Vancouver: Steveston’s seafood bounty from the Salish Sea
When a wae lad was I, I did not like the smells wafting out from the fishmongers or the meat butchers in Vancouver’s Chinatown. Yet, those memories provided important lessons about food, and about how fresh fish and meat should smell before preparation and consumption.
I’ve also been thinking lately of a number of fish markets from around the world, because varied recollections of sight, smell, and taste occupy warm fuzzy places in my memory palace. They are: Lexington Market (Faidley Seafood crab cakes!) in Baltimore, US; Ben Thanh market in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Altona Fischmarkt in Hamburg, Germany; and Mercado de pescados y mariscos in Coquimbo, Chile.
The Steveston Fish Market, known also as the Public Fish Sales Float, is well known throughout the Vancouver area for the availability and variety of fresh seafood. The market is open every day depending upon what boats have docked, but weekends are a busy convergence for curiosity and commerce. The boats lining the dock at Fisherman’s Wharf proudly display their catch, their fresh or flash-frozen goodness out for sale. The white boards next to the boats indicate catches from waters as far as the Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands), or from much closer waters by the Gulf Islands in the Salish Sea (Strait of Georgia).
I’m eager for some seafood after the sight of all that fish, shrimp, and octopus. I surrender freely at Pajo’s with an order of fried halibut and chips. The batter is light and crispy on the outside, the fish tender and flaky on the inside, and the fries are cooked just right. The fish and chips is neither greasy nor “heavy”; I actually am foolish to want a second order to go with my ginger beer.
Beautiful days mean crowds will be out and about, good and steady, ready to look, bargain, eat, sell, or buy.
Tuna, flash-frozen
Potential sale
Shrimp bounty
Desired cephalopod
Pacific cod
Skate and stuff
The landing (Gulf site)
Icing the lemon sole
Red delicacy (preparation tips)
Pajo’s, famous for fish and chips
All that seafood make Homer go something something … hungyyyy …
Public transport: TransLink‘s Canada Line SkyTrain to “Richmond-Brighouse” station, followed by bus (401, 402, 407, 410) to Steveston. Trip duration is about 45 minutes one-way from downtown Vancouver.
I made the photos above on 18 April 2014. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-4V3.
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2 Responses to “Vancouver: Steveston’s seafood bounty from the Salish Sea”
Some nice looking fish there. Indeed, smell is the sense that’s associated with most memories. This post took me to several markets, including the central fish market in Santiago where you’ve probably been as well.
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Hi, Bob. How can I forget “Mercado Central” in Santiago? 🙂 I lived in La Serena for 5 years, so the “pescaderia” in nearby Coquimbo is naturally a stronger memory. I’m fascinated by the connection between sense and (long buried) memories: travel and experience all wrapped into one. Thanks for stopping by and for your comment!
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