What You Get At a Street-Food Market, Apart From Food.
As soon as you step through the gate, all your senses begin to behave like they never worked before. The excitement takes control of your whole body whilst you go ahead, engaging in this vibrant blaze of cultures, smells and tastes. Burgers, pizza, noodles, falafel, pulled pork, tikka masala, fresh pasta, hot dogs, sandwiches and the list goes…
No, it isn't paradise I'm afraid.
There are no saints behind the hot grill. Angels couldn't handle a wood fire oven inside a food truck; the heat will be just too much for their gentle hands. It won't be the big Boss that will hand you your extra spicy dirty fries and the tattoos on his arms won't tell you a story of salvation. Trust me, the good looking guy with long hair behind the bar is not his son, and there is no water inside that barrel.
Anyway, you’re in a much better place than paradise. You've just walked into a street-food market.
His majesty, ‘Food’, is the real protagonist here; honoured by those vendors who are quarrelling for the attention of passers-by. In fact, the goal is fully achieved. The mix of smells that season the fresh air of the market inebriate your senses.
It's a journey across several gorgeous but simple dishes. The variety is impressive, and it will take you around the world. From the colourful and spiced India to the sunny coasts of Spain, where fish is ready to jump into a paella pot. If you're lucky, you can have a sense of what the wild streets of Bangkok smell like while buying some Belgian chocolate.
After this trip, one more thing will strike you - the closeness to each other.
The buzz produced by the people around you is almost stronger than the music in the background. Queuing is a collective action toward the same goal. It's a moment of sharing, where it’s easy to start conversations and make friends. After all, we're doing it together guys.
You can genuinely leave with some meaningful memories if you go into any market with curiosity - like the cute drawing of a kid who couldn't bear the curiosity when she saw me writing my note, because, even though each food market is different, they all share the same atmosphere; something that goes beyond the food.
In fact, it doesn't matter if you are Italian, British, Thai, Mexican or from another planet. It doesn't matter if your national dish is kimchi or a bowl of noodles because the moment you visit such places, the barriers stop to exist. This mixture of culinary traditions is a typical aspect of a pop culture in which food is not only the engine of the economic competition.
Before any starred or independent restaurants, and before whatever big food chain that provides convenient meals, in fact, markets have always been a way of rediscovering the pleasure of human interactions.
So the common intention of eating, shared by all the participants, creates a social and cultural experience where food is only a part of that more general condition of being alive.
Within this world, it seems that there is only space for conflict. In contrast, I look at the food market as a framework that allows a deeper level of interpersonal interactions; sometimes tricky to replicate anywhere else.
This is why I recommend you to visit food markets in every city. In them, you can find the essence of a popular culture that exalts diversity through delicious street-food. It's like an agorà that stimulates the disposition to dialogue. An open space where the interaction enriches flavours, full of tasty things to bite and incredible people to discover.
Written by Bruno Cafiso
Ciao I'm Bruno, a Philosophy graduate, originally from Sicily, with a keen eye for human perception and decision-making process. Writing is my passion, but I'm also passionate about food, mainly because of its social and cultural aspect.
I'm curious and I love travelling, while I focus on what's essential in life, trying to live with less stuff and more meaning.