Markets of the World: A fresh take on food, photography and book publishing

Anyone who finds sterility and repetition lurking in the food-and-foodie assault on popular culture, or perhaps a fetid insouciance in photography book publishing--one pass by the bookshelves at the mega chain stores reveals that sellers have not lost their desire to peddle large-format photo spreads on Tuscan herb gardens or the Earth as seen from a rich man's helicopter--is likely to be refreshed by a new book, Markets of the World, by Toronto photographer Dean Bradley.

For an audience that doubtless craves an authentic, humble take on the photographic discovery of the simple pleasures in life, the book is an exhibition not just of talent and creativity but also of exploration and connection.

The market in Mr. Bradley's vision is a community crossroads, both a vibrant intersection of social threads and a common starting point for diverse moments of inspiration, from an evening meal to a flower arrangement to a special gift. The market is colour (p50), conviviality (p32), craftsmanship (p47), enthusiasm (p37), discovery (p71), simplicity (p39) and raw beauty (p27).

Part imaginative travel memoir, part photography exhibit of markets as far flung as Australia (the Sydney fish market), Spain (Valencia's mercado and Barcelona's boqueria), Cambodia, Vietnam, Morocco, Istanbul, Amsterdam and a dozen more, Markets of the World is truly an exploration of quotidian adventure.

(Mr. Bradley's YouTube channel contains a short video of himself eagerly opening the initial shipment of first editions outside his Toronto home. No doubt we can all identify with and admire the child inside this moment of discovery.)

Last week the intrepid photographer launched the self-published book at the classy, clean-lined Miele Gallery in the upstairs Market Kitchen of St. Lawrence Market in Toronto (St. Lawrence Market is also featured in the book), where dozens of guests and photography enthusiasts mingled among the exhibit of Mr. Bradley's work and sampled fresh hors d'oeuvres made from produce from just downstairs. 

It's a rare treat to find a photography book whose essence is no more or less than the artist's passion for his craft and the life in what surrounds him.

Markets of the World ($29.95; hardcover; 103 pages) is available at independent GTA bookstores such as Another Story, Nicholas Hoare, Type Books, Ben McNally, Book City and A Different Drummer Books, as well as at Ten Thousand Villages. It can also be purchased online from the photographer's website www.photosbydean.ca. 

Life in a Riad: Travels in Morocco

Husband and wife world travellers and Tuque Souq cousins Dean and Vicki Bradley (no, they're not each others' cousins; inbreeding in our family has been banned for at least 2 generations) just finished up a three-week trek through Morocco as part of their year-long, round-the-world expedition.

A common setting for their travel dispatches, the riad: a type of Moroccan manor whose splendor includes a central, interior garden or atrium. They're quite often turned into little hotels and/or restaurants these days.

Riad [ رياد ] is from an old Arabic word for garden and is also closely related to the word riyaada [Arabic: ريادة ] which means, coincidentally for our travellers, pathfinding or exploration.

From Dean's blog, Backpack Adventures, he writes of an adventure to find a riad:

A little skeptical about whether we were actually being taken to the Riad, or if he was leading us around aimlessly, we followed him along the narrow and twisting alleyways. The further along we walked the worse the pathway became, with broken sidewalk pieces and stones scattered on the ground. We finally arrived at a large wooden door and the young boy rang the doorbell. There was no sign indicating that we were at the correct place, so we just hoped that the staff knew who we were. [Read more...]

On her blog, Stories by Vicki, she imagines an alternative story of holiday life in a riad:

Aliana slipped through the grand stone-carved doorway into the back kitchen to prepare mint leaves for Madame Monjée’s tea. It was 8:00am, which meant the patisserie driver should be there soon to drop off the croissants, baguettes and sweet pastries. As one of their premium guests at Riad Belle, Madame Monjée had very specific requests for her petit déjeuner, however the large tips more than made up for her high demands. Aliana felt grateful for her job at the Riad, and especially to the owner, Ms. Lacroix, for giving her the opportunity to work at such a beautiful hotel. [Read more...]

Having tasted the sweet pleasures of life in Morocco, the intrepid couple are now trekking through Spain. alhamdullillah ala salaama, you two.

