Corona and farmers’ markets

Corona times have their impact on farmers’ markets. In my hometown Bonn (Germany), the downtown market suffered as all surrounding shops were closed. When was that? March, April? Corona took away my sense for date and time.

The markets in the suburbs boomed as home office meant also cooking at home instead of eating in the canteen at work. And supermarkets did not always provide the “proper” environment in these times.

Besides those general trends here in Bonn, there was also one person who stranded in Bonn during Corona times and built his own business at the market.

This is the story about Baptiste, a French student who visited his German girlfriend and because he could not travel back anymore decided to start again baking bread on a wood fire oven and sell it on 2 markets in Bonn.

He got into contact with a local pizza backer “Pizza Prinzip” , who caters with his wood fire oven pizza for several markets, and off he went.

So let’s listen to his story and craft.

How did it all happen?

Askan: Baptiste, who are you, where do you come from and what are you doing in general?

Baptiste: I am Baptiste Hagège, French from the Southeast of France, more precise the Drôme region. I am into sports, rehabilitation and physiotherapy and another passion: bread and pastries. I am doing the latter one since being a little kid.

Since you were a kid?

Yes indeed, since I was 13, I was selling cakes and pastries in a bakery.

Great. And how did it happen that you came here to Bonn?

My girlfriend Nadine is living here in the city of Bonn and I was suppose to visit her for a weekend. But with Corona suddenly air travel stopped, everything was shut down. So I decided to stay with her during the times of Corona.

That sounds quite romantic. I hope she liked it as well.

Yes, very much.

Now you are working at the market in Oberkassel (neighborhood in Bonn) with a wood fire oven from Pizza Prinzip. How did that cooperation happen? You probably haven’t heard from Pizza Prinzip already in France.

I discovered the farmers’ market at the Frankenbad in Bonn and I asked myself, hey why not start selling bread here. The major things for selling bread are, first making bread, having flour and an oven. For the flour I discovered the nearby Broicher Mühle and afterwards I started looking for a wood fire oven. I approached several bakers in vain and then I contacted Zoe who is running the Frankenbad market, who told me to call Boris (owner of Pizza Prinzip). We started a trial with one of his ovens and it worked out. So he told me: just do it!

So we started the first Friday market here in Oberkassel, it worked really well, people were coming back the next time, they really liked the bread, which is the most important part (laughing).

Baking bread in a wood fire oven

But tell me, what is so special with a wood fire oven? At home I am baking bread as well, but only in a normal electric oven.

What’s so special about the wood fire oven is that you have to preheat the stones inside first, then you put the bread in the oven and do not heat it anymore, the stones give back the heat. Therefore one has to master the heating of the oven, meaning having the right wood and fire to heat up the stone to the right temperature.

What does it do to the bread when you bake it in a wood fire vs. an electric oven like at home?

Well it first adds taste to it. A more distinct taste to the bread crust and a particular color, a little darker. The bread will also not be uniform, there will be for example some darker spots due to some ashes or so which gives authenticity to the bread.

Is it harder to handle such an oven?

Yes it is more difficult than pressing a button of a regular oven. Each one is different. And it is after two months that I start to understand how the oven works. Before that it is only tests. So it is a long process. Of course the type of wood is important which will add taste to the bread and heat up differently.

A different style of breads

When I look at your breads, your Pain au Chocolat, I wouldn’t know which type of style they are. The baguette is not the one I usually see in France, neither will I find your other breads in a German bakery. How would you describe it?

Well, I would say it is a bread from former times and which comes back into fashion again. The breads are sourdough based which helps to keep them fresh longer and gives them a distinct taste, a certain acidity. It won”t be the classic baguette which is eaten immediately. I am using whole flour not the white one.

Which are the flours you enjoy working with?

For making bread I like working with spelt, the one you can find here and the one from France.

And what do you like so much about spelt?

The “little” spelt is one of the most ancients cereals. It is a bit yellow and has a distinct taste, slightly spicy somehow, slightly sugary , a quite particular cereal.

Spelt is different to wheat, it will not rise as much when baking. And here in Bonn is also different to the one in France.

Oh really? What does this mean?

In France we have an organization which protects the “little spelt” . Here in Germany it cross bred with wheat, looks a bit more brownish, with a strong taster, partly reminding of rye. So it is really a different flour altogether. In France spelt is strongly protected and therefore “pure pure”.

Is rye being used in France?

Yes. And here I discovered at the “Broicher Mühle” a super beautiful rye with yellow, purple, black, white colors. It is really great to work with, it has a great taste.

The experience selling at a market

Have you ever worked on a farmers’ market before, with your own oven etc.?

Not it is my first time. It is the first time that I sell bread on a market.

Where you not scared working at a market making your bread “live” in front of everybody?

Oh yes, I was scared. When I had my first breads, they were a failure. So I put them aside. Then somebody wanted to buy them and I told him: no don’t buy them they are not good. But he still wanted to buy them and he liked them. The next breads turned out better nevertheless.

You had some experience as a youngster selling bread in a bakery, is this experience here at the market very different?

