The latest in open-air market fashion

Some things never go out of style in Israel.

Black tefillin, wrinkled white shirts, black hats, obscene English t-shirts, talking politics, and..... plaid shuk carts?

If there is one staple in Israeli society it is the Al Borland-style bag to wheel around your shuk purchases.










Every time you enter that wonderland of Mahane Yehuda, you are greeted by a few things; the smells of the spices, the shopkeepers yelling out their best deals, the stench of dead fish (no it's freedom, no it's fish), and the customers walking through the crowded alleys dragging around a plaid-patterned cart.

Let's be honest. None of the shuk bag patterns actually look good. They are hideous. If a fashion designer really wanted to hit it big in Israel, he or she woluld open up a designer shuk bag outlet at shuk prices to compete against this guy.




I guess that the shuk bag is a once-in-a-lifetime purchase, along the lines of a stroimel or sabra fruit. But the funny thing is that there are only about six different patterns for shuk bag that you see in the market. They are also the only ones that they sell in the outlet store (it's located near the Agrippas entrace on the main drag).

It also raises the question of how the plaid Shuk bag took off like Beanie Babies a few years back but has the staying power of Corn Flakes.

In our investigation, we did discover that some people have boycotted patters all together, preferring to go with the cage instead. But, let's remember that things fall out of holes, no matter what size. If someone's liche falls out of their cage bag, I can't be held responsible.


Check out this person. They are trying to think outside the box by thinking inside the cage. Bottom line: There is still plaid.


That is why we are proposing that a revolution in Shuk fashion. What about striped? Spotted? Plain-color? Berbery? Famous paintings? Pictures of shuk bags on shuk bags? Anything but plaid.

Viva la revolucion.