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A tasting tour of Montreal
Ever changing and evolving, Montreal’s neighborhoods are like integral parts of a larger quilt, each part having its own unique identity, contributing to the city’s overall open and accepting cosmopolitan image. From the trendy bars and restaurants of the Plateau, to the cobble stone streets and old world charm of the Old Port, to the fanfare and excitement of downtown Montreal’s Entertainment district, you’ll find yourself at home in one of Montreal’s beautiful and enchanting neighborhoods.
There are hundreds of ways to get to know a city. Montreal’s public markets offer an entry into the daily life of its neighbourhoods and a taste of the best of Québec’s produce. This food-lover’s tour is a veritable feast for all the senses.
By Diane Harting
With market cuisine all the rage, Montréal is a food lover’s paradise. Both in restaurants and at home, the taste for fresh, local produce just keeps growing. Chefs started the trend by using local produce, and TV cooking shows have encouraged people to explore public markets and local producers.
As a result, public markets have regained their popularity, after losing ground to supermarkets in the 50s and 60s. Today, you can often see people strolling through Montréal’s markets, with a recipe from a local cooking show in hand, tracking down this week’s featured ingredients.
Montréal has four major public markets (Jean-Talon, Atwater, Lachine and Maisonneuve) and a number of small neighbourhood markets, often located next to a subway station. The Corporation de gestion des marchés publics de Montréal and its 215 members, producers and sellers have managed the city’s public markets since 1993. Their mission is to “ensure that Montrealers have access to local produce in public markets that reflect their identity.” An additional benefit is that the market experience offers shoppers personal contact with producers, who are delighted to share their knowledge, secrets and recipes.
From season to season
The markets are at their peak during the summer months as they follow the crop calendar. But the outdoor activity really begins in May, with pots and flats of flowers, vegetables and herbs for home gardeners. By mid-May, slender, young asparagus heralds the start of the vegetable harvest. The strawberries arrive in June, and, with the many varieties now available, they can be savoured throughout the summer. In July, there are raspberries, currants, blackberries and gooseberries to dazzle the eye and tempt the palate. By then, the markets are a profusion of lettuce, carrots, beets, string beans, cauliflower, broccoli, and tender new potatoes that practically melt in your mouth...
In August, the wild blueberries arrive, early ones from the Eastern Townships, then the super-sized berries from Lac Saint-Jean (so big, they say, it takes just one to make a pie!), and the tiny ones from Abitibi. (Be sure to try the sinfully delicious chocolate-covered blueberries made by Trappist monks in Mistassini.)
Corn and tomatoes are eagerly awaited, but their arrival is very much dependent on the weather. They are always worth the wait. If you’re lucky, there will be a boiling cauldron of corn on the cob at one of the stands. Nothing can match the flavour of corn picked the same day.
In September, giant baskets overflowing with tomatoes and bell peppers mean it’s time to make preserves. Then come the apples (McIntosh, the undisputed queen of Québec’s apples, and cross varieties such as Cortland and Spartan), cranberries (did you know they are closely related to blueberries?), and winter squashes and pumpkins of every shape and size.
The markets offer other local delicacies like honey, apple butter, jams, mustard, traditional maple syrup and maple candy, and even maple vinegar.
Marché Jean-Talon
A fixture of Montréal’s Little Italy for the last 75 years, Marché Jean-Talon is said to be the largest open-air market in North America. On any given day, you can find a diverse crowd of shoppers from the many nearby ethnic communities. These shoppers have influenced producers to offer items such as Italian tomatoes (San Marzano at the top of the list), different types of peppers, Lebanese cucumbers or Vietnamese herbs...
But it is the Italian community, especially the first wave of immigrants who arrived between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of World War I, that has shaped the market’s character. Not only did they shop here, but their gardens provided a backdrop to the stalls. You can still admire their backyard vegetable gardens opposite the “official” entrance to the market (7070 Henri-Julien Avenue). The large oleander trees that grace the fronts of homes and businesses with their pink, white and yellow flowers are a symbol of the city’s Italian community.
Marché Jean-Talon was built on the old Shamrock Lacrosse Grounds. When it opened in 1933, it was originally named Marché du Nord (because the city didn’t extend much past the market at that time, and the terminal for buses headed for the North Shore was right next door). Farmers would come in to sell their vegetables, live chickens, rabbits and pigs, and stands were set up around the large Art Deco style building that is now the market’s bakery. In winter, the hardiest vendors would sell their goods in wood cabins. Soon, the market, which initially ran only on Fridays and Saturdays, began opening every day.
Although market activity is at its peak in the summer, it certainly doesn’t shut down in the winter. A few of the farmers are still there, selling their root vegetables and supplementing them with greenhouse or imported fruits and vegetables. And the shops around the market are worth a visit in any season.
