AlwaysTraveling: Mercado Municipal (São Paulo, Brazil)

Arthur Bovino — June 16, 2010

A stand featuring various peppers in São Paulo’s indoor city food market, Mercado Municipal.

Location: Mercado Municipal
Address: Rua da Cantareira 306, São Paulo, Brazil
Hours: Mon-Sat, 6:00am-6:00pm, Sun and Holidays, 6:00am-4:00pm
Notes: Near the São Bento Metrô.
Grade: A
Recommended Dishes: A good bet is to hop from stand to stand, sampling the many fruits you’ve likely never seen before. The Brazuca from Mortadela Brasil.

Rio de Where? For all the beauty of Pão de Açúcar, the lover of food and skyscrapers visiting Brazil will likely admit to preferring São Paulo. And when it comes to produce in Sampa, the Mercado Municipal is tough to beat. Neobaroque-style architecture, an upstairs food court packed with Brazilian snacks and sandwiches from more than 20 stands, an open-air hall filled with at least 300 booths carrying more fruits than there are English words for them.

The Mercado, which was completed in 1933, is just a fifteen-minute walk northeast of Praça da Sé on Rua da Cantareira. It’s a grand, spacious hall whose most striking architectural features are the large stained-glass windows, which feature scenes of plantations and animal husbandry.

Downstairs are the food stalls: cured meats, eggs, and fish. Fruits and vegetables too— you can test yourself against a variety of pimentas and sample exotic and beautiful (though expensive) fruits: Cherimoya, Atemoya, Cashew Apple, Guaraná, Guanabana, and Jackfruit, just to name a few.

More Photographs from São Paulo's Mercado Municipal >>