Wow:
La Central de Abasto de la Ciudad de México is enormous. It sprawls across a 327 hectare site on the eastern edge of the D.F., dwarfing fellow wholesale food markets such as Hunt’s Point (24 hectares), Tsukiji (23 hectares), or even the massive Rungis, outside Paris (232 hectares). ¶ La Central has its own postcode, its own 700-member police force, and its own border-style entry gates, but during my visit, its enormity truly hit home only when we had to take a taxi to get from flowers to fish. It was a solid fifteen minute ride from one section of the market to another!
My first thought was “I want to go to there!” but that awe gave way to anger. With a turnover of $8 billion and individual stallholders who keep half a million dollars in cash on hand, it’s a travesty that the workers who cart boxes of produce are paid just $8 a day. [via]