Day 2: Food Markets

After our arrival in Perth we headed to the markets in the neighborhoods of Subiaco for our weekend sustenance on our jaunt to Margaret River.  The indoor market was much like Monterey Market in Berkeley.  While the produce was labeled where it was grown, it was disconcerting being at the end of winter while in the US it was the end of summer.  It was hard to know what to expect to be local and in season.  We picked up zucchini, melon, green beans and asparagus, all grown in Western Australia but I’m still not sure if that was truly seasonal.  After that we headed to the cheese and meat markets. 

 

On the plane we met a very chatty Australian “bloke”, Darryl, who went on about the meat pies.  At the cheese shop, Daily Divine, they had a tasty looking array of flaky, savory pies.  We didn’t buy any then, but it was definitely on my list to try.

My sister complains about not being able to find American style bacon in Australia – that is it doesn’t crisp up and tastes more like Canadian bacon or ham.  It sure looks like American bacon, so I’m not sure why it would taste different.  We got some pancetta instead to make carbonara that night and lamb and spicy pork sausages to bbq over the weekend.  Just like at the better butcher’s in the bay area, the shop had signs indicating all the farms where their meat was sourced.

We picked up other food stuffs at “Woolworth’s” which I don’t think had any relevance to the US Woolworth’s as it was more like a Safeway than a five and dime.  In addition to the other dried goods, we picked up some Bundaberg ginger beer for our pre-dinner cocktails.

Food shopping was a great way to get a taste of the real local flavor right off the plane.  Next I was looking forward to some of the regional foods of the Margaret River area in the south.