People apparently feel very strongly about this market. And about their reviews of this market.
The major problem with Jean Talon is that it's sometimes easy to confuse quantity with quality. A lot of the stuff is totally unmemorable. Call me unenlightened, but I'm unimpressed by the mere existence of 27 fruit stands that all offer dirty, low quality cherries from Washington State. And I'm really underwhelmed by terrible coffee, even if it's grown in the shade by generously compensated farmers from third world country X.
On the other hand, a lot of stuff is really, really good. I'm not sure I've ever seen such a wide array of high quality meat in my life. The local leafy produce is terrific in season.
If the middlemen were eliminated from Jean Talon, the market would probably only be about 1/2 its current size. The other result would be a separation of chaff from wheat. I'd give the remaining star then.
Oh, yeah. Boston sucks.