Camels jockey for position to annoy tourists in Egypt

There's something spectacularly amusing about spending a cold Friday afternoon in Toronto reading the user-generated reviews of the Great Pyramids of Giza on the popular travel website TripAdvisor.com.

Chortling over these reviews, it seems to this blogger that everyone loves Egypt and loathes Egyptians; travellers seem especially annoyed with the timeless art of haggling for camel rides.

"The camel drivers and hawkers are annoying, but just tell then you are albanian and they leave you alone."

"They use intimidation and threats to extort money out of you."

"...they tried to get us for about $50 each."

Ah, the travellers travelled to meet the untravelled in well-travelled lands, but the untravelled weren't what the travellers had travelled so far to see.

Rhetoric, please: What is a great pyramid without a camel haggler?

Feeling Mark Twain's The Innocents Abroad, it seems that when the traveller preconceives an egoistical experience of travelling that is equidistant from pure fantasy and reality, he is the blindest of all humans, for he neither imagines nor sees his travelled place for what it really is.

With the stout capabilities of my imagination I could visit the pyramids in my mind's eye as I sit next to a snow-covered window. Or with the blessings of our era I could hop on a plane to Egypt and visit the pyramids with my own true senses. But I wouldn't expect them to be the same trip.

Besides, why travel halfway around the world to let yourself be annoyed by the same species that lives on your street?

Old Damascus, light on coke, gets high on hotels

Coca-Cola is banned, but apparently Holiday Inn is okay in Syria.

According to a story from Al-Arabiya, the Syrian minister of tourism Saadallah Agha al-Qalaa has just laid the ceremonial foundation stone on a new $35-million five-star luxury hotel to be built (egad!) inside the old city walls of Damascus - right in the neighbourhood of that most historic and beautiful of souqs, al-Hamidiyeh. (Quite near the Umayyad Mosque, pictured.)

Why oh why? Ya salaam, there's plenty of open space in Syria. Hell they just found a church in the desert that no one had seen for 1200 years.

We can only hope that the hotel's design, when the structure is finally completed in 2011, ranks somewhere better on the Eyesore Rankings than the McDonald's on the Champs Elysees, the Hard Rock Cafe in Beirut, the new AGO in Toronto, Starbucks (in general), or these pointy things in Kuwait.

[Okay, that was an unfair dig at the AGO, Toronto's new Frank Gehry thing. We like the new AGO, we just don't like where it is. You can imagine the artist's rendering of the corner of Dundas & McCaul streets all you want, but the area really looks like this. If you're going to build a monstrosity, have the courtesy to do as they do in Doha: put it on a fake island.]

Djibouti Calling

Although this is a few months old, it nonetheless caught the Tuque Souq's attention: The tiny nation of Djibouti is pitching its nascent tourist industry to Canadians. The Tuque Souq is sold!

An official delegation led by the Djiboutian Minister of Sports, Recreation & Tourism Hassan Farah Miguil visited Ottawa and Montreal last winter.

[Fast facts Djibouti: Located on the horn of Africa between Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somaliland; Population 500,000; Independence from France in 1977; Member of the League of Arab States; Governed by a very delicate power share between ethnic groups; Canadian exports in 2006 totalled $2.8m; And since 2001 home to a US Naval Base.]

"Tourism is one of our economic priorities and we are investing heavily in its growth by building strong partnerships with the private sector," said Omar Moussa, Pesident of Djibouti's International Chamber of Commerce and Industry. "Djibouti has a solid tourism infrastructure and our airport is one of the best in the region."

Apparently the jewel of Djiboutian tourism is the Djibouti Kempinski Palace Hotel [PICTURED], the first 7-star hotel in Africa.

According to the above article from the Africa Trade Association, Ottawa and Montreal are home to communities of the "Djibouti Diaspora." The Tuque Souq will try to investigate - any Djiboutians out there?

No numbers are readily available as to how many Canadians have holidayed in Djibouti. Air Canada's website does not recognize Djibouti as a destination. According to Expedia.com, you can get to Djibouti from Toronto via London and Addis Ababa in a little under 30 hours for $2500.