I remember getting up at 5 or 6 in the morning and going down to Fulton Fish Market with my mother to buy fish and crabs. I remember my mother never let me stand near her when she bought shrimp because she said if I ever saw the head of a shrimp, I’d never eat them again. I finally saw a shrimp with its head intact when I was in my 20s — my mother was right! Well, I do eat shrimp now, but I wouldn’t have if I’d seen those ugly heads as a child!

I have vague memories of pushcarts on Avenue B — I vaguely remember men with beards and big coats pushing enormous pushcarts full of I-don’t-remember what.

I remember seeing live chickens in small cages at the Essex Street Market and swearing I’d never eat anything that I’d seen alive. 🙂