Ooh, yes, yes, it is a bit different. First it is a bit more complicated as I do not speak German. Okay, I know spelt flour, rye flour or “would you like a Pain au Chocolat” in German. But beyond that the communication with the people is different.

So it is the smile which wins at the end of the day, even under a mask in Corona times?

Exactly, the smile with the people is what counts. Then the people are happy.

Is it always the same people who came to you to buy bread? Or did it always change?

I have base of loyal customers, that is really a great experience, one of the most positive things I am taking with me being at the market. You meet every week the same people, they provide me with feedback, telling me what was good and what not so good as you have to consider that I am not really a professional who has done many markets. So I get a lot of advice from the local customers, and that is really super. And what is great they still come back when there was something not so great. They try something different, it is really nice.

The difference between markets

You are working at two markets: the one here in Oberkassel, rather a suburb and the other one at the “Frankenbad” in the “old town” of Bonn at the center. Is there a difference between the 2 markets? Or are they the same?

No, they are very different. On the level of the organization and people. In the “old town” market I have to first produce my bread in the oven and the transport it to the market with a trailer on my bike. Here in Oberkassel I produce the bread on the spot itself. There is also a different ambiance, here in Oberkassel people take more time to talk with each other. À Frankenbad people have less time, but they are a very different type of people. So there the markets have different type of customers, event though the age groups are similar at my stall. But as a whole there are more young people at Frankenbad who are more interested in the initiative. In Oberkassel people prefer the more traditional side. In Oberkassel the people are interested in the fact that I am a young guy and working to get things done. Frankenbad has a more alternative ambiance also when it comes to consumer habits.

And what does it mean in terms of sales? Is it different as well?

No, not really. People come, ask what kind of bread it is, we give them advice for example what they are going to have for dinner and give them the best choice. On the pastry level people have also the same preferences. It is kind of balanced between the two markets.

I have heard that you will come back one more time and then you will leave?

Yes.

Leaving the beautiful city of Bonn,

yes

your girl friend,

yes

the chance to bake bread and sell it

yes

Which is really pity from my perspective.

Now I know: I can make it!

But tell me how would you characterize your experiences here? What are your lessons learned? For you personally.

In the meantime the cook from nearby bistro came by and wanted to buy some bread as well. And after a chit chat Baptiste commented:

You see it is nice, he gets some breads from me and he brings me his great bowls, this exchange is really a nice experience. But also the ambiance amongst the traders is great. I give bread, I get fish. That is really a particular ambiance.

So what does this experience here means for your future? Is it something you do not want to do anymore because it is so hard?

It gave me the idea that it is feasible to do it. Baking breading, finding flour, starting the business, people who come back to buy again. At the beginning we wanted to do it for ourselves and now we want to do it for the customers. So these two things blend together, that is really super. I really got the feeling that I can make it.

So it means that one of these days we will see you here again? Maybe during vacation?

Why not. I call Boris (Pizza Prinzip owner) and will ask him if I can bake some bread in one of his ovens and then we start again.

Any final words?

First, I would like to thank Boris a lot for his help, he gave me everything and trusted me. That was top. You know I just the capabilities and he gave me all the materials. And even when I had a strange idea, he said “no worries, just do it”.

And second I would like to thank all the people from Bonn who bought my bread.

Epilogue

I was really impressed how Baptiste got stranded and found a way to make a living in a foreign city without any knowledge of the local language. And how people like Boris are helping in a practical way without knowing about the outcomes. These are the stories which make farmers’ markets unique places full of life.

A little link list:

• Market in Oberkassel
• Farmers’ market at the Frankenbad
• Pizza Prinzip who helped Baptiste with the wood fire oven
• The local mill Broicher Mühle for Baptiste’s bread
• The other markets in Bonn on this blog

The post How Corona “helped” me to start a business – Interview with Baptiste at the Oberkassel Farmers’ Market appeared first on Food & Farmers' Markets.

Intro

I had already eaten for lunch. Bad idea when you want to visit the Amsterdam Foodhallen, kind of street food under a roof.

The Foodhallen are located in the heart of the city in De Hallen, a market hall type of complex with all kinds of little non-food stores. The Foodhallen are purely focused on eating on the spot, no produce is being sold.

(Street) Food trends

The New York Times once wrote about the US that “The Food Court Matures Into the Food Hall” indicating that there is a trend among developers to go away from fast food chains and to create food halls which are focusing on (local) artisan restaurants. This is exactly how I would describe the Amsterdam Foodhallen.

I have since some time welcomed and enjoyed street food as it adds new ideas and opportunities to eat quality food, basically always superior to the fast food chains and at a price level below a classic restaurant experience. And the duration of the meal is compatible with impatient teenagers, a relief for families.

But I have become a bit tired of the common street food offerings. I have seen enough burgers, pulled pork, burritos, pizza etc. on street food festivals, more often then necessary also of volatile quality. Saying that, I am still experiencing some great street food like the Bosnian Cevapcici in St. Louis / Missouri (they have opened a restaurant in the mean time), chicken curry at the Borough Market in London or from my perspective the best pizza in Bonn, Germany from PizzaPrinzip which have there base a few steps away from my home :-). But in general I have gotten a bit reserved about it.

