Page 106 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL EATING IBERIA

La Boqueria, derived from the Catalan word languages. Tiny tapas bars lined both sides of the
“boc” meaning goat, began as an open-air market to aisles, all seats occupied. I stopped in my tracks for a
sell goatmeat in 1217. Pigs replaced goats in 1470, fewsecondstoobservehowtoorder.Orderingamul-
and the market acquired the name Mercadi Bornet. titude of small dishes followed the same method as
The landmark underwent various permutations, in- ordering sushi: point, order, and eat!
cluding Mercat de Palla, or Straw Market in 1794, un- Samplinglocalfarewasmymainfocus,butwhere
til the final structure, much as it stands today, saw the to start? I avoided the mob handing over euros above
light in 1853. La Boqueria is now a Barcelona land- oversized impaled chocolate covered strawberries,
mark,aswellasitslargestfoodmarket,andwelcomes and penetrated into the depths of this gastronomic
40,000 visitors a day. kingdom where picture-perfect food stalls have been
My senses were on high alert as I crossed under inthesamefamilyforgenerations.Pastthecrush,the
the ornate archway into the culinary heart of this crowd pushed me towards an edible tableau of curly
thriving Mediterranean port city. A constant ebb and links of salchichones (a sort of lunch meat infused
flow of hungry tourists jostled like corpuscles along with cinnamon), firm chorizo links redolent of smoky
La Boqueria’s main arteries, holding forth in Spanish, pimentón, and airdried pork botillo. Above me, quar-
Catalan, Japanese, Italian and other unrecognizable ters of the dried Spanish ham known as jamon iberico

106 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE 2020