Sao Paulo Municipal Market

The Mercadao opened in 1933 in a building by Francisco de Paula Ramos de Azevedo, with thirty-two stained glass panels made in Germany showing agriculture, cattle and fishing rather than saints - the iconography of a market rather than a church. The ground floor is produce: fruit stacked in walls, imported cheese, dried cod, spices, and stallholders who hand out samples with a persistence that becomes a negotiation. The mezzanine is where the two signature dishes are sold: a mortadella sandwich packed with a quantity of sliced sausage that is deliberately absurd, and a pastel de bacalhau. Both are expensive for what they are and both are queued for anyway. The surrounding streets are the wholesale district.

What you actually see

• German stained glass of 1933 - thirty-two panels of farming and fishing.
• The mortadella sandwich - a portion sized to be photographed.
• Walls of fruit and dried goods - the ground floor produce trade.
• Sampling as negotiation - stallholders offering, then pricing.

When to go

All year. Two hours, arriving before the lunch queues.

Honest expectations

The famous sandwich is very expensive and enormous - one between two is sensible. Free samples of fruit are often followed by pressure to buy at high prices. The centre around the market needs normal caution. It closes early on Sundays.

Nearby

The Pinacoteca and Luz are north; Liberdade is south-east.