What I see is that farmers’ markets and market halls are having more and more street food and less and less produce. As, in general, we want to spend less time for cooking, the street food phenomenon follows the trend of times.

As a fan of good produce I have mixed feelings with this trend. When I first visited the Borough Market in London a few years ago, I was amazed about the variety of products and the mix of very traditional butcher stalls and vegan entrepreneurs. Visiting it in 2019 I saw more street food than produce stalls. For me the charm of the market – its great diversity – got lost. Despite the great curry I ate there.

The foodhallen themselves

I have not counted the stalls there, but there are 21 or so. They are aligned on the sides of the hall, and in the middle there is a long row of tables and chairs to sit down and eat. A clean, pleasant ambiance with a dash of hipsterdom.

The offering did not provide a real surprise, I had the feeling that burgers, pulled pork, sushi, oysters, pizza, Asian style dumplings were dominating. But my eyes certainly overlooked one or two of the 21 food stalls. Independent of the quality of the food itself, it has a rather generic character representing somehow current trends found everywhere. I did not discover any local touch. This would turn this food hall into a distinguishable spot worth making a larger detour. Not to be misunderstood, I am not judging the quality of the individual stalls and their products, it is just that the offering is exchangeable.

The beer offering was wider than in many places I frequent, with a choice of well known craft beer brands. No surprises here as well, but I am already happy when I can spot beers which deserve to be drunk.

Unfortunately I did not discuss with any of the stall owners or staff about the lack of a local touch. Apparently it is just safer meaning more profitable to provide a low risk offering which caters for an international palate. I understand when local business people do not want to take financial risks. But it is a pity in such a creative city as Amsterdam that the demand for more local experiences seem to be so low.

The safe side has one advantage: kids and teenagers will feel comfortable and enjoy the food as the many visiting families I saw there indicated.

All in all: The Amsterdam Foodhallen are not my cup of tea as they lack a true local character, still they provide a much better choice than the usual fast food chains and kids will like it.

A little link list:

• The official website of the foodhallen
• Their Instagram & Facebook accounts
• Great article of the New York Times on the trend towards food halls
• The video from Dutchified gives a first impression
• Nellie is quite impressed of the foodhallen and she provides a wider picture in her post

The post Not my cup of tea – Foodhallen, Amsterdam / Netherlands appeared first on Food & Farmers' Markets.

Some years ago, when I started writing about farmers’ markets, I was looking for like minded bloggers. To my surprise I did not find a lot.

Yes a lot of food or travel bloggers present individual markets, especially on those popular ones like Borough market in London, La Boqueria in Barcelona, Pike Place market in Seattle and the like. One of my favorite posts in this regard is a holistic architectural critique of the very impressive market hall in Rotterdam. And there are many markets out there who conduct a blog on their website.

But those who focus on a broader range of farmers markets from a culinary travel or passionate perspective are very limited. I found only a handful who publish in the English language, my search for German & French ones was without success.

So here are my farmers’ market heroes, really only a handful. They all have different backgrounds and motivations and they all gave me a rich diversity of inspirations for a long time.

And a little disclaimer to avoid confusion about the term “farmers’ market”. I have not found a good single term which can express the different types of markets which deal primarily with food, e.g. market halls, outdoor markets, indoor markets, weekly market, daily market etc. So the term farmers’ market helps to distinguish all those categories from let’s say stock markets.

Marjorie R. Williams – Focus on France

I will always be grateful to Marjorie because she educated me to become a better blogger. She once approached me for an interview and her questions made me think in a more systematic way on why I love markets so much. It helped me to write in a bit more personal way and hopefully in a better English.

Marjorie is from Massachusetts in the US but has a passion for markets in France, especially the Provence area and Paris. Her market blog is coming from a travel perspective and helps you to find and discover new spots to be experienced during your – culinary – vacation time.

She is for me the Paris market “authority” par excellence and made the big effort to create a very extensive listing of all the Paris markets – including craft and antique ones.There is no way that I would travel there without having consulted her blog.

She makes her living from travel writing and teaching.

Her links:

• Website: Majorie R. Williams
• Books: Markets of Paris (already 2nd edition) & Markets of Provence
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Pinterest

Joan Lambert Bailey of Japanfarmersmarkets.com

Joan from the US has been working once as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kazakhstan and I was a European Volunteer in Benin, West Africa, this is our connection beyond farmers’ markets. She is now living in Japan, focusing on food, its sustainable production and Japanese farmers’ markets  – all with a sense of community. And this can be felt in all her blog posts and Instagram pictures, it all revolves around great produce as a base for good food.

Especially in the Tokyo area she has visited many farmers’ markets held conversations and highlighted unique produce. Unfortunately I have never traveled to Japan despite having a great respect for its cuisine. Here Joan helps me to get a glimpse on the Japanese food & farmers’ market culture, which is different to the one in Germany where I live. Good to see this diversity on our planet.

