Written by Brittany Kleinman: These Days when it comes to food, understanding the path between makers to eater is equally mysterious as it is indirect. That’s why in 2008, a small group of folks obsessed with food and technology created Foodoro. Essentially an online greenmarket, Foodoro is a place where people can buy specialty food directly from artisanal Foodmakers.

Before its creation, they always heard about small Foodmakers who made amazing products but found it difficult to access them directly. Unlike most local food markets, the group wanted to create a space that is accessible to all through the internet. The site enables the general public to explore unique culinary producers while concurrently allowing Artisans to get discovered. Since its birth, Foodoro has pulled together 75+ small-time producers of everything from sinful Bay Area Chocolate, Gold Medal winning cheese, juicy raw meats, to fish fresh off the boat in Seattle. Click Read More for additional information and photos.

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Written by Brittany Kleinman: Drifting though residential alleyways topped with laundry canopies, birds tickle your ears with song as you near one of Hong Kong’s greatest marketplaces. The Bird Market is a unique cultural hobby where birds are bought and sold not for their appearance, but for their voice. Typically popular with older men, they gather early in the morning to share their songsters with fellow friends. Much like westerners taking their dogs out for walks, men will promenade with their prized bird around the plaza stopping to exchange stories along the way.

Stretched among 70 stalls, feathered beauties from Australia to East Africa display their rainbow coats and choir-like voices. As you stroll throughout the stalls, ornate bamboo cages hang over your head as porcelain feeding dishes call to your fingertips and live crickets await their destiny. Click Read More for additional information and photos.

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Written by Brittany Kleinman: Fresh, frozen and living, Tsukiji fish market pushes around 4,500 lbs of seafood a day. At 3:00am while you’re out clubbing, 400 different types of seafood from tiny sardines to 600 lb tuna arrive by ship, truck and plane from all over the world. Once unloaded, most seafood strains through the “inner market” (jonai shijo) stopping among the 900 wholesale stalls but the prized tuna are sent to auction.

Blanketed in thick layers of white ice, human-sized tunas are inspected, valued and prepared for auction. Hordes of buyers and auctioneers gather around 5:30am to begin the bidding. At the auction houses there are usually designated spots for ‘non-fisherman’ to grab a glimpse, so make sure to get there before 6:30am when activity declines. Click Read More for additional information and photos of Tsukiji fish market.

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Written by Brittany Kleinman: If you find yourself in East London on a Sunday with some good walking shoes you’re in luck. This is the day for markets. The best ways to experience London’s curious mix of old and new is to start off at the Columbia Road Flower Market near the Liverpool St station. There you will find everything from vintage books, 8-tracks to ethnic imports. When your wallet needs to bargain and your eyes and stomach are hungry, head south to Spitalfields and Brick Lane Markets.

Over recent years, Spitalfields and Brick Lane’s historic streets have been re-energized with layers of colorful graffiti, artist studios, and bars. Concurrently they remain the best markets not yet consumed by tourism. These markets guarantee strange discoveries around every corner, whether that is finding your stolen bicycle for re-sale on the street, or mouth-watering Bangladeshi restaurants to douse your hunger. Click Read More for additional information and photos.

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Written by Brittany Kleinman: By Brittany Kleinman: Twenty years in the making, the Wednesday Market in Santa Monica, California is widely recognized as the leading Grower-Only Certified Farmers Market in the state. An estimated nine thousand shoppers come every Wednesday to explore the agricultural treasure chest.

As a California native I have grown up going to the Santa Monica Market and so I decided to go back and speak with a few of the farmers that give this market its true flavor. Walking down the main stretch, I passed award winning goat cheese, fresh artisan breads, organic oranges, and even walnut grilled corn but it was the yellow tent of Holy Guaca-Moly that caught my eye. As I approached, a plump serving of guacamole was handed to me on a bit sized tortilla chip. My taste buds quickly realized why this guacamole has been voted #1 in California for over 8 years. Click Read More for additional information and photos.

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By Brittany Kleinman: With piles of thick white cream cheese, buckets of fresh honey and spicy pickled cucumbers, Kuznechny Market in St. Petersburg, Russia is a site not to miss. Before I visited Russia, I was told that St. Petersburg was the ‘Venice of the north,’ hailed for its haunting magnificence. Yet I only accurately came to know this truth through the faces and interactions I experienced within the markets I visited.

Some of my favorite encounters at Kuznechny Market lie on the surrounding narrow sidewalks, before you even step inside the main building. Elder men and women who seem to have history stored in every wrinkle, line the street with small blankets selling raw potatoes, fresh flowers or mounds of cranberries. As you venture inside the covered arched building, your nose fills with the scent of parsley and your ears overflow with the chatter of Russian small talk… Click Read More for additional information and photos!

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By Brittany Kleinman: Last fall I took a trip to the Union Square Greenmarket in New York City to learn more about one of America’s most successful Farmer’s Market program – organized by The Council on the Environment of NYC (CENYC). They’re dedicated to improving New York City’s environment and have been doing it for over thirty years. CENYC uses markets as a way to enrich the community and provide greener, safer, and stronger neighborhoods. As a result, Greenmarket has become the largest farmers market program in the United States. Click Read More for additional information and photos.

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