The Penang Food Market

One thing we wanted to see that we hadn't seen yet was the food market, so we went! It is so totally cool. I wish we had something just like it at home! It is probably about 100' wide by 200' long and is open air with only the roof. There are rows of stalls with food vendors all split into different sections. For instance, one section was the meat market. And subcategories w/i the meat section were poultry, fish and pork. Since this is a Muslim country, the pork is always separated from everything else. The poultry section was fascinating really. There were 3-4 cages of live chickens in the back part, then there was a butchering station next to that. (can you imagine being the chickens in the cage, watching your buddies getting pulled out one by one and slaughtered while you watch, knowing all too well that your time is coming?? Sorry- a vegetarian's perspective of the situation. :D) So then once they are slaughtered, there's a bath area with people working on gutting and cleaning the meat. Once they are finished, they hand the meat to the butcher and he works his magic with his cleaver. Or you can buy them whole of course! Laurel said that whenever she buys chicken there, she doesn't even refrigerate it before she starts to cook with it. It is probably dead no more than a couple of hours before it gets cooked. Now THAT is fresh!
Then there was the bakery section, lots of areas of fresh fruits and veggies, the flower market, the egg stand, etc... Then spilling out onto the sidewalks, you have the sunglasses guy, the ladies selling women's underwear, batik fabrics, clothes, souvenirs, toys, gadgets, etc... you name it, they had it all right there. Sort of like Wal-Mart only way better and supportive of local people. Laurel can walk to this market from their place, which she does twice a week to buy their goods. Yummy experience!