Her links:

• Blog: Japan Farmers Markets
• Her writing website (business)
• Facebook
• Twitter: @JoanLBailey
• Instagram

Chiara Ugolini – Markets of Rome

Chiara is the market authority for Rome, Italy. No doubt about this one. I looks almost like she has talked to every single market vendor in Rome, really! This passion for the markets and their main actors can be felt in each post. It gives the markets a very human face and shows to every visitor that listening to vendors gives lots of lasting memories, maybe more lasting than those taken through the camera.

Chiara also gives guided tours on the markets in Rome. One day I will make it as well to listen to the stories of the markets and their people – and not forgetting to get a bite as well.

Beyond that she is a great net worker, if there will ever be an international club of farmers market bloggers, she will create it I guess

Her links:

• Blog Markets of Rome
• Facebook
• Twitter: @ugolinic
• Instagram
• Youtube
• AirbnB
• Mail

Karen Seiger – Markets of New York

Karen lives and runs in New York. Her blog is a comprehensive guide to the markets in this city, the purpose is to be a “resource for people who aspire to a higher quality of life and a sustainable lifestyle by supporting local businesses and buying directly from the people who make and grow the things we all need and want”. She goes to great length to list all the events which makes the markets even more attractive.

Her links:

• Website: Markets of New York
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Mail

Robyn Eckhardt – Eating Asia

I got to know Robyn via social media a long time ago. She has a passion for the Turkish cuisine, something I share since I lived there once for a few months. She published a more than well researched book on this subject.

Coming from the US, she is often living In Malaysia and/or Italy, but travels quite frequently with her photographing partner David Hagerman to do research for her books. Her blog is not purely focused on farmers’ markets in various countries (Turkey, south east Asia and beyond) but she provided me with lots of inspiration, also for taking pictures.

Unfortunately it has been a bit quiet on her blog lately, still I am hoping for better times.

Her links:

• Blog: Eating Asia
• Her book Istanbul & beyond
• Facebook
• Twitter: @EatingAsia
• Instagram: IstanbulAndBeyond
• Mail

Askan Schmeisser – Food & Farmers’ Markets

Well, thats me from Germany. And the only male on this list. I observe this as rather typical for food related blogs except for those on BBQ and its equipment. I was raised with good food, worked for sometime in agriculture and have therefore a strong respect for farmers. Years after “everybody” had created a blog I wanted to start one as well. There was not much left to fill in, but farmers’ markets was a subject close to my heart and kind of an empty field to my surprise. German is my native language, but I decided to write in English as many of the people I know do not speak German.

As I have the chance to travel a bit, I appreciate the variety of markets which I hope makes my blog quite diverse. And one day I will reach the level of my colleagues on this list

Beyond my main blog, I also run with a friend a website on the markets of Bonn, Germany where I live. My latest project is the Bonn foodie calendar. For a living I work in telecoms.

My links:

• Main Blog: Food & Farmers Markets – well you are reading it right now
• My other websites: on the markets in Bonn and the foodie calendar
• Twitter: @askans
• Facebook
• Instagram: askans_
• Pinterest
• Mastodon: @askans@bonn.social
• Mail

Other inspirational blogs on farmers’ markets

There are still other bloggers I appreciate a lot and who inspire me as well:

Food Perestroika of Florian Pinel, a French guy living In New York. He covers the cuisine of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and at times farmers’ markets in a remarkably high level.

Traditonal Markets by Sara Gonzalez of the UK is more academic and activist when it come to the preservation of markets as important public places.

This Little Piggy by Megan Allan of South Africa  shows that they there is also a lively scene in this country, not only in the Cape area.

The post A handful – Farmers’ market bloggers around the world appeared first on Food & Farmers' Markets.

The mix of languages & cultures

Lately I focused a lot on the markets of my city, Bonn. So it was about time to enlarge my horizon. Cologne is not far away and I already had a peek view on the market in the Nippes neighborhood. It is characterized by a lot of different cultures and does not seem to be too gentrified, a mix of people with lower and higher incomes. And so was the outdoor market.

When walking through the market to get an overview I could identify a few languages: German, Turkish, Arabic, Persian and some I could not identify. The whole buzz of the market was about this mix. Some fruit and vegetable stalls had huge piles of peppers, tomatoes, parsley and the like, indicating that purchases here were done in big quantities for larger families. “Abla (Turkish for sister) those are great” shouted one trader showing a whole strawberry tray definitely too large for a one or two person household. This ambiance exuded a more Mediterranean style, I felt almost like a tourist. Other traders had rather smaller quantities but larger variety of produce, indicating that they where catering for a different type of cuisine and smaller households.

Strangely enough I did not discover any halal butcher. All of the four or five ones looked more like the classic ones: one specialized in poultry (with lots of chicken stomachs, hearts etc. on stock – yummy), the others having rather traditional meats and sausages. There were queues at all stalls, a rather good sign.

The mix of purchasing power

For the first time I saw a stall selling cheeses, yoghurts and other milk products beyond their “best-before-date” resulting in low prices. The owner is selling these special products since a long time on several Cologne markets with success. To make the clientele at ease, he offers samples to prove that they are still good enough to eat. He knew all the facts about food waste and shook is head about its magnitude in Germany. He sources the products from a specialized wholesale dealer who saves tons of super market products from waste. When I look at all the hip food waste projects who want to change the world, I believe these dealers should get more credit and beautiful Instagram posts.

