Marché Jean-Talon

If you ask me where my happy place is, at least in Montreal, I would name two places. One is the Tiffany & Co. store in the Ritz Carlton. There's something uplifting about those diamonds and little blue boxes. The second is the Jean-Talon market. The market is situated in the heart of Little Italy, or (officially) Villeray, with the main entrance on Rue Henri-Julien. Open year-round, 7 days a week, beginning at 7 in the morning, vendors pile their stalls full of beautiful fresh produce and local artisanal products, sold at very tempting prices.

Until I moved out of my mother's house, I had never really appreciated the market. A trip was always fun, but I never thought of coming on my own. Then by a perfect coinciding of circumstances, I began to need to buy my own groceries, and my mother moved to a beautiful duplex just steps away from Marché Jean-Talon. I wandered over a few times and for the first time started really noticing what was being sold. All of it looked amazing. I had never had to really think about what I wanted to eat before, just assuming there would be something in the fridge. Now that I had to actually *gasp* fill the fridge myself! I needed to figure out what I wanted to fill it with. Here was my chance to start actually paying attention to what I was putting in my body, and on top of that all of this was just so damn cheap! Christ, a single avocado costs 2$ at the grocery store - here you get a pail of 4 or 5 for 3,50$. Instant addiction. Weekly trips from my 'hood to my mother's place to visit became my produce-shopping days as well.

It's become a ritual for me, my weekly visits to the market. I love walking through the aisles, just looking at first, potatoes of every shape and color, hundreds of stalks of slender green asparagus, berries so ripe they sweeten the air, the fragrant herb stalls and the apple vendors surrounded by bushels of shiny Cortlands and Macintoshes. I always buy a bottle of cider from Les Vergers Eric Tanguay to sip while I do my shopping. The ladies who work there have the best tricks for a kick-ass apple pie. I've learned to go during the week if possible - weekends see the place packed with families, tourists, and everyone else. Weekdays are much quieter. It's easier to find what you want, and easier to speak with the vendors and ask questions, not to mention infinitely easier to wander around aimlessly, without having to worry about being crashed into by frantic shoppers in a rush to get Sunday dinner on the table.

Occasionally my mother will join me and we'll end our shopping date at one of the cafés or restaurants surrounding the market. It's the perfect end to an always pleasant activity and I can't help but wonder why everyone doesn't come here. Everything is so beautiful there. Between the food and the people, the pride in good products and the palpable potential for an amazing meal, it's impossible to walk out of Marché Jean-Talon without a smile (and a heavy grocery bag).