Colors and Contrasts in Haifa’s Outdoor Market

In the heart of the city overlooking the port is Shuk Talpiot, Haifa’s largest outdoor market. It’s midday and the neighborhood is filled with the noise of machinery as its roads and sidewalks are being upheaved. The renovations, they say, will be good for business. Meanwhile owners of storefronts sit outside watching for customers that do not come.

Haifa’s market is colorful and chaotic, with roads intersecting a central market and stalls spilling out onto side roads. There is the usual assortment of vegetables and fruits, olives and breads. But it is a port market after all and there are stalls selling a variety of fresh fish, some of them still desperately trying to get back to the sea.

The large population of Russian Jews has introduced their own grocery stores. Here the delicatessen offers fresh and aged cheeses and dozens of types of salamis and sausages. The shelves are stocked with items from Russia and Eastern Europe including a large selection of vodka. Patrons speak in their native language and for them this is the taste of home.

Outside, Arab vendors sell mounds of herbs-mint, parsley, purslane, sorrel, sage. In the winter other greens will be added, Jerusalem sage, chickory and spinach. Mloukhia, rarely seen in predominately Jewish markets, can also be obtained here.

At the end of the market is a simple Azeri eatery selling a special type of Baklava made with only three layers. This is different than the multi layered phyllo dough baklava which is made in the Middle East.

Step aside into the shade and you’ll see the interaction between the vendor and shopper. Merchants scan for potential customers, their staccato calls clamoring for attention. Some customers approach, exchanges are made. What will they make with the food they have bought and whom will be eating it.

I take pictures and a vendor calls to me in French, thinking I am a tourist. I don’t correct them as it is better like this.  I answer “merci beaucoup” and quickly walk away before they see I am a counterfeit. With my camera I am sometimes regarded with suspicion, “Hey! You work for the IRS (masach nasa)?” but it’s a slow day and a few merchants pose for me, a diversion between transactions.

This fellow was posing with a bag of black coffee while he was peeling himself a carrot for lunch. The passerby told him to put the knife away if he intended to stand in the middle of the sidewalk.

It’s dusty, noisy and most of all hot. It was a long summer in Israel with record temperatures keeping most people indoors. Nobody ventured outside if they could help it and the outdoor markets suffered- produce shriveled, tempers flared and buyers went elsewhere.

I’d like to think that these markets will always exist but with changing lifestyles and longer working days the younger generation often prefer the convenience of supermarket chains or online buying. That’s how it is in my hometown, where the market closed down years ago. With this change there is also the transfer of ownership from the small businessman to the conglomerate and the standardization of the process. Once ownership is stripped away, replaced only with low wages, the emotions are blunted and the passion is gone. With the peak of summer behind us, hopefully there will be a return to outdoor shopping, supporting the local community and a way of life.