At the other side of the market there was another stall, with just the opposite approach: high quality cheeses from various countries, the stuff I love. Before joining the market the owner had observed the crowd for some time to find out if it fits his profile. He saw that the customers with the necessary interest and purchasing power were coming on Fridays and Saturdays and since then he has not regretted to be there. The stall is also present on the evening market at the Rudolph Platz which is rahter a street food market. There he also serves nice wine.

The mix of people, the mix of food

I very much enjoyed the diversity and buzz in the market, as said before I felt a bit like a tourist who wants to experience the local scene without other tourists around. Well, a lady I had a conversation with at the nice permanent coffe-shop in the market, told me that she still comes by from time to time despite having moved into another distant neighbourhood. I think this is a lively example of the attractiveness of the market.

When observing this energy loaden ambiance and diversity of people I was wondering if people here – traders and customers – showed a togetherness or were rather next to each other without much intermingling. Maybe it is a too overloaded point to look at on a market, despite living in times of too many xenophobic voices… I asked again the lady but there was no conclusion.

Yes there were stalls which had a clearly mixed clientele independent of the product sold, others not so much. The major coffee shop had a more hip style thus attracting its own segment of customers, whereas others enjoyed their filtered coffee in an improvised setting.

I felt like: yes, this is a modern city where diversity is at the core of being the normal way of life. And yes it has an impact on the diversity of the available food,

I discovered date syrup and whole dried peppers from Turkey on a string. Lovely. And I also had in my shopping bag some French raw milk butter, French & Dutch cheeses, pineapple from Costa Rica and spinach Börek. Happy shopper.

All in all: I truly liked the market in Cologne-Nippes, it is full of buzz and diversity. Very entertaining and with a wide range of products from lowe price to high quality to be discovered.

A little link list:

• Posts on this blog on other Cologne markets
• Wiki of the Cologne markets
• Operating hours (German)
• If you find a nice post in English on the market please send me the link

The post Together or next to each other? Daily market in Cologne-Nippes / Germany appeared first on Food & Farmers' Markets.

I got to know Ute Lange through a variety of events, be it barcamps or meetings pushing the food agenda in the city of Bonn. Over time we had the chance to talk to each other, e.g. discussing the situation of the farmers’ markets in our city, where she sees a lot of potential for improvement.

Ute is a moderator, communication coach and owns her own company. Due to her job she has the chance to travel all over the world. She is always happy to find some time to visit markets and discover local food.

At one of the events in Bonn, during a break, she showed me her pictures from markets where I never had been. Kyrgyzstan, in central Asia got my special attention. I had already seen pictures of central Asian markets on one of my favorite blogs, Food Perestroika, which focuses on Eastern Block cuisine. Still those of Kyrgyzstan were new to me, they got all my attention and curiosity. They look so different to the markets I am used to, with so many uncommon produce; great.

Her market pictures from Thailand provided a very big surprise for me: on one of the photos I discovered a former student I knew from my old university! It was Ute’s friend! Small planet!

After our last meeting Ute had to travel to Tunisia, and I was not forgotten. I got immediately market photos from Tunis via e-mail. I hope she had good wifi.

So let us enjoy together the sights of the different markets, which I hopefully will discover one day as well.

Kyrgyzstan

Osh in Kyrgyzstan

Osh is the second largest city in Kyrgyzstan

Thailand

Tunis, capital of Tunisia

The post Visiting markets – Sharing memories appeared first on Food & Farmers' Markets.

Tim Engelbrecht and his brother have founded Cookit 5 years ago and have stalls at three farmers’ markets: Cologne, Troisdorf and in Bonn where it all started. Their motto: one recipe, all ingredients, one bag.

We meet early Saturday morning before the crowds arrive. Tim had a short night as he had to work a bit longer than usual to prepare the Saturday sales. I am a bit nervous, as I conduct my first interview ever, but I know Tim and he is a fun guy, making it easy to me.

Interview

Askan: Hi Tim
Tim: Hi Askan

Askan: How long have you been at the Bonn market and what did you do beforehand?
Tim: We are now for almost 5 years at the market, we started with the asparagus season 2013. I went directly from university to the market.

Askan: You went directly from university to the market?
Tim: Already during my studies I worked on the Cookit concept. We opened the stall and then I finished my bachelor thesis. Somehow it just happened.

Askan: How would you describe your stall and what is being offered?
Tim: This is easy to explain: we always have six recipes to try. The customer chooses the recipe and gets a bag with all ingredients in the right amount needed. One can try it without having to buy extra ingredients or producing food waste. The underlying idea is to cook with regional ingredients.

Askan: Which recipes are the most popular with customers and which ones do you prefer?
Tim: Myself, I prefer hearty food, autumn & winter cooking is really mine, I love cabbage, cheese, everything which has a lot of power. With customers it depends on the weekday. During the week they prefer a light and quick cuisine, whereas at the weekend there is a tendency to cook more elaborate recipes.
Askan: So, the Sunday roast is still alive?
Tim: Yes indeed, meat based recipes sell more at the weekend.

