In praise of the morning market

In both Vietnam and Taiwan, supermarkets and convenience stores have spread quickly. Yet the traditional market has not disappeared. In Vietnam it is the chợ; in Taiwan, the traditional market or morning market (早市), busiest from early morning until around midday.

What a market knows

A market tells you the season before any calendar does. Fruit appears and disappears in its own order. Certain greens are everywhere for a few weeks, then gone. Prices rise before holidays. In a supermarket, everything is available all year, which is convenient and a little flattening.

Markets also keep a direct line to the people who grow food. Many vegetables come from farms not far away, and some sellers are the farmers themselves or their families. Behind every pile of greens is someone who has been up since before dawn, in the field or on the road.

The social side

What I appreciate most is that a market is a conversation. Sellers remember regular customers, add an extra handful of herbs, give advice on how to cook something new. In Vietnam, bargaining is part of the rhythm in many markets; in Taiwan, prices are more often fixed, but small kindnesses are just as common.

For someone living abroad with limited language, a market is also a gentle classroom. You learn the names of vegetables by pointing, the numbers by listening, and polite phrases by repeating them every week.

A few habits

• Go early for the best choice, later for the best prices.
• Bring your own bags and some small change.
• Buy a little, more often. Fresh food does not wait.
• Ask what something is. Most sellers are happy to explain.

There is a kind of attention in shopping this way that I would not want to lose. It slows the week down, and it ties what you eat to a place and to the people who made it possible.

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Photos: faizkun, pb29, phamkhanhquynhtrang on Pixabay, used under the Pixabay Content License. These are not my photographs.