The way the city market looked. My grandparents had a scale and glass case for meats in their grocery store like the ones pictured here.
I enjoyed the trips Gran and I would take to the large downtown city market. Since there were no super stores this market housed the largest display and selection of foods I ever saw anywhere. The market had first been established in 1792 and today is the world's largest, continuously running marketplace. Farmers began selling their goods on Lexington Market's site after Colonel John Eager Howard, a hero of the American Revolution, gave permission for a market on a pasture in his family's estate. The market is named for the Revolutionary War's Battle of Lexington. In the first of a series of mid 20th-century fires in Baltimore public markets, Lexington Market burned to the ground in 1949. It was quickly rebuilt with the proceeds of a bond issue.
During my childhood visits to Lexington market it bustled with the activity of the meat, produce, seafood and bakery vendors as well as the steady stream of customers. The aroma of baked items and fresh fish frying made the adventure uplifting and memorable. The market was centered within a series of sidewalks and streets right in front of the city harbor. The entire scene was gray, dingy and in the outdoors one could see the brown and gray ships anchored in the harbor port. The air behind the market smelled fishy and salty at the same time. There was nothing glitzy or tourist worthy in the scene. The city harbor was an industrial pit.
Gran bought Jewish rye bread, Challah, and some type of dark bread from the market. She let one of the breads sit out to get partially hard then rubbed fresh peeled garlic cloves on the hard rough slices until the clove disappeared. Then she added butter and salt to the garlic surface and fed me to my heart’s content with this vampire and germ chasing delight. I’ll probably enjoy longevity just from the massive amounts of garlic I ate as a child.
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