Society

A brief history of street markets in São Paulo

street food markets são Paulo

In the transition to the 20th century, the trade in basic necessities and the like was a growing line of work, involving the regular participation of Brazilian workers, topped-up by the arrival of foreigners involved in establishing new farms and urban commerce. Understanding the functioning of food sales in São Paulo in this period requires us to recognize, first of all, that this activity was already a part of the city’s life since the slavery era.

In the 18th century, blacks, slaves and poor whites set up greengrocers and markets selling homemade products, fruits, small animals, fish, firewood, medicinal herbs, and other necessities. Some tried to improve the conditions of their own lives, while the slaves tried to save up some money in order to buy their freedom.

Throughout the 19th century, among the groups that took part in supplying markets were the poor freemen, who, in the context of a slave society, created possibilities for themselves to access land outside of the scope of a large property. Some were small farmers, others lived as leaseholders. Beyond them, there were the slaves of poor masters who worked on the plantations with their bosses. For all these workers, cultivating the land and selling food was a form of survival. 

Beyond the markets and the intense street commerce, public markets also held significant importance until the 20th century. At the intersection of streets XV de Novembro with Ladeira General Carneiro, there was the so-called Casinhas Alley, later named Rua do Tesouro. There, the Casinhas Market was established in 1773—the first municipal market of its time, made up of seven small rooms, fit for the sale of vegetables, poultry, eggs, fruit, milk, and other foods. Some years later, other stalls were set up on the Ladeira do Carmo. 

As of 1867, the municipality already had an establishment known at the...

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