Oi,

Farmer’s Markets or in Spanish, ‘Ferrias’ occur just about everyday rain or freezing cold in Montevideo, Uruguay. Montevideo is recognized by locals by ‘Zonas’, villages, barrios and neighborhoods.

Depending on what zona you live in, you’ll also have a ferria some day of the week. It usually starts from 08:00 through 13:00, so if you are a foodie and know a thing or two about catching the best, you’d get there right before they even start unloading their trucks.

When I had my part time -personal chef and catering business, I got up at the crack of dawn, got my lists in order, menus in tact and walked to the nearest ferria. Of course I made friends with all the merchants, enough so they’d reserve what they thought I’d buy and what they knew I’d buy. Preparing menus for clients can be a bit tough if its just a one man operation in a tiny Spanish kitchen. Anyways, I digress.

Of course the set up for each vendor is just about the same; long tables with neatly piled produce, lists of prices in kilos per Uruguayan pesos, scales and the ‘baggers’ is what I refer to them by.

These ‘bagger guys or gals’ ask you in Spanish what you want to buy, they walk with you and pick out everything for you, weigh it, tag it, hand you a little piece of paper with the listings of prices, then you pay for it.

Of course you’ll also find stalls where you can serve yourself, but the weighting of the produce is still done by someone there.

So when ever your in the mood for something fresh walk around your area and check out when the ferria comes your way. A hint would be, you’ll see locals with empty grocery straw bags, some old folks pulling small carts, and a bunch of dudes in bikes with a load of produce stocked on their front basket.

Ciao,

Odeliza