On the taxi ride back from Wellington last week, our driver mentioned that there were betel plants for sale at the
Mangere Saturday Market. Not surprisingly, I made a trip out to check it out as soon as possible.
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| Betel seeding from the Mangere Market. |
The Mangere Market is like a small version of the
Avondale Sunday Market, with stalls selling toys, vegetable peelers and the like, as well as a section with fresh vegetables, and hot food trucks at the edges of the market. It has a very multicultural feel: I saw people in various types of ethnic dress, from men with headdresses and flowing robes, to women completely covered but for the eyes. There is plenty of free parking, as well as the advantage of being right in the Mangere Town Centre. This means that it is easy to explore the permanent stores next to the market, and you could even pop across the road to a reasonably priced cafe if you were hungry and didn't feel like the deep-fried and/or sugary offerings within the market.
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| Some of the fruits and vegetables at the market. |
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| Stall selling glutinous rice packets, pork crackling, prawn crackers, etc. |
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| A hot food truck with Chinese-influenced items. |
What I really enjoyed was a tour of the shopping complex leading to the market. Since we live next to what might possibly be the most boring supermarket in Auckland, it is always a source of delight when I discover new things which are available elsewhere. Apart from vegetables imported from the Pacific Islands, and whole spices used in Indian cooking, I found such unfamiliar animal parts as pork tails. The fish stores sold eel steaks, crabs and kina (complete with dark spikes, or else prepacked in plastic tubs), in addition to fish.
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| Box of kina. |
One of the stores had the tagline "bringing cultures together". In my opinion, that would apply to the entire town centre, along with its Saturday market.
Market Details
Mangere Market
Mangere Town Centre, 93 Bader Drive, Mangere, Auckland
(09) 275 6077
Market hours:
Saturdays 7am - 2pm