Askan: When do you have to get up in the morning and how many hours do you make per week in average?
Tim: In average? Hmm … Let’s say it this way: we are lucky when we work less than 80 hours. The Bonn farmers’ market is unlike other markets open all day long. Everything you have to do besides selling, like filling up the cart, set it up and clean it you do outside the opening hours. I get up between five and six o’clock.

Askan: In all my conversations at various markets across Europe I got to know that it is very difficult to find successors for market stalls, due to the long and hard working hours.
Tim: Yes this is the case. We have the luxury that we start at the markets on Wednesday, we use the time until then to develop recipes.

Askan: What is fun in your work and what is not fun?
Tim: Hard to tell, this depends how the week is evolving. It is great to develop new recipes, to photograph and sell them afterwards. And what we all love is sales, on Saturdays, when the crowds come, the buzz never stops, and we have stress for 8 hours in a row, this is when we have fun. You realize that all your efforts work out and there is a real flow, this is fun. Less fun is of course when after 14 hours you have to clean up everything. Or the anti-day: you have prepared everything for the day and the local radio station announces a severe weather warning! You know instantly that in the evening you go back home with half of your prepared stuff.

Askan: How would you describe the Bonn farmers’ market?
Tim: I think it is a classic market, centrally located, full of buzz, a nice market. Meanwhile we have a nice diversity of choices. I also like that the market is managing the stretch between street food and classic offering. Here in the heart of the city, it is easy to get a good lunch at the market, and then buy some produce. It is a market I really love.

Askan:  What should be improved or changed?
Tim: Well, … I don’t know. The market as it is now is around since a while. One may appreciate this one way or the other. I like changes a lot, especially visible ones. This creates incentives for people who walk by every day to join their work places. I like the fact that there is now more street food available. I would appreciate some additional delicacies, as something new is very interesting for customers – and for us as well (laughing).

Askan: Who are your customers?
Tim: Regulars, absolutely. We have customers who purchase from us since 5 years, and they have not left out any single recipe. We have customers, whom we are handing over our recipe cards they have missed during their vacation. The majority of the customers come at least once a week. We are not the kind of stall, where you walk by and say: great lets try it. Most people come by several times, and when the moment is right for them, they buy.

Askan: Bonn is an international city (e.g. United Nations etc.), do you have many international customers?
Tim: Rarely. There some international students who practice their German with our recipe cards. Generally our concept focuses on the local, regional cuisine. This has to fit your own taste and cooking scheme, which varies depending where you are coming from. But we speak English, whereas my French I learned at school is rather limited (laughs).

Askan: Thanks for the interview Tim.
Tim: Pleasure, it was fun!

Link list & map

• The cookit website
• My post on cookit on this blog
• The interview in German
• The other stalls at the Bonn market

The post Sometimes hearty, sometimes quick – Interview with Tim from Cookit at the Bonn Farmers’ Market appeared first on Food & Farmers' Markets.

In my blog a wide range farmers’ markets, market halls and the like have been described.

Meat

On my inward journey to the market I made a stop at the butcher Wiskirchen, where there is always a long queue waiting for service. Queues are not my cup of tea but today I decided to stay in line. I asked a couple people ahead of me why they were queuing but did not get a satisfying answer. When it was my turn the butcher explained: “well, we are just working too slow”. The laughs were all around. He is sourcing his meat and sausages from several producers with trustworthy quality he knows since a long time. My eyes caught a whole rabbit, something I always have been interested in but was always to shy to buy. This was my chance and together with a glass of rillettes it got into my bag.

As I was too lazy to find uncomplicated rabbit recipes, I just took the whole animal, fried it a bit on all sides, added a bit of thyme and rosemary and then put it into the oven at 80°C for a three hours, as I like low temperature cooking a lot. After having eaten the rabbit, I will be queuing again: the quality of the meat was really great.

Having the chance to buy a whole rabbit made me realize that nowadays the way meat is being presented and sold (in supermarkets) creates a disconnection to the fact that an animal had to be raised and killed to fill our stomachs. Instead it rather looks like something which could come out of a factory like any other consumer good. I guess this is a good entry point for artificial meat.

Vegetables

I moved on to one of the vegetable & fruit sellers, Mr. Raditzkys stall. His family enterprise sells on several Bonn markets and they have been featured in local newspapers and TV. The produce is sourced from the wholesale market in Cologne. I needed tomatoes and they had only one variety: the “Tasty Tom” ones. The sales lady convinced me that they were honoring their name, so I was willing to pay the premium even though it is was not the right season for great tomatoes.

I needed some salad, and here I have a favorite trader Mr. Henschke who is a producer himself as well and adds from other sources when necessary. I once bought some great Italian radicchio and since then he is the guy. He did not have this original one anymore (wrong season?), still he got me as a customer, and in addition the new harvest potatoes from Cyprus went into my shopping bag. They ended as roasted potatoes next to the rabbit.

