Montreal's Jean Talon Market



Montreal is a true foodie destination, you won't be able to take more than a few steps without spotting a chic cafe, gourmet restaurant or specialty food shop. This vibrant city entices with lots of flavors and dishes but my most memorable sensory experience was at the legendary Jean Talon Market. Located in the center of Montreal  in the landmark Little Italy neighborhood, this colorful and lively market is the biggest outdoor market in North America and the most charming.  Opened in 1933, Jean Talon mixes old world character with contemporary style for a shopping experience like no other. Tackling Jean Talon requires fortification  so I headed to a nearby Italian bakery beforehand. The dreamy, creamy, cannoli above stopped me in my tracks. Mind you, I don't even like cannoli but I felt compelled to buy some and after one fluffy, crispy, nibble, I can say that I do like cannoli. As long as they are fresh and from Montreal's Little Italy.


Although you can skim the market in an hour, it took me two just to explore some of the over 300 vendors and that's not including tasting all the samples, which is an important part of the Jean Talon experience. The market is brimming with fresh produce but I gravitated toward the more typical Quebecois products like the maple syrup lollipops, above. 


I made my way to the locally produced honey in flavors like apple, blueberry and raspberry, above.


These zany plants caught my eye because of  prominent signs commanding shoppers not to touch them. Apparently, these plants capture insects with a sticky substance and leave movements and one little tap will stimulate this action . It made me wonder how in the world you are supposed to carry them home.


The fromagerie  or cheese shop, is a major part of Montreal culture and they are everywhere at Jean Talon. I sampled mustard with wild mushrooms and fresh goat cheese from the shop above. I topped it off with samples of  different varieties of ice wine and then finished with strawberry-cranberry-hibiscus cake. I left with a feeling of visual and gustatory satisfaction that few shopping excursions can deliver.

Comments

Catherine said…
I do love exploring markets and this looks like a good one indeed - I am glad that I have moved from one market country to another.....
November 20, 2011 at 12:42 AM
Fly Girl said…
Catherine, yes, this is one of the most colorful markets I've seen. I will be exploring Montreal more in the next few posts.
November 20, 2011 at 6:52 AM
Fly Girl said…
Vale, thanks so much for stopping by.
November 20, 2011 at 12:18 PM
A Cuban In London said…
Listen, in between these delicacies and its wolrd famous jazz festival I can picture myself setting up shop in Montreal for a few months, preferably munching whilst listening to Al Jarreau. :-)

Greetings from London.
November 21, 2011 at 2:36 PM
Fly Girl said…
Cubano, you would love Montreal which reminds me, I never did a jazz fest post!
November 21, 2011 at 3:56 PM
Andrew Graeme Gould said…
An very interesting sampler of this market. I just love markets for the experience, and of course, for the photo opportunities. Montreal is on my list to visit in the near future, on the same trip as New York. I'll certainly go to this market, then.
November 22, 2011 at 1:27 PM
Fly Girl said…
Andrew,
Jean Talon has lots of amazing photo and food opportunities, you must go!
November 22, 2011 at 2:31 PM
Angela said…
As you well know, I absolutely love local markets, great photos, looks like a lovely way to spend an afternoon (or two :P)
November 26, 2011 at 2:51 AM
Fly Girl said…
Angela, there's nothing like a great outdoor market! It definitely requires 2 afternoons if you have the time.
November 26, 2011 at 8:06 AM
Jen Laceda | Milk Guides said…
Hahaha, I'm from Toronto, and have been to Montreal only 2x in my life! And shockingly, I've not been to Jean Talon market. Oh, boooh for me!
December 13, 2011 at 7:18 PM
Fly Girl said…
Jen, for shame! A foodie like you should never miss a chance to go to Jean Talon.
December 13, 2011 at 8:44 PM
Canada Museums said…
Whenever I used to visit Montreal, there are two places I never failed to drop by : the Jean Talon market, and the McCord Museum, one of my favorite museums in the world.But I must confess that after an eating binge in the market, museums were usually the last thing on my mind!
December 16, 2011 at 9:14 PM
Fly Girl said…
Canada, I'll visit the McCord the next time I'm in Montreal. I only got a chance to visit the Museum of Fine Arts, which took a whole afternoon. Thanks for dropping by!
December 17, 2011 at 8:28 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Puerto Rico's Taino Culture

Image
The original inhabitants of the Caribbean region of North America were the Arawak, Taino and Carib  native peoples.  The Tainos are a subgroup of the Arawaks and are recognized as the founders of the island of Boriken or Puerto Rico.  These were the people who offered a peaceful welcome to Columbus in 1493.  They didn't know the cruelty and violence that would follow his so-called "discovery" of the land that they had cultivated for centuries. Despite official government pronouncements that the Taino have been killed off by the massacres and slavery that followed in Columbus' wake, they live on.  As demonstrated in the photo above by  members of  the Puerto Rico Folklorico Dance & Culture Cultural Cente r, Taino traditions, food and names remain strong. Throughout Puerto Rico, town names like Mayaquez, Utuado and Caquas echo the Taino language as do the musical instrument maracas and hamaca or hammock. Legends of Taino warriors, like Hatuey, who organized the ba
Read more

Traveling Through A Liberian Childhood

Image
I like to explore the world with books as much as I like to actually travel. A well-written narrative can transport you to places that you'd never experience with just superficial details like photos and descriptions. I've been interviewing writers about the criteria they use to select books for Summer reading and it made me think about my own general reading criteria. As a journalist, I'm really drawn to biographies, autobiographies and memoirs more than fiction. There's something about using the facts to entice readers into your world that gets me. It's no coincidence that some of my favorite writers--Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Zora Neale Hurston, Hemingway, started out as journalists. So when I glimpsed The House at Sugar Beach , at my local bookstore and saw it was a memoir written by a journalist, it was pretty much a done deal that I would buy it. Now it wasn't only that the author Helene Cooper was a journalist, it was that she was a Liberian journalist chro
Read more

Switzerland's Fete Des Vignerons

Image
                                               Once every generation, the centuries-old viticultural festival, Fete des Vignerons, unfolds in Vevey, Switzerland. Watching this spectacle of music, dancing, wine and fanciful costumes, felt like I had been transported to something out of a Dr. Seuss story. With a law that prohibits the fest from taking place more than five times in a century, I felt incredibly lucky to witness this celebration of Swiss wine traditions dating back to the 17th century.  Some of the fetes 5,500 performers in costumes strolled the narrow streets of Vevey after a show that featured fairies, bees, royal courts, playing cards and 17th-century wine growers. The performance was in French but the drama transcended language barriers. It's a difficult experience to describe but if I had to sum it up, I would explain it as the magic of Cirque Du Soleil combined with the pageantry of the Olympics, topped with the history of folk celebrations.  Take a peek at my v
Read more