Market research
Tourists flock to Cartagena, Colombia, drawn by its Caribbean sun and sand, colonial architecture, nightlife and restaurants. But those visitors rarely see where the food on their plates is bought and sold every day: the Bazurto market, a sprawling mix of wholesalers and retailers that spills out of a decrepit waterfront building onto nearby streets, where throngs of vendors peddle fish, meat, grains and vegetables. In this city of 1.1 million people, about 80 percent of all food moves through the Bazurto market. But in recent years, government officials decided to relocate the marketplace in order to build a dedicated high-speed bus route. This is a huge task — one street near the market building contains over 1,000 food vendors — and Cartagena cannot afford to disrupt its food-supply system. Yet in Colombia’s informal food industry, it is hard even to trace the web of affected growers, wholesalers and retailers....