Bread

Bread is something I cannot live without. Having lived a great portion of my life in the Würzburg area in Germany, where great bread is being produced, I am quite picky about it. So far in the Bonn area, I have never found the “right” one and I am always on the hunt for it. I had never bough a bread from the organic bakery “Tillmann” at the market, so I had to give it a try. And I found a keeper! Now there is one more reason to make the trip to the Bad Godesberg market.

Cheese

At the market it is very easy for me to stretch my budget to the very limit and to have too much food in the fridge. The choice is just so tempting. With a little discipline I allowed myself one more purchase at the Cilinaria Espania stall, which sells cheeses and antipasti with a Spanish touch. Mr. Linnemann refines cream cheese and other ones to his tasting with different spices, dried tomatoes and other condiments. Those dips are hard to resist. As we know each other a bit, we had our conversation, also about his quest to find a space at the main market in Bonn, where he could also sell some street food, which is not permitted at the current spot. I hope he will be successful, it will be an enrichment. He is a good sales person, very generous in giving samples, alway chatting and recommending new creations. This charm makes you overlook your budget and enjoy the good food side of life. Together with the ciabatta type of bread he sells, it was easy to overcome the time until the rabbit left the oven.

Experience

In an older post I described the market as a relaxed one. I have to add that it is a welcoming one as well, who is able to offer great quality and discoveries. And the traders are certainly a bunch of people to feel comfortable with. Shopping here brought smiles into the kitchen.

A little link list:

• My post on the Bad Godesberg market
• The Bad Godesberg market traders

The post Discoveries – Shopping at the farmers’ market appeared first on Food & Farmers' Markets.

Scroll down to the end for the map

Saturday at the Beuel market is a great day to meet your neighbors, friends and the like for a coffee and do your quality shopping at the same time.

The produce

The market has only 8 stalls covering meat & sausages, flowers, fruit & vegetable (organic & regular) and some street food: a coffee stall and a chicken roaster. A good cheese & milk product stall is missing, then things would be perfect. The traders are more of the jolly kind, helping their customers to make the right choice. Me personally I like a lot the owner of the organic stall who is very willing to share his knowledge as he is a farmer himself. I once had a long conversation over potatoes, as they are one of my favorites. The poultry guy is certainly the most jolly one of the pack. His assistant and him are also selling game meat from the nearby Eifel region. The game bratwurst is truly beautiful with a great aroma.

Community building

As the square where the stalls are located is big enough, it is very easy to see and to be seen. And to bring along baby strollers which makes it very family friendly. The mobile coffee shop is then the communication center on the market day. The stall has newspapers laying out, a good choice of Italian coffee specialties and pastries. There is also hot chocolate for the kids, who also can bike and run around without too much to fear. This relaxed ambiance creates the right opportunity to stay a little longer and chat. Certainly a good chance for community building.

A bit of history

This market is approximately just a couple decades old. The story says the Beuel people did not want to cross the Rhine river to shop at the Bonn city center market. At the time the reputation of that market wasn’t good. Therefore a quality market was on the wish list of the citizens. Even though I believe that the Bonn market is better than it’s reputation, the Beuel market is a great asset for the city. And for the local producers and traders it is also a nice business opportunity. At least the traders do not change that often.

All in all: a good combination of quality produce and a great place to meet your neighbors and friends

A little link list:

• Other markets in Bonn on this site
• Listing of all the stalls at the market

The post Cozy – Beuel market, Bonn / Germany appeared first on Food & Farmers' Markets.

The motivation

One thing is clear: farmers’ markets are not only a hobby, but a passion to me. I Iove to encourage people to visit markets. Markets have so much to offer: a large variety of produce, learning from the traders a lot about the produce and what to do with them, the buzz making it easy to have conversations with friends and strangers alike and a great place to have a coffee or a snack with some friends and enjoy the day. In short: markets are places where joy of life becomes real.

Talking to friends, colleagues and traders I discovered that there is a need to show rediscover the beauty of markets. This is how I started this blog, which covers markets I visited across several continents.

The starting point

Then came along Sascha Foerster from Bonn.digital, the company Johannes Mirus and him are running. Bonn.digital is doing social media consulting, community management and digital events. Sascha and I got to know each other through various social media and decided to meet over a coffee and chat a bit. Well the chat went well, and Sascha bought forward his idea with a charming smile: “Why shouldn’t we set up together a site, where Bonn people and visitors alike can discover the goodness of the Bonn markets?” He caught me a little off guard, even though the idea seemed very logical: if I wanted to make people go more often to the markets in Bonn, I had to do something about it.

One night of sleep and the deal was done. Sascha set up the infrastructure aka. website and I started to key in the first traders with their offering, contacts and trading hours on the market. I tried to contact some market managers to get the information on the stall a bit faster, but apparently without enough persistence. So I had to visit all 11 markets of the city, some of them for the first time, a pleasant discovery for me as well. To my delight this lead to many conversations with traders and also the discovery of many good food products.

