Main market and supermarket in Cuttack, Orissa

The main wholesale vegetable market (mandi) in Cuttack—one of the major cities in the state of Orissa—is of a much more manageable scale than Delhi’s main market (see blog post). It's also dotted with the temples for which Orissa is known. Men unload trucks full of potatoes a few meters from ornate temple steps. 

A temple right in the middle of the mandi

Many of the goods sold at this market originate in other parts of India. Paan-chewing retailers in a side shop filled with large bags (and a strong smell) of garlic told us they buy their garlic in the Uttar Pradesh mandi. They truck it to Cuttack and sell it to restaurant, hotels, and other retailers across the city. Similarly, bananas come from Andra Pradesh to a wholesale stall here. Then they're bought by smaller retailers, who take higher-quality bananas to Orissa's capital Bhubaneswar. The lower-quality ones are trucked from the mandi to smaller villages where people are less able to pay for quality. It’s great to see how much of the produce gets used: We saw people selling not only the banana fruit, but also the stem and flowers (there were also mango pits for sale!).

Around the main market, semi-wholesalers and farmers from nearby villages spread out their goods on tarps. One salesman brings his chilies, greens, and sweet potatoes from his farm about five miles away. He rents a makeshift stall for around a dollar a day and arrives daily at 4am to sell to restaurants and housewives.

After trekking through the wholesale market, visiting the air-conditioned Big Bazaar supermarket in Cuttack was a bit of a shock. At Big Bazaar, you can buy Fuji or Red Delicious apples imported from the States at three times the price of the scrumptious Indian apples I’ve been buying on the street. There’s even a limited selection of canned and frozen vegetables. These have historically been a hard sell in India, since they seem less "fresh." Traditionally, freshness is highly valued; it’s easy to see why, when produce like the bananas we saw in the mandi is usually trucked from state to state without cold storage. 

Waiting in line at Big Bazaar. Way to coordinate accessories!