There are exotic fruit shops that supply both restaurant owners and everyday gourmets. At Chez Louis, you’ll find a rare gem¾organic produce from Pierre-André Daignault, who supplies upscale restaurants with baby vegetables. There are two or three fishmongers (including one that offers seafood from the Gaspé), and several butchers, including a halal butcher and another selling bison burgers and wild boar or venison hot dogs in summer. The artisanal butcher shop Les Cochons Tout Ronds, from Havre-Aubert in the Magdalen Islands, offers traditional cured ham and sausages, such as French jambon cru, saucisson sec, terrines, and Italian coppa and lonzo … Next door, the rather exotic Les Jardins sauvages sells wild mushrooms and plants, wild vegetables, such as sea asparagus, wild sea lettuce and bulrush, as well as bloodflower, stonecrop and daylily shoots.
Speaking of exotic, you should definitely check out La Dépense (The Pantry), which sells everything you could possibly want for preparing exotic cuisine, from fresh curry leaves to hard-to-find Asian sauces. Philippe and Ethné de Vienne travel the world to stock this treasure trove of ethnic delights. They also bring back spices from all over the world that they market and sell at their other shop at Jean-Talon, Olives et Épices.
Need a break? Stop by Havre-aux-Glaces, the specialty ice cream shop that Montrealers have raved about since it opened. Inspired by the fruits of Central America, owner Robert Lachapelle got the idea for his business while sailing around the world with his family. His frozen delights follow the seasons: ice cider and Montréal melon sorbets, Île d’Orléans strawberry ice cream, pumpkin and cardamom sorbet, and cranberry ice cream. In winter, he creates ice cream bûches de Noël (a traditional Yule log) and ice cream eggs for Easter.
Explore the flavours of Québec
A visit to Marché Jean Talon would not be complete without stopping by the Marché des saveurs du Québec. With some 7,000 products from more than 400 producers and manufacturers from all regions of Québec, it is the most extensive store of its kind in the city. The shop features cheeses, jams, jellies, chocolate, pâté, meat, fish, fresh produce and prepared foods. All from Québec.
The adjoining Maison des Vins et des Boissons artisanales du Québec offers the largest selection of traditionally-made alcoholic beverages from Québec. In recent years, the province’s wine producers have become known for their white and rosé wines as well as their ice wines. Other local craft beverages to discover include ice ciders, fruit brandies, mead and maple beverages.
Marché Atwater
Marché Atwater, Montréal’s other major public market, is at the other end of the city, by the Lachine Canal. The atmosphere is more subdued than at Jean-Talon, but many shoppers prefer it because it is smaller and less crowded, with a more selective range of products. Some people say, though, that everything at Atwater is more expensive.
Like Jean-Talon, Atwater was built in 1933 to replace the Marché Saint-Antoine at the corner of Saint-Jacques and De La Montagne streets in the same neighbourhood. The Beaux Arts building that has housed the market for more than 75 years looms above the neighbourhood with its large clock tower.
This market is often called the biggest garden in town, because from May through July, nurserymen transform it into an immense floral tapestry. There are flowers as far as the eye can see… boxes of annuals, tomato plants, perennials and even trees. Later, they give way to huge baskets of tomatoes and bell peppers, then apples and enormous pots of chrysanthemums, announcing the arrival of fall. In October, the entire area is submerged in a sea of pumpkins of all shapes and sizes, just in time for Halloween.
A few weeks later, often with the first snowfall, Christmas trees take over. Whether you’re looking for a Balsam fir, a Fraser fir, a blue spruce, a wreath or just some new decorations, you’re sure to find it here. Québec is the world’s largest producer of Christmas trees, with some two million trees per year, 70 per cent of which are sold in the United States.
Baby vegetables and gourmet delights
Although fewer in number than at Jean-Talon, fruit and vegetable vendors set up their awning-covered stands along the entire length of the building. Many come only in summer to sell what they have picked fresh that day. Le potager du gourmet is one of these, offering baby vegetables, an incredible number of herbs, edible flowers and heirloom tomatoes. Next to Le potager is Mr. Dauphinais, who comes in every weekend to sell wildflowers from his fields.
The market is also home to a top-notch fishmonger and Les Douceurs du Marché, a gourmet grocery store featuring one entire wall of olive oils and another of all types of sauces, from the hottest to the most exotic. There are three cheese shops, including Fromagerie du Marché, which is worth visiting as much for its friendly and competent staff as for its vast selection of cheeses, microbrewery beers and locally made dairy products.
Upstairs, you’ll find some of Montréal’s best butchers. Adélard Bélanger et fils is now in its third generation of serving customers, while the fourth (a girl) is learning the trade. Their lamb raised in the Eastern Townships is truly exceptional.
Marché Maisonneuve
Marché Maisonneuve is a small market located in the eastern part of the city, near the Olympic Stadium. It’s worth visiting to see the old Beaux Arts building with its fountain by sculptor Alfred Laliberté,
The market itself moved to a neighbouring building a dozen years ago. Among its main attractions are its organic market on Saturdays in August and September, and Captain Crab, an unusual fishmonger who offers seafood “straight from the fisherman to your table in 24 hours.” Every Thursday during crab season (in May), he drives his refrigerated truck to the Upper St. Lawrence region to buy live snow crabs directly from fishermen, and then drives back to the Marché Maisonneuve, where he sells them live or cooked on site on Fridays and Saturdays. The Captain’s “catch” also includes Nordic shrimp and lobster. You can’t get much fresher than that.
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