Just some quick food porn from Montreal

I’ve been spending the last few days at the Ecocity World Summit in Montreal. It’s been a truly fantastic conference with amazing speakers and superb hosts. There are over 1000 attendees and it’s been a lively event. Inspiring talks about everything from how the City of Christchurch, NZ is being rebuilt and designed as an ecocity by its own people and the role cities will have to play in mitigating the effects of climate change to the setting of new International Ecocity Standards. Tomorrow I’ll add my own little lecture hall wisdom with my Street Art and its Role in Creating Ecocities slide show jam session.

But still, while I love being educated in the brain there’s still nothing like getting your senses stimulated in that visceral spot you only feel when you go out and start pounding the pavement. Or as is the case with Montreal in many respects, the greenery. Yesterday we did a 4-hour bike tour on the Bixis and today I did another tour through the urban gardens of Montreal. I’ll do more in-depth stories on each of those trips when I have a little more time and sifted through all my photos and audio. But today’s garden tour ended at the Jean-Talon Market, a place of extreme joy and juiciness that truly left a wonderful taste in my mouth.

Come in, have a bite!

The first thing that jumped out at me were the apples. Everywhere. Fresh. In season. Quebecois.

Not to be outdone by the tomatoes. That’s some spaghetti sauce in the works!

“But wait,” say the eggplants, “we are the shiniest!”

until the chili peppers fire back: “We’re HOT!”

to which the leeks reply, “size matters.”

from the back the sunflower responds, “to be big is important, to be beautiful is divine.”

the potatoes mutter, “just keepin’ it real here.”

when garlic rolls in and teases with magical healing powers (and vampire prevention)

“So what,” say the mushrooms. “Nobody else here is a spore-bearing fungus, so why even debate.”

And so another day at Marché Jean Talon in beautiful Montreal comes to an end.

À bientôt!

o~O~o~O~o~O~o~O~o~O~o~O~o~O~o~O~o~O~o

All photos by Sven Eberlein