I went to the feria chanting (in my mind), cucumbers, tomatoes, parsley, lemons. Because these were what I needed to buy for birthday (not mine) tabbouleh.
The swiss chard, mandarines, avocado, eggplant, scallions, radishes, broccoli, penca (more on this in a sec) and potatoes were just add-ons. You know, like you do.
And here’s what I bought (all prices in CLP, which is currently 473 to the dollar. Egads, that’s low! But it’s springtime, and the produce is looking pretty good, though the tomatoes and avocados are still wearing their winter prices a bit.
1 bunch swiss chard 200 CLP .42
1 bunch scallions 300 CLP .63
1 bag penca (cardoons, an edible thistle, related to the artichoke) 600 clp
1 bunch radishes 500 $1.06
1 kilo potatoes 500 $1.06
1 kilo lemons 300 .63
1 kilo mandarines 500 $1.06
2 eggplants 600 $1.27
2 bunches parsley 400 .85
1 avocado 600 $1.27
2 cucumbers 800 $1.69
4 large tomatoes 1000
1 head broccoli 500
Total haul=6600 CLP = $13.95
At the feria today, I heard Colombians, Peruvians, Bolivians, Chinese people and one French guy speaking Spanish. I love this about this street market. Also, strangely, the police were out at the uncharacteristically large feria libre (like a fleamarket) part that stretches up Portales (the continuation of Agustinas), but not bothering anyone. It was huge, huge, I tell you.
And there were uhm, Barbies, among other items.
This post is part of a sort-of series of posts where I talk about what I buy at the local feria here in Santiago, and how much it costs. Search for feria haul and you’ll find many more. Here’s one now! Also, asparagus has just hit the market, but I like the later asparagus (which they also harvest thinner) better than what’s out now, so I’ll wait. First strawberries appeared about two weeks ago.
Also, the veggie photo is a little odd, because I was just testing the light here, and it turned out to be the only one where the cucumber mandarine combo wasn’t a little, um, un-family friendly. The penca is in a little loaf pan in the back. It looks like finely chopped celery, and that was only half of it. And the Barbie photo is a little odd, because frankly, the sight itself was a bit odd.
Cardoons, or penca tastes like a cross between celery and cucumber, with a slightly nutty taste. It is spectacular with lemon, olive oil and salt, but I have been known to eat it plain, out of a glass with a spoon while composing a blog post.
Wow, that is STEEP for an avocado! Same price as at the Food Lion in Raleigh right now (well, 2 cents cheaper). I think that Barbie photo might haunt my dreams, and I laughed out loud at the un-family friendly cucumber-mandarin combination. Also, I wonder if this vegetable is where “que penca!” comes from? If so, that wouldn’t really entice me to eat penca…
You know, the more I think about it, the more I think I may have misremembered the palta price. I bought it together with a lot of other things, and I might be wrong, but they are still pretty pricey these days! Hopefully the price will come down.
And yes, Barbies? what the hell!? scary scary! thanks for dropping by, missed you at Margaret’s birthday party tonight!
I think it’s hilarious that “penca” is also used to refer to the same part of male anatomy that your non-family friendly photo of cucumber-mandarine was portraying! Can’t wait to hear about the search hits you get on this post!
and yet, also means boring, or I guess, sucky. This is going nowhere good, fast!
Barbies and fresh food – something for everyone and definitely all the fixins for a fantastic meal… or 3. 🙂
don’t cook the Barbies! they don’t like that. Or so I’m told. Sadly, I only got veggies, no creepy dolls. Or maybe that’s a good thing. Thanks for popping in!
Not information you probably need, (or want) but most of those Barbies are fairly new, they have “drawn on” underwear. Older Barbies didn’t come with underwear like that. My mom didn’t really let me have Barbies so I kind of went over the top with my girls. sad, sad, but we have scary Barbie piles like that all over the house!
which feria was this?
My main issue with La Vega is that it requires riding on 3 different metro lines to get there from where I live in Providencia. Hauling tons of veggies on the metro isn’t fun.
I usually go to a small feria right by the Principe de Gales metro stop, but it’s only on wednesday mornings and sometimes on saturday mornings (I still haven’t been able to figure out their official schedule)
Where are all the other ferias I should be checking out in this town?
ferias always have a schedule, its not like “this saturday you find them are and next you dont”, the next time you go just ask any “casero, casera” which days they are in that location (they turn from monday to sunday in different places). It will probably be 2 days of the week, and ALWAYS the same days.
You can search for more ferias in their website:
http://www.feriaslibresdechile.cl
nice blog! is my first time and im really surprised to find so many “chilean datos” in a foreign blog ❤️