Fresh food is among the foundations of good health of the people. The more fresh the food, the more nutritious it is. But fresh food should also be affordable to more people. That way, good economics (stable, affordable prices) meets good health (fresh, nutritious food that help strengthen our immune system).
Last week, on our last day (November 08) in Hong Kong after attending the Economic Freedom Network (EFN) Asia Conference, November 6-7, 2014, a friend Simon Lee, organized a "fresh market tour" for interested EFN conference participants. It was a short, 1 1/2 hour tour as some of us have to catch our flight back to our respective countries in the afternoon or evening.
Simon and his two staff, Lisa and Paul, brought us to Lok Fu fresh market in Kowloon.
It was not a supermarket inside a big mall. Rather, just an open space on the ground floor of a ahigh-rise HK government housing. As these two pictures show, the vegetables are fresh, they did not look like they came from a freezer, unsold items the previous day/s.
Upon arriving at the site, Simon turned over the briefing to Myron, a sharp, articulate, bright man who is an officer of
The Link, the owner and administrator of the Luk Fo fresh market.
Below, our team. Simon Lee standing on left most, Myron is 3rd from right, with a portable microphone. More should have joined but our departure from the hotel was delayed by almost one hour because the bus that would pick us from our hotel somehow went to another location.
Myron quickly started the briefing. His English is good and fluent. He must have studied in UK or the US. Anyway, the place is very clean. No foul smell whatsoever, something that is familiar in public markets, non-mall supermarkets in the Philippines
This shop of dried food is cool. Neat and clean and only one person manages the whole store.
The fresh seafood section. The floor is not wet, no mud or scattered fish body parts.
Crabs, seashells, other crustaceans. Some of those sea creatures I don't see in Philippine seafood markets. I would assume that some of these products are grown via aquaculture and not caught in the open sea.
Wow, those huge sea cucumber-looking creatures, I don't know their name. Although I am from a coastal city of Negros island in the Philippines and fishing is the main industry there, I don't see these products, nor in Manila's seafood markets.
Karthik Chandra from India, a fellow conference participant, was also amazed at the sights of fresh seafood that greeted us that day.
Another friend, Lorenzo Montanari from the Americans for Tax Reforms (ATR) in Washington DC seemed awed by the variety of these live sea creatures sold at affordable prices.
