Our intrepid friend Robert Bell of Western Onion Sales in Camarillo, CA, provided us with some remarkable photos from his recent travels to Asia, specifically the market at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in Russia.
According to Wikitravel.com, accessible at https://wikitravel.org/en/Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky “is the capital and largest city on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula and the second largest city in the world that is unreachable by road (after Iquitos, Peru). It is a port city on the Avacha Bay and surrounded by high, snow-capped mountains and volcanoes such that one cannot see the horizon from any point in the city. This city of roughly 200,000 residents is the principal entry point for travelers visiting the peninsula and has a well-built tourist infrastructure to cater to tourists who wish to do anything from wildlife viewing to bear hunting to paragliding.”
Amazing.
Robert, of course, gravitated to the onions, and if you look closely at the photos, you’ll see not only regular yellows but also flats. He told us the produce is “all hothouse or garden grown,” and there is “little to no commercial ag.” Robert reported that his visit to Siberia was educational.
“What you saw was the extent of the produce section,” at that market, he said. “The only other choices were cabbage or pickled cucumbers.” There was “lots of smoked and fresh fish and salmon eggs, but ‘no caviar.’”
Russian Onions, courtesy of Robert Bell
Russian Onions, courtesy of Robert Bell
Russian Onions, courtesy of Robert Bell
Russian Onions, courtesy of Robert Bell
