Spain’s traditional food markets are fading away – and with them, a whole way of life | Stephen Burgen

At my local market in Barcelona, I see how few young people have the time or inclination to join the queues for a friendly chat

Barcelona's famous market, La Boqueria, was voted the best in the world by Food & Wine magazine last month (ahead of Marche des Enfants Rouges in Paris and Campo de' Fiori in Rome), much to the derision of residents who long ago abandoned the city's famous 13th-century market to the millions of tourists who visit it each year.

Once the place to go for things you couldn't get in your local neighbourhood market - wild boar, pheasant, goose barnacles, tamarillo or edible insects - stallholders now offer plastic cups of fruit salad, paper wraps of jamon serrano and pre-mixed sangria. And who can blame them if it brings in twice what they make selling tomatoes?