Chinatown

[chickenfeet]

The St. Lawrence Market, close to where I live, is one of the world's great food markets but it is very Eurocentric. Serious Chinese or South East Asian cooking requires a trip either across town to Chinatown or out to North York. I have a love hate relationship with Toronto's Chinatown. It's exotic, one can buy amazing stuff there and it is very inexpensive. The seafood too is probably fresher than at any Western market. After all, most of it is still alive. The downside is that it is incredibly crowded (finding a parking space in Chinatown could become an Olympic event) and rather squalid. One suspects that Public Health turn a blind eye to things in Chinatown that would attract attention elsewhere in the city. Then there's the noise and the pushing and shoving. Maybe they are an inevitable consequence of the congestion but they bug me. I've been in equally crowded markets in Thailand where somehow people seem to retain a sense of humour and at least vestigial politeness. In Chinatown one is at least as likely to get an elbow in the ribs as an "excuse me".

In the end though the swag makes it worthwhile. Where else could I buy Vietnamese mint, galangal, live frogs or hundred year eggs? Not to mention pickled mudfish, dried squid and fermented beancurd. Yesterday's trip netted two large (1kg/each) crabs for $16 among other things so I spent the late afternoon cooking and dismembering crab before, around 5pm, my body started to remind me that I had been up since 3.30am and it was running out of steam.

On a completely unrelated note, I'm not a big soccer fan but just occasionally the game does yield moments of pure magic. Quinton Fortune's goal against Everton was one such. Rinaldo had three defenders going in different directions before he curled the most exquisite of crosses right onto Fortune's head. Pure magic!

Comments

[lilactime.livejournal.com]

1. That's what you get for going on a Saturday.

2. Yes, there are actually a separate set of sanitation guidelines for Chinatown, at least for the restaurants.

3. Live frogs??? How'd you come across live frogs? They usually hide those in the back rooms along with the large live tortoises they hack away at to order. Live frogs out in the open usually warrants a visit from Animal Services or the Ontario Herpetological Society, who will in turn call Animal Services, *after* threatening the offending shopowner with physical violence.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

Live frogs??? How'd you come across live frogs?

Don't recall exactly but it didn't strike me as odd. Live frogs, live crabs seem much the same thing to me.

[lilactime.livejournal.com]

I lived and worked in Chinatown for years and never saw live frogs.

Fish and shellfish are the only things they're allowed to offer live, although the rules for offering crabs are often not adhered to - thus the baskets of half-dead crabs rotting in the summer sun. Anything else is extremely illegal, as it had to be inspected after slaughter - that's why you can't buy live poultry in the market anymore.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

It's possible it's a displaced memory. I certainly saw live frogs in Thailand so maybe I'm confusing the two things.

[lilactime.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm not questioning whether you saw them or not. Sorry if my reply came off that way - that wasn't disbelief I was expressing, just incredulity that a shopowner would be so slack in keeping their tracks covered.

There has always been a big issue over the years with sea turtles in Chinatown. The meat must be fresh for most dishes, it doesn't freeze well, so there have been incidents of shops in chinatown keeping a live sea turtle in a tank in a back room where they will then hack off a chunk of flipper or foot to order for customers, leaving the animal to bleed away, sometimes for days on end. They can be shut down or jailed if the police find the turtle, so these shops usually don't display live animals in the open, and it's very seldom that caucasians ever see anything more than the stinky baskets of crabs.

[(Anonymous)]

what a player ronahldo is!!! have you ever had the experience of going to an english football match? i live near manchester and the rivalry between manchester and liverpool is intense. ps everton is in liverpool. came across you by accident!! one small comment though, about great food markets worldwide,ive never been to canada but if any market on earth is better than the one at versighe south of paris, then i will eat a kangaroos bollock. sincerely,john,england.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

Have I seen an English football match? Born in Manchester, first stood on the terraces at Old Trafford c.1965. My grandfather watched United before WW1 and later played golf regularly with Brian Kidd. My aunt lived next door to City's chief scout. The last United game I saw was the 1984 Cup Final against Brighton. I saw Denis Law score the goal for City that put United into the then 2nd division etc. I saw United play Everton at Goodison when I was living in Liverpool c. 1979.

Not saying the St. Lawrence is the best food market in the world but surveys have rated it in the top 20.