Hungry City: Mercado Central de Buenos Aires

I don't often get to mix a fine cocktail of a favorite book, my career in logistics, a love of the history of the city, and great eats!  Mercado Central de Buenos Aires does that all for me.

It takes about a kilo of grain per day to comfortably feed a city dweller ...and always has.  With more than 13 million people in the greater metro area, that´s a lot of grain.  You can eat the grain, or eat the animal that ate it, or you can plant the grain and eat the plant ...but the sheer quantity of food that adds up to is mind boggling.  Taking a trip through Mercado Central can help you wrap your brain around "what it takes to sustain urban life."

You may have noticed the enormous mercado off to your left on your way to Ezeiza ...or maybe some recent reports on local TV may have caught your eye regarding ways to beat the rising cost of food in our fair capital.

If you love a good souk, it´s worth a visit.  While you´re there, you can truly take advantage of prices never seen in Buenos Aires proper.

Weighing in at about 300 acres, it surely qualifies as one of the world´s great wholesale food markets.  Mexico City´s takes the title with 800+ acres and I think that Paris' takes second place with a monster 575 ...so, à la Disneyland, believe me, there will be parts that you will never see.

You don´t have to be overwhelmed, though.  In the center of it all, there is a huge indoor Paseo de Compras with an even bigger outdoor annex specializing in massive amounts of fruits and vegetables ...and it´s easy to navigate.  You can leave the rest of the acreage to the semis and the freight trains and not feel like you've missed anything.

If you make the trip, you´ll come away with tremendously fresh food at something along the lines of ½ to ⅓ of the price of your local grocery.  But with the need for a private vehicle, expressway tolls, etc., it´s pretty much out of the reach of your average porteño not to mention your average expat ...but parking is free!

Since I love to cook, I really enjoy being able to find certain things that are difficult here in town like hominy, pearled barley, special flours, plus being able to compare the relative quality of the various fruits, vegetables, and meat between the countless stalls.

That might sound like more grocery shopping than you would like ...but inexplicably, I've been able to make huge forays through Mercado Central in less time than an equivalent trip to a big Disco, Jumbo, or Carrefour ...and end up in much better mental shape!  It could be some secret logic to the layout or the super-quick transactions at each local instead of the soul-killing experience in the checkout lines of the big supermercados.

Fresh fish and seafood is well represented, as well.  Today, I took the opportunity to buy a large German octopus ...just for the pleasure of kicking it's slimy ass all the way across the parking lot!  Just kidding.

There´s not just food ...there´s everything.  Small appliances, trees and garden plants and supplies, hardwoods and charcoal for your asado ...all at "deme dos" prices.

On today´s trip, I saved enough money on cat food and kitty litter to way more than pay for gas and tolls.

The mercado has been around for about 25 years ...most of that time supplying all the little fruterías, verdulerías and carnecerías ...not to mention restaurants and food stands here in the capital.

Today, however, Mercado Central is changing along the lines of all the world's other huge markets.

As the big chains and multinationals here develop their own private supply networks, the enormous mercado sprouts more signs of small wholesale and retail.  If there was convenient mass-transit, you could imagine the place becoming a big public market.