Spain: Vanessa Leftwich (Learning on Excursions)

Learning on Excursions

For my marketing class, we went on a trip to The Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria (also known as La Boqueria). This is a famous food market located right in the heart of Barcelona. Monday through Saturday, from 8:00 in the morning to 8:30 at night, over 200 vendors come to sell their fresh foods. These ready-to-order foods consist of poultry, eggs, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seafood, pastries, bread, butchered meats hot meals and much more.
I arrived around 4:45 in the afternoon, and it was bustling with people from all over. I could tell it was a diverse crowd of consumers as we heard different languages come from those who walked past us. The stands with the most people were the nuts and dried fruits. I think it is because they serve as a good snack as it was not quite dinner time as people eat much later in Spain.

Another hot spot was wrapped food and meals. I thought it was interesting that they would wrap the meals into one and have them sitting all day (refer to last photo). Back in Wisconsin, our food markets do not usually have the meals sitting out on display like this. Does this tactic affect the freshness of the meal?

I also observed people sitting at the mini restaurants/bars within the market. There they serve typical Spanish food such as paella, croquettes, gambas al ajillo, tortilla española, and much more. Everything was decently priced, making it affordable to people in varying financial situations.

Vanessa Leftwich

Major: Consumer Behavior & Marketplace Studies

Hometown: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Program: Spain – IES Business & Art Barcelona