In Western Europe a brief tour of the friends said, in his impression,European city seems to be no farms. Words not wrong. In Shu or the southern area, residential streets in big cities or small cities, have roadside farms, enough of life. Lug pole, pushing the vendors selling street tricycle, fishmonger fish from aquarium fish are killed and sold, people buy food in one hand and carrying in one hand and then to two onions, no one will suspect you know the rules .

However, such a rare farms in Western Europe. On the rich, far from Europe and China. European farther north. If it does not take more than a map out, many people may not realize that Europe as a whole have a high latitude, even the south of Italy, Rome latitude also slightly higher than Beijing.

Northerners like to Tuen winter cabbage, like most of Europe, not many kinds of fruits and vegetables, tubers and fruits Tuen housewife when cold weather. One of the few green leafy vegetables, is very Jingui, but also reveals traces of factory farms: a piece of leaf has been picked clean, and dry packed in a square plastic box, a box of one hundred grams two hundred grams such sales . Maybe the bags will tell you, it has been cleaned three times in ice water. So, very neat place to buy food. After all, the dolphin tomato cabbage base up, is always better than a bunch of non-selected pea sprouts Malan head is much more orderly.

Take Amsterdam, in addition to Sunday, Albert Cuyp Straat open-air market every day. This market size of almost every little city there will be one or two in the Netherlands, mostly one week only open a day or two if unfortunately in the week, then missed with the workers, because they are generally five pm on the closing .

Dutch market, there are two things you can buy some. Is now doing a syrup waffles, selling cakes people will be driving a trailer with a baking pan make and sell hot syrup sweet incense drift across the street was all smell it. Netherlands syrup waffle not thick Belgian waffles that are thin crunchy cake layers, the intermediate syrup stick together, cake surface is a fine lattice swastika. This is to do good laps waffle than supermarket bags. After selling waffles people do, you can set a paper bag to hand out. Part of the ritual sense to get your hands stretched more than a moment, is like eating waffles: they set a paper bag and not be slow action, most of what you hanging appetite.

But still a little snore eat a piece of.

Another is that raw pickled herring - the kind of iconic Dutchman looked up to swallow raw fish. Netherlands near the sea, and there was a long coastline. Prior to 1932, the North stopped the sea dam is completed, the entire water IJsselmeer (Ijsselmeer) are still water. From now on the map view, east of North Holland is a freshwater lake, but until then, are fishing for a living fishing village worthy of the name, pickled and smoked are the traditional method of preserving fish.

Each June, as the sea herring gather plankton and become plump, fishing boats out to sea will catch herring. Then the herring spawning yet, the fat content reached 16% of body weight, to catch the fish, remove the internal organs, and immediately put light salt pickled spices, and a week later was raw pickled herring. Only such a herring, Dutch rush is the "first bucket of herring" (Hollandse Nieuwe).

The fish, I probably will eat once or twice a year. Delicious, juicy and creamy, and the smell of the fish is eating the onion will stay long in the mouth.

In addition to raw herring and waffle such local specialties, such markets are much the same north-western Europe, north rich diminishing extent, incremental price north. But even so, from subtle differences in can also be seen throughout the different scenery and folk.

For example, Germany had a border, you can see the market stalls will sell bread knotted like a pretzel twist glasses (pretzel) and a variety of strong acids bread. Without them bakeries in Germany does not exist. And then further south to Munich, in the center of the grain market (Viktualienmarkt), you can see the famous Munich white sausage, thickness ranging from meat whirring, like bursting out from the casings inside. There you can see piles of fresh yellow chanterelles, those many dark and full of truffles. Munich by the Alps, so the mushrooms to be more than anywhere else.

While the bustling, on the ground have rotten tomatoes rotten apples, behind shelves seagulls or pigeons looting of shark fin fish fishmonger leave, but traders take their own plastic shed each are unique, try to eat the product stood a small round table, also Useful small blackboard chalk to write the price, give a particularly neat feeling warm. This place is mercanto market, the English market, German and Dutch markt, marché French and Italian. Overall, the Western European market are too orderly, and further south, too orderly brought a sense of alienation will gradually dispersed.

From Germany to the southeast, to go to Budapest's central market . Here a bit like a home Grand Bazaar Midwest. Hungary is located in the plains, just look at the market, it gives a sense of the granary. Which can be seen hanging clusters of dried chili peppers and garlic, huge berries, many in Western Europe on the sell fruits and vegetables, where you can finally say in pounds and ounces, and suddenly a kind of feeling among the domestic food market.

And then in the south, to Italy, the market is still only in a few urban areas where only sporadic, gas marketplace is more full-bodied, not only because of the environment and food, but also because of people.

In January, and parents in Sicily, from Rome to Catania, just stay, mother fever. She settled asleep, my father and I went out. Downstairs is a near farms. At that time it has been noon, the fish market had shut the shop, leaving only the empty iron shelf, and also finished the last share of the confiscated fish shop. Nothing has been on the shelf, ice and turned it into a sewage. Several foam boxes pile on the ground, was filled with prawns and shrimp Phi. We hesitated, and finally bought a Pipi shrimp. Father picked sixty-seven Pippi shrimp, foam at the edge of the box to knock the ice, beckoned take over fishmonger he said.

Sicily shelves behind a group of men, all wearing boots, dingy upper body, which is the boss can not see what is man. One of the stocky man came and put the shrimp sixty-seven get back to go on that and touch here touch there, and finally touched a sack filled with something. He put the bag of stuff back out, put Pippi shrimp into them, weighed, put up with the Italian told us five dollars. I say five dollars with his father. He gestures with his father shook his head to say five dollars is too expensive, more than a few shrimp to the job. Father does not speak English, speak English fishmonger few words, but they are actually bypassing my bargain.

I do not know the final rush to shut the shop, or look Stern father's counteroffer is too difficult to refuse, fishmonger finally succumbed. He took a few shrimp Phi, one by one forcefully sent to the inside of the bag.

As he put Pippi shrimp in his pocket, while gesturing excitedly with his father, with his broken English complained that, but for this pretty girl here, I will not be cheap blanket. How beautiful girl, ah, I see on her part, you just give it a few shrimp.

We spent a few days in Catania. Before leaving the day before we went to the farms to buy a blood orange. Sicilian rich in citrus fruits, where the blood orange, even eat, teeth will not fall. Passing a fish shop and bought a few shrimp, and then go back. Not out of the market, pulled by a uncle. He took my arm, let us buy his prawns. I told him that we had bought a. He is quite disappointed, let's buy the shrimp to him. We opened the bag to him, he looked at Wang Qianmian probe, facial expressions exaggerated sorry for us, to the effect that we did not buy his fresh shrimp and the like. But he still let me go, and turned in with a bunch of transparent side grabbed the pink shrimp in one, the head of the prawn a twist, from where the shrimp tail squeezed out, despite my face reluctance, to my mouth I have to try it.

In the past, if someone grabbed me like this, what a beauty to sell me, then I must be waiting for him to close on the far ducked. But here, in a dirty and chaotic, like most of the Chinese food market place, muddy water all over the floor in a rainy morning, the market suddenly become the irresistible. I went over with his teeth to bite shrimp into his mouth, the cool shrimp, and sweet - this is probably the whale with open mouth to eat shrimp taste of the sea it!