites, but I choose passion fruit. It was tart and sweet at the same time. I tried another glass of tree tomatoes. This tasted nothing like tomato juice. It was more like a sort of thick orange and pineapple juice.
Many people visit the markets daily but the items are so big that they will do for quite a few days. What an exciting excursion and reminder about the role nature plays in our lives. I did feel that I could go wild for nature at the food market and I’ll try and remember this when I shop for groceries back home. What are your nature options when food shopping?