In this respect São Paulo is truly exceptional. When you see these you begin to understand the city's culinary reputation. São Paulo's street markets receive fruit and vegetables from all over Brazil and from Chile and Argentina. What is more, ringing the city are thousands of Japanese-Brazilian market gardens.

The selection of greens alone is massive: mustard, many types of lettuce, chicory, fennel, rocket, bok choy, fresh melokias (not many places outside of the Middle East where you can get it), spinach, kale, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, watercress...stalls and stalls of massive bunches of fresh herbs: dill, mint, basil (several types), lemon grass, rosemary, oregano, coriander, parsley, sage - basically everything you can think of.

As for the fruit, it ranges from Amazonian looking stuff, to tropical: pineapples, papayas, mangoes (palmer, Tommy Atkins, small green citrus-flavoured ones, and more) and jackfruit. A good pérola pineapple when in season will impregnate the flat and your hands with its aroma for the whole day. It will be very sweet, not sharp and not fibrous. It literally melts in your mouth. Similarly a perfect mango.

There is also plenty of fruit more associated with temperate weather: apples, pears, strawberries, blackberries, plums, as well as Mediterranean-climate fruit such as watermelons, grapes and so forth.

Also at the markets: fish stalls, meat stalls, spice stalls (you can find most of the basics you'll need for curries, for example), hardware, cheap toys.

The tradition is to drink a cane-juice (with lime juice) and eat a fried "pastel" (minced meat or palm heart are my favourites).

There are markets all over the city. The ones I've used are:
Friday: Rua Sergipe, in Higienópolis, opposite Zilana. Genteel. You can stop off for excellent coffee and sweetmeats before or after at "Dulca".

Saturday: Corner of R. Helvetia with Barão de Campinas. Far less genteel. The neighbourhood used to be the administrative center of the city. Now faded and nervously on the edge of crack-land.

Sunday: Amaral Gurgel, at Sta Cecília underground station. Huge, bustling, under the flyover (flyover incidentally closed to traffic on Sundays for pedestrians to amble).

Sunday: Praça Roosevelt. A smaller version of the Amaral Gurgel one, at the bottom of Rua da Consolação. Easier to handle, but very bustling nonetheless.

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Bakery. 120-years old, belonging to the Albanese family, originally from Calabria. Wood-burning ovens. The bakery bakes 2,000 loaves a day, but the outlet is a small shopfront. Sausages and cheeses hanging from ceiling. The best calabreza sausage-bread in the city, great aubergine bread. Great, crusty and chewy Italian bread. Sfogliatelli and Portuguese pastries, Italian wines etc.

Rua São Domingos, 330 Bela Vista.

Keep going down Augusta, center-bound, until it turns into Martins Fontes. Turn right at Martinho Prado. Keep going past impressive synagogue (incidentally opposite São Paulo's oldest Lesbian bar). Turn left when you reach Santo Antonio. First on right, then right again.

Not easy to find. Never mind there are a lot of similar bakeries nearby (Bexiga) that are nearly as good.

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Deli. Santa Luzia and others are wonderful Beverly Hills/Harrods food hall style places to feel rich and maybe splash out. Zilana is a small and functional place, but full of merchandise not to be found in many of the other more chic outlets, and is usually cheaper. Several types of herring, pickles, salmon, even smoked haddock!!! Spices. Fresh horseradish. Good bread, tough rye and proper chewy bagels...

Lebanese ingredients, plus olives, dried fruit, hams, cheeses...

Good spirits on special offer. Arak, vodkas, slivovitz.

Lots of one-off promotions (the only place I've ever seen Stilton in São Paulo, but it didn't last) such as sudden gluts of Hungarian gherkins or cranberry juices.

Jewish food counter with Kreplach, stuffed chicken neck and so on.

Rue Sergipe, 231
Higienópolis
Between Avenida Angêlica and Rua da Consolação, at the lower entrance to the cemetery.

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If you want a lazy lunch in beautiful surroundings then this is the place for you. Eat in the tented covered gardens whilst enjoying wonderful caipirinhas then if you like, buy the table and chairs you have been sitting at and on. Every piece of furniture and artwork at the restaurant is for sale. Inside there is a well stocked wine cellar. The staff are very friendly and know their food and drink.

Rua Minas Gerais, 112
Higienopolis
T: 3258.6093
W: restauranteviralata.com.br

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A huge concrete, five-storey shopping centre where you will find the most astounding array of second-hand records, bootleg and genuine sportswear including Brazilian surf and skatewear and also the shirt and other souvenirs of every Brazilian football team you could expect to find. A stunning place, a bit like Afflecks Palace in Manchester, but way more exciting.

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One of the many tributaries running up to and across Avenida Paulista. This is a trendy part of town notable for its multitude of shops, cafes, bars and restaurants. Keep your eyes peeled for the street art. There's some interesting graffiti and amusingly designed stickers to be found here. If you're hungry there is great sushi to be had at gohan cozinha oriental - R.Augusta 2542.

Rua Augusta

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Newly opened space devoted to organic food - shop and restaurant. Menu is a bit limited and they're overawed by their own tandoor, but all in all, it's a nice relaxing place to eat breakfast/lunch and the food is absolutely fresh.

www.emporiosiriuba.com.br/
Al. Franca, 1590 (Jardins)

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This large, covered market sells all kinds of stuff that, if you’re not Brazilian, you probably will never have seen before. There are fruits from the Amazon region, for instance, that don’t even seem to have English names. Wandering past the stalls, you can see and smell eels, herbs, pineapples, salami, snails ... crammed together like a monument to the tastebuds.

Rua da Cantareira 306

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The upmarket old-fashioned service supermarket in São Paulo. If you can't find it here, you probably can't find it anywhere in Brazil (with exceptions detailed in other tips). Not cheap, but management very obliging and they can often start a food trend - eg a year ago there was hardly any basmati rice in Brazil and what there was was exorbitantly priced. I lobbied them and now they stock 5 varieties - all of a sudden tandoori chicken and curries are appearing on the menus of various restaurants. If you want to make a feijoada to impress friends you can buy a ready-made pack here.

Casa Santa Luzia Imp. Ltda
Alameda Lorena, 1471
01424-001 São Paulo SP
www.santaluzia.com.br/default.asp

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Outlying district in the ABC conurbation, accessible by trolleybus or train from Luz. Derided by locals (those in the city centre) as being a hick town, it's actually worth visiting for a browse around the shops (the staff don't leap on you like in the centre) for bargains and a few pots of cold beer in one of the more friendly bars there.

Santo Andre stations (Line D)

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Probably the most luxurious delicatessen in SP - you can burn serious amounts of money here, but you don't have to. Excellent bread (the only place in SP that does proper bagels). And the best sushi bar.

Also has a good selection of wines and cachaças, including RioSol - wine from Pernambuco - 8 degrees South of the Equator (OK, OK, it's still got a long way to go, but it has definite novelty value).

www.emporiosantamaria.com.br

Av. Cidade Jardim, 790

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