Plaza del Mercado: A Memory of Puerto Rico's Gastronomic Culture

How the supermarket and refrigerator changed local food ways.

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In the northern area of ​​Viejo San Juan, between Norzagaray and Virtud streets, is the old Plaza de Mercado (Market Square). Its construction began in 1853 and ended in 1857. This was because, since at least 1765, there was a need to build a permanent Market Square in the city.

Food was sold on the docks, but this caused problems for health and control reasons. The government began a search and finally they chose the north neighborhood, where there were 15 wooden houses and 9 stone houses, far from the population.

Initially, the area was the site of a slaughterhouse, because the law required that the homes of the formerly enslaved and non-white servants, as well as the cemetery, had to be established outside the main community center; in this case, outside the city walls. At some point afterward, some of the farmers and workers began living around the slaughterhouse, and before long, they established their neighborhood there.

Plaza del Mercado, Viejo San Juan. Circa: 1900’s