The Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria, most known as La Boqueria market, is one of the must do when visiting Barcelona, a place full of color, joy and life, that will blow your mind with its offers of fresh vegetables, fruits, meats and meals.

As it is stated by the official website of La Boqueria market, where this market comes from is uncertain, but it is known that the maket was born as a travelling market, placed in Las Ramblas of Barcelona, in the center of the city, quite near to the coast. La Rambla acquired growing importance as a pedestrian lane, and the market was set in the best place to attract the large numbers of passers-by and local inhabitants.

In Catalonia, as it happend with most of the towns and cities when developing civilization, the cities were founded around markets. Quoting La Boqueria market website again, La Boqueria originated as an open-air market in front of one of the gates of the old city wall (Pla de la Boqueria) where fruit and vegetable traders from local towns and farms near by would sell their products. At the present time, the market is a member of Emporion, the European Association of Markets offering Excellence in Foods, and has promoted the European Project MedEmporion for the study and implementation of projects within the Mediterranean markets scope.

As Barcelonians (and chefs), La Boqueria market plays a huge role in our lifes: Is not only a place where we buy our daily goods, but also a space that is part of the city, a space that provides a meaning and fills the city with a special aura. In that sense, and for all the previous reasons, all our workshops and Just Royal BCN’s experiences have La Boqueria market as a starting point. As we enjoy a walk through this historic market, we will choose the products and food which we will cook later. When doing this we will have the chance to experience the whole mistic that the market has within and expand our knowledge of Spanish, Catalan and Mediterranean products and food offer.