La Boqueria

I'm happy to report that the food situation hasn't been all that unpleasant in Spain. Sure I haven't had a salad, smoothie, or fajita in a month, but I'm certainly not starving over here. My favorite place to pick up the essentials is La Boqueria market. Just a block off of Las Ramblas, every fresh food you could possibly imagine is crammed into a tiny market, packed with tourists and locals alike. The prices are cheap, the food is good, and wrestling your way through hundreds of people is always fun. Last weekend I decided to bring my camera with me.

The middle of the market is dominated by a huge seafood section. Lobster, octopus, fish of all shapes and sizes, and other unidentifiable sea-creatures: it's all there. I was about to take a picture of a huge lobster lying on the ice when it suddenly twitched and started squirming! I jumped back about three feet, nearly flattening a chihuahua. Turns out they keep the lobsters alive! I was not expecting that. I gave the crustacean section wide berth and stuck to the much more dead (and more safe) fish sections.

But the seafood has nothing on the fresh meat section. Actually, it's not much of a section as pretty much every other booth is dedicated to meat. There is meat everywhere. And most of it is some form of ham. Spaniards love their ham. Have you ever been overwhelmed by the smell of ham? I have. It's about as much fun as it sounds. I could have spent the afternoon taking pictures of various parts of dead animals: legs, bodies, innards, brains (sometimes still in the skull), but the smell of ham was just too powerful so I took one quick picture of some cured meats before continuing on.

The front of the market is where I spend most of my time. This where I pick up the stuff that I usually eat, like eggs, bananas, vegetables, and other healthyish stuff (they've also got a bunch of dried fruits and nuts, but it's a bit too pricey for me). But this is all a built up to my favorite row in the market, the candy row. It's actually not the best or cheapest place to buy candy (yes, I've tried several different places...). But you don't even need to buy anything here. The sugary aroma is so strong and so overpowering, all you really need to do is stand next to the candy for a couple minutes. It smells delicious. A quick walk by, a few deep breaths, and that's really all you need.