~ Curious Charlie ~

South Melbourne Market Tour - Part 1 @ Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Friday 13th Sept

Today we went on the South Melbourne Market Tour, it was pretty cool, jas would have liked it (if he had came - but he had work). I've never been to a market before, I've read about it in Market Blues by Kirsty Murray, and been past Queen Victoria Market but never stopped there. The idea that the area used to be a cemetery graveyard doesn't appeal to be, and I get those chills. Did you know the founder of Melbourne, John Batman was once buried in the car park there? Before it was a car park, fortunately the body has been moved.

The South Melbourne Market is in the opposition direction to the Queen Vic, to get there take the tram no. 96 St Kilda from Swanston (x) Bourke (near Target, but on the opposite side) or from Southern Cross (going in the direction of Crown/Expo Center). When you get to stop 127 there's cool graffiti in the right wall, you can't miss it. The stop remind me of the stop with Mart 130. Go up the stairs and you're at the market.

During Market Week the four markets (Sth Melb, Q Vic, Dandenong and Prahan) are running activities, one of which is the popular market tour. I found out about the activites early on and we were making books there was only 4 places left, when jas checked they were sold out (10 spots in total per session by the way). The tour normally costs $30 and goes for 1.5hrs, ~~it also includes ingredients for a recipe~~.

Our guide was the very friendly and knowledgeable Jannet Lily. She knows lots about food and used to be a food stylist, which is amazing and really hard to get into. While it sound amazing it's also a lot of work, you don't just style, you also do the set-up and pack-up. When I learnt about food styling we painted the roast chicken/turkey and stuffed it with this foamy thing to get the shape right, Janet said that's more of an American thing, whereas here it's more natural and Donna Hay inspired.

300+ pictures were taken. 190-ish made it past elimination and selection. 80 pictures were picked as the finalists. There will be 5 posts on the market tour, including my exploring on my own and an entire post just for one cool shop, 'The Super Cool (Emporium)'.

We met at the LG Kitchen beside the famous Dim Sim place,

they did freebies in the morning. Tour for ten, five turned up.

South Melbourne Market Dim Sims

This is the first dim sim place in Melbourne in the 40s (1949) said Janet, family owned & operated. There's one that has just opened on Elizabeth St near Lord of the Fries, not many people eat there, there's never ques. But I will make an active effort to try it soon. Dim Sims $1.80, $Spring Roll 3.20, Potato Cake $1

Georgie's Harvest - This place sells root veggies and is pretty cool. Probably has the nicest setting, and is one of the most popular/well known shops/stalls at the market. They won an award, best store - or something close to that. Georgie wasn't in at the time (but was in the afternoon, she's the one in the apron), but we met her husband, Michael Dragwidge who knew lots of stuff and was very passionate about the trade (more than he was in his previous office job). He told us that they like to meet and be friends with their suppliers, farmers and so can get the best produce. White potatoes and yellow ones are for different things (they have lots of different types - in stores). White is the one McD use, something Russell While the yellow one is better suited to stews, curries, etc.

If the skin is easy to rub off the potato is new, also never buy the clean potatoes at Coles.
Can't remember why but google found this: "Georgie warns me that if you ever buy supermarket potatoes, be sure to NEVER buy them washed. Apart from the fact that the washing process utilizes a handful of detergents and chemicals, the process also causes the potato to produce toxins. When potatoes are exposed to light – be it from sunlight when they sit on top of the soil, or supermarket lights when they are clean and washed, they protect themselves by a natural defense mechanism of toxin production which discourages predators from eating them. You might notice a slight green tinge when this happens."