Saigon Night Markets-- Wholesale Food Distribution


On Friday night, five of us met in a hotel lobby in Saigon at 11:30pm to go to the market. Every night, wholesale food distribution happens in the outskirts of the city. Mostly, the pictures speak for themselves—four massive warehouses of produce, fish/seafood, flowers, and meat. Trucks and motorbikes filled pavement between the buildings, labeled by letters and with images to show its contents. In three hours, we covered the grounds and exchanged quite a few laughs, particularly in the flower market, simply for the unfamiliarity of our presence in the space. The seafood market was noticeably more hectic, complete with a live auction. What the images don't show, however, is the fragrance of each market. In the produce and flower markets especially, we kept looking at each other and proclaiming the magnificent smell of the market.

In this nocturnal exploration was Charlie, quite interested in food and a food entrepreneur himself; Alex, provider of banana hats; Mai, also passionate about cooking and food and one of our group's staff while in Vietnam; and Meraz, curious to come along. An interest for food and opportunity to see what food distribution in this city looks like intrigued me to join.

Starting in the produce market, Mai told us that it is considered bad luck for a vendor if someone stays by their stall for too long without buying anything. Since we didn’t want massive amounts of one thing, we walked and talked. Mostly, vendors sat in chairs and sometimes hammocks hung in the back of their stall.


PRODUCE:






FISH/SEAFOOD:









FLOWERS:





In between markets:

1:00am coffee break


Reunited with cab driver at 3:15am

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