Informal Politics:
Street Vendors and the State in Mexico City by John Cross.
|
|
Street Foods: Urban
Food and Employment in Developing Countries by Irene Tinker. |
Informal Politics:
Street Vendors and the State in Mexico City by John Cross.
|
|
Street Foods: Urban
Food and Employment in Developing Countries by Irene Tinker. |
An Egyptian Street Market
Photos by Rebeca Cross
The "Souk"...
is an open air market that caters regularly to the needs of local residents. This one is located in old Maadi, a suburb to the south of Cairo along the east bank of the Nile river. |
| The souk has been built up over the years through several periods of reformation. Originally located next to the Maadi railroad station, Cairo municipality built stalls for many of the original vendors when the track was converted into use as a metro line. |
| But new vendors rapidly came to occupy a narrow alleyway between the stalls and the wall of the metro line. By covering the space in between, shaded areas could be made to protect buyers and sellers during the heat of the day. |
| Subsequently, many stalls also extended out onto other streets, bringing the total number of regular stalls up to about 200. |
| Street vending in Egypt, as in many other Muslim countries, is predominantly male. Women vendors make up only an estimated 20% of this market. Typically, women are concentrated within the market in goods that have low profit margins, and work within low capital limits. This woman, however, seems well established. |
| Stall holders have the advantage of being able to have larger stocks, and more valuable merchandise, which can be stored in the stall for safety at night. Generally, however, crime is not a problem at this market, as in most of Egypt. Most vendors simply cover their products at night, and a few boys are paid to spend the night in the market to keep an eye on everything. |
| Egypt is an intensely social country, a feature possibly augmented by the high population concentration in urban areas. A street market is a perfect place to meet friends and acquaintences while keeping an eye out for bargains or customers. This tomato vendor (right) takes advantage of this fringe benefit of street commerce. |
| The more established vendors buy their goods at Cairo's wholesale market, which was relocated across the Nile to Giza in 1993. This makes restocking more difficult, so many of the smaller vendors buy their goods from trucks or, in some cases, carts that bring food from the wholesale market or directly from the countryside. |
| All kinds of people come to the souk to buy their food, but most of the clients are housewives or their daughters. This girl was standing outside a stall, looking at the merchandise. |
| Police periodically raid the market to get rid of
many of the vendors who are here without licenses. When
they do, they will take the vendor's merchandise until
they pay a fine to get them back. Often, you can even see
the vendors riding in the same truck back to the police
station to get their merchandise back right away before
it spoils. But other times, the police just
"co-exist" with the vendors, who will come
right back in any case. These police officers were taking a break at a tea stand in the middle of the market. They didn't seem to want to have their picture taken initially, but after the fact they didn't mind. |
| My wife, Rebeca, would buy her food regularly in the market, and she took most of these pictures. Here she is flanked by two of her favorite vendors--Nadia (on the right) and her mother. |
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