Callella has a small indoor market – Mercado de San Jaime, designed by architect Jeroni Martorell and built in 1927. In contrast with Barcelona’s big city markets (La Boqueria, Mercat Galvany, etc.) this one is quite tiny.
Inside the front door, there are two fruit and vegetables stalls, David i Christina on the left
and Cal Xoi on the right – both selling top quality local fare.
Next to David i Christina is Fem Salat, selling olives, salt cod and many prepared bacalao dishes, such as bacallà amb xamfaina (salt cod with ratatouille), bacallà a la llauna, bacallà gratinat amb all i oli (salt cod au gratin with allioli), bunyols de bacallà (salt cod fish balls), etc.
Suitably, the stall along side Fem Salat, is a fresh fish stall – Peixateria Cento i Sonia.
The fish here is sourced daily from the local port of Arenys de Mar.
At the back of the market, there’s a fantastic bar – El Nou Bar del Mercat: La Tasca de la Vasca.
On Saturday mornings, Calella has a weekly market in the car park next to the market house, which you can see in the background.
There were oranges everywhere.
Unsurprising, since Spain is a big orange growing country.
I noticed, last week, in the neighbouring town of Pineda de Mar, that the high street is lined with little orange trees, each containing at least two dozen mandarins.
Note the price here – 5 kilos for €3!
Walnuts were also in abundance,
along with pomegranates – only €0.35 per Kg!
Kakis were similarly cheap.
All types of vegetable are available – most being locally grown, including what would be considered late spring and summer varieties in the UK.
Most vegetables like peppers
and tomatoes are imported from Spain by British supermarkets during the winter.
I saw tomatoes and peppers growing on an allotment last week, so even Cataluña in the north has enough sun for two vegetable growing seasons.
Calçots are a particular Catalan delicacy – they are a forced spring onion, created in Valls, and cooked by blackening over a fire of vine branches. Calçots should be served with Romesco Sauce or Salbitxada.
Here the vendor obligingly held up two green cauliflowers for a customer just as I raised my camera – note the fantastic large garlic next to the lemons.
These baby artichokes looked perfect for deep frying in batter
and there were still some saffron milk caps on sale – these are a very popular mushroom in Catalan cuisine. The sign next to them indicates that they are from the local Penedès wine region.
Vegetables are not the only thing on offer here – this charcuterie stall had all sorts of cured meat, sausages, bacalao, cheese, olives and hand cut jamón iberico.
The cheeses look to be a complete bargain at about a third less than deli and supermarket prices.
The market isn’t solely for food – I came across quite a large stall selling pots and pans.
There were also a few people selling clothes and in particular red knickers! Calella’s wealth comes from textiles and there are many shops in town selling moda íntima (intimate fashion).
This apothecary stall sells cures for everything,
including diabetes and cholesterol!
As I mentioned before, the outdoor market is Saturday mornings only, at 2pm they start to pack up and by 2.30 it’s all gone.
Calella’s Mercat Municipal is at: Carrer de Sant Jaume, 130, 08370 Calella, Barcelona.
The indoor market is open Tuesday to Friday 07.00 – 14.00 and 16.30 – 20.00. Saturdays 06.00 – 16.00.
Aha, the red knickers to be worn on New Year’s Eve for good luck! So much wonderful choice, and so cheap. It always makes me wonder though why so few restaurants (at least, in Andalucia) serve fresh vegetable dishes. Where we are it’s usually only the salad with lots of tinned veg and tuna on top or some frozen veg or tinned grilled peppers. Such a shame. Happy New Year to you 😁
Thanks Tanya! They’ve had red knickers in all the shop windows since before November – I’m beginning to wonder if it’s a Calella thing. Perhaps I should ask the lady with the shop downstairs. How weird, regarding veggies down south – I wonder if they load them all onto lorries and send them to England…
Happy New Year!
OK Mad We get the message to move our eyes over from big Barcelona to Callela ! No problem . . . 🙂 ! Love the look of the stalls and all that fresh fruit and vegetables, especially the prices . . . but you will forgive if I look at the available fish and the smiling lady selling and still go past the salted cod . . . huh ? Oh, lived in country Australia quite awhile and know to get to the markets by 7am if at all possible . . . bestest for the New Year . . .
Thanks Eha – Happy New Year!
Your indoor market might be tiny but would be welcomed in our little city. The outdoor market sounds fantastic, especially at this time of the year. We’re in what I refer to as the brown veggie season. We do get imports from the various areas of southern Europe, but nothing to equal what you have available. We just picked up some oranges from Spain at the market and our price was about twice the price as you pay down there. Enjoy all those Veggies MD and Happy New Year.
Thanks Ron – I know what you mean. In the UK there are less home grown vegetables to choose from and I prefer to buy local and seasonal. There’s something magical about getting local broad beans and courgettes in February.
A very Happy New Year to you too!
Love the market, I can remember the markets we visited this fall in Spain. We have a very small market each Saturday in our town…nowhere near what is available at the ones you visit.
Thanks Karen – I’m looking forward to seeing more of the places you visited in the fall.
…and Happy New Year!
Happy New Year MD. Your post gives a good feel for the food retail options in Calella. The prices are amazing not to mention the quality of the fruit and veg. I hope to visit before too long.
Thanks Sue – Happy New Year!
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