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Barceloneta celebrates Petit Mercat de Mercats with food, music and local produce
Barceloneta will have two days of market stalls, food and music in the street. Petit Mercat de Mercats returns on 29 and 30 May to Plaça del Poeta Boscà, beside Mercat de la Barceloneta, with a programme designed for local residents, families and visitors who want to try local produce without leaving the neighbourhood. Entry will be free.
The fair will be open from 11:00 to 23:00 and will bring together workshops, showcookings, tastings, live music and activities for all ages. It is not just a gastronomic showcase: the idea is for the public to buy fresh produce at the market, talk to the traders and then be able to cook it in the barbecue area set up for the occasion.
The event comes in a special year for Barcelona’s commerce, with the city recognised as the European Capital of Local Commerce. The City Council and municipal markets want to take advantage of the occasion to champion something very specific: shopping in the neighbourhood, knowing who sells the product and valuing a network of markets that remains an essential part of everyday life in Barcelona.
The programme will combine professional cooking and popular activities. There will be live demonstrations, children’s workshops, tastings, proposals on responsible consumption and spaces devoted to quality products. Restaurateurs and local businesses will also take part, with tapas, small dishes, ice creams, artisan sweets and drinks to turn the square into a small gastronomic route.
Saturday will also coincide with the Festes de la Primavera de la Barceloneta. The neighbourhood’s giants, workshops, dances and street processions will add a more festive touch to a day that is not limited to eating: it also seeks to strengthen community life around the market.
Local produce will be one of the main attractions. Meats, fish, vegetables, oils, Lleida pears, beers, wines and other offerings from Catalan producers will appear in different activities and tastings. For those who regularly go to the market, it will be a different way of looking at the familiar stalls; for those only passing through the area, an excuse to go inside.
La Barceloneta is one of those neighbourhoods where gastronomy risks being reduced to quick consumption by visitors. That is why an event like this makes sense if it manages to return prominence to the market, the traders and the residents. For two days, Plaça del Poeta Boscà will not only be a passage towards the beach: it will be an open table where the neighbourhood shows what it buys, what it cooks and how it wants to keep coming together.