Get your goat (and fufu) here
Monday, June 22, 2009 at 5:34PM The following is the second installment in a four-part series profiling the city's ethnic food markets.
Goat meat has, apparently, become more and more in demand in Manchester. But you won't find it at Stop & Shop, Hannford or Shaw's. But for $3.50 per pound, The Spice Center, in the Maple Valley Plaza at 245 Maple Street, can hook you up.
Abdul, a butcher at The Spice Center, told me he sells close to 40 goats and lambs per week to the city's growing Middle Eastern, Pakastani and African populations.
He then invited me into his freezer:
As the name implies, The Spice Center does indeed sell spices and lots of them. And they're cheap. A 14 oz. bag of cumin, for example, will set you back $3.99, or 29 cents per ounce. One block east at the Valley Street Stop & Shop you'll pay $4.99 for 0.90 oz, or a whopping $5.54 an ounce!
As one might expect, the aroma of scores of different spices hits you as soon as you walk in the door. So too does the smell of cooked meat, courtesy of Beirut Shwarma, a relatively new food counter inside the store that sells delicious shwarma, falafel, other other Lebanese dishes.
Other affordable finds at The Spice Market include a 1lb. jar of tahini for only $2.99:
And this giant, 93 oz. jar of extra virgin olive oil for $19.99, or 21 cents per ounce.
Tasty-looking breads are also in abundance, including this very long loaf of Afghan bread:
Also to be found is one of my favorite deserts, baklava:
as well as sesame candy, which I have not yet tried:
Of course there is more to The Spice Market than just Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and Indian food stuffs. To wit, you can also pick up a hookah for use at your next party:
Stylish Islamic and north African headwear is also available:
While The Spice Center has some African goods, more can be had at the appropriately named African Market, 226 Pine Street. This tiny store, however, sells mainly food products from Ghana and Nigeria, products of which I am wholly ignorant, like garden eggs:
and custard powder:
and something called fufu flour:
Truly, the more I learn, the more aware of the extent of my ignorance I become.
Reader Comments (9)
I love the Spice Center - such good prices! The only drawback is that they don' sell the wrappers for the momo's but all the spices I need.
And the Spice Market has delicious fresh naan. It's so soft and chewy.
Um... the goat meat got my mouth to water for a brief moment... until I saw it's friggin head. And the Baklava, or as the packaging reads "Baklawa" as if Barbabra Walters was saying it.
And I want one of those red hats... I swear the father on Happy Days was part of a "Club/Clan:" that wore something quite similar. And as for the Hooka... well that goes without saying...
But I never knew it existed or you could get things like that in ManchVegas... thx for the tour!
Ooo, thanks for the tip on cheap spices!
my favorit place to do shopping.
Spice Center is an amazing store. Almost everything we eat at home is from Spice Center. The fresh pita bread from there is delicious. I love the Labneh and different types of cheeses. Halal meet too! It's delicious. So many spices. Food doesn't taste good without spices so I'm always in Spice Center to grab some. There are lots of foreign foods there that I haven't even tasted! Speaking of Spice Center, I'm going today! :)
I've never heard of this store but now that I know about it I'm going to go. I'm so there.
thanks to your tip about the amazing price on olive oil, i stopped by spice center today to pick some up, (along with some rose water, and pita). I told the guy at the counter to look this site up, because they were featured on here, and wrote it down for him. networking ;)
I buy most of my spices there along with
my dried peas and lentils
They are quite reasonable.
I will try the goat next.