To market, to market

One of my favourite things to do in any foreign city is to visit the local fresh food market. The colours and smells, the hussle and bartering truly give you a feel for where you are. The downside of course is that when you’re staying in a hotel, you can only look – sadly there’s not much you can do with a kilo of fresh Tome de brebis, or those luscious blood red tomatoes you never see the like of back home….

Tekka Wet Market in Singapore’s Little India is no exception – vibrant, loud and definitely bustling; happily for me it’s my local and very close to my apartment, so I’m free to shop to my heart’s desire – which, greedy as I am, often means I end up lugging enough food home to feed a small army!

Gorgeous pink Ginger flowers for use in salads

This market is a perfect demonstration of the multi cultural origins of Singapore. Indian, Chinese, Malay and Indonesian vendors selling every kind of fruit and vegetable you’ve heard (or never heard) of, prawns, fish, clams, live crabs flown in from Sri Lanka, freshly made noodles and every kind of spice …

Giant Durians

Durians are definitely an acquired taste, though the durians in Singapore are nowhere near as offensive smelling as those in Bangkok I’ve noticed. Still the smell is strong enough for carrying them to be banned on any kind of public transport here – thankfully.

Glossy purple eggplants come in all shapes in sizes

Dragon Fruit – pretty on the outside but rather disappointingly bland

An abundance of glassy eyed fish, in all shapes and sizes…

Fish heads destined for Singapores’s famous fish head curry

The market can be a little challenging for vegetarians, or those in any way squeamish about meat. Each stall has a large wooden chopping block where the vendors literally hack the meat up to order… the goat meat sellers do an especially brisk trade in this market.

Eggs are available in all colours and sizes – unfortunately free range chickens are banned in Singapore, due I believe to bird flu scares in recent years. I buy my eggs imported from New Zealand – barn laid but supposedly from hens free to roam and not in cages 😦

The onion seller

I hadn’t seen freshly grated coconut since I was a child and watched my Auntie in New Caledonia grating fresh coconuts for her famous raw fish salad. This gentleman on seeing me taking pictures, insisted I take his photo with the lovely lady who owned the stall 🙂