Collecting the content

Contacting in person every stall is a cumbersome way of collecting all the data, especially since this task has to be done next to the “real” job in the free time. And not all traders choose to be on the market on days convenient for casual collection of details. But we are getting there. The good thing is not to work alone, Sascha always comes up with good ideas, improvements on the site, which keeps me going.

The whole job made me become critical of all my pictures I took of the stalls and their offerings. A good starting point to get more serious about photography. As such building up the site becomes a great learning experience.

Another good side of all these efforts is that I get to know the producers and traders individually. As I better ask them if they want to be published in our directory, there is always a chat beyond this topic, I get much deeper insights on how markets work. Great. So far we have more than 70 stalls with photos, contact etc. Probably there are 20 or so to go.

So what is it about?

Well, first and foremost a directory of all stalls at the 11 markets in the city of Bonn to help finding the right produce at the right time at the right location. So for each stall there is information :

• location incl. map
• trading hours
• contacts incl. web and social media presence
• some photos, a few from the traders themselves
• possibility to comment on individual stalls

And now?

Setting up and optimizing Bonn.market is one thing. Promoting it the other. So far Twitter has worked, but this is not enough. Let’s see what consumers and traders think about the site and improve it continuously. To make it easier for expatriates living in Bonn, there is already a possibility to get it translated on the fly via Google translate (check at the bottom of the page).

We are just at the beginning to get people more excited about farmers’ markets. A goal worth being persistent. let’s try to make it happen. I am very curious about the journey and about the ideas and activities coming along.

A little link list:

• The site we are talking about: Bonn.market
• The guys supporting and sponsoring it: Bonn.digital
• Sascha Foerster the guy who ignited it is on Twitter, Facebook and here as well
• The map we incorporated is from wo-ist-markt.de (where is market day) based on growing open data from German municipalities
• My posts on markets in Bonn
• A post which describes my passion for markets on Marjorie R. Williams blog

The post Helping people discover the markets in Bonn appeared first on Food & Farmers' Markets.

Scroll to the end for the map

The market

Bonn, the former capital of West Germany, has 11 markets distributed across the city. The one in the district of Duisdorf is located in the pedestrian zone on a square just in front of a larger supermarket. The surroundings are pleasant, no car is disturbing the peaceful ambiance and people are staying in groups for a chat. The tall trees around and a donkey statue give it almost the feeling of an Italian piazza.

With it’s 6 stalls the market is rather small, but covers most of the daily needs, except diary products. Fruits & vegetables, bread & cake, fish, eggs & jelly, meat & sausages from Silesia/Poland and flowers. That’s about it. It made it easy for me to do some shopping and chat with a few traders.

The traders & their offering

Mr. Mallon is in the fruits & vegetable business since the 70s, since 1988 on the Duisdorf market and you can truly experience his knowledge. His produce are nicely selected, very appetizing without an “industrial” look. I saw some grapes and got the recommendation to take the ones from Sicily with seeds as they taste better than the seedless ones. Perfect recommendation, the grapes had an aroma I hadn’t experienced in a long time. And I tried rapini as well which is not so widely known, still have to find a good recipe for it.

The bread stall is owned by Mrs. Felber who is producing in her family bakery about 30 km away. She is also catering for a market in Cologne and her own shop as well. This was probably the most crowded stall, and when I came the shelves were almost empty. I should get up earlier. Nevertheless the rye bread with walnut was eaten up at home quite quickly.

Mr. Weber, on the market since 35 years, is selling eggs, egg liqueur and his wifes’ jelly. In earlier years he sold meat as well, but his hands cannot deal anymore with the cold so he had to give it up. He is retired but still enjoys to be a trader at the market and wants to continue until the end. His wifes’ raspberry jelly was really nice and definitely much better than the ones from the supermarket.

The type of meat and sausages from the Bonn area are often lacking the spices I am used to from Franconia region of Germany where I spend important years of my life, not only from the culinary perspective. Mr. Opaszowski shared this opinion and this was the reason why selling products form Silesia in Poland with its own cuisine is still a business to be in. He is on the market since more than 20 years. And there are still a lot of Germany with roots in Silesia and Polish living in the area. I bought some smoked Mettwurst and frozen Pierogi, Polish dumplings. Still have to test them.

I did not want to buy neither fish nor flowers, but covering two thirds of the stalls is not bad either.

Decline & its reasons

The market, despite being pleasant, is in decline. The good times are over as the traders told me.

The reasons are the same as many of the traders across Germany tell me: women do not stay at home anymore, but pursue a professional career thus having less time for cooking. And the young generation prefers quick (ready made) meals instead of “real” cooking. I do not think that this is a sufficient reason, especially since some are still thriving and even attracting culinary tourists. But the decline is also observed in other countries. According to a report by Mission for Markets in the UK there is a decrease in footfall but revenues have increased in 2016. In the US farmers’ markets are still on the rise.

One trader told me that even evening operating hours did not lead to success as he could observe in one case. This surprised me, I would have expected a positive outcome. Apparently there is no easy recipe for a market success.  I hope one of these days to have a collection of success stories.

And I think that the Duisdorf market improves the quality of life in its district, it still have pleasant memories of it.

All in all: a small neighborhood market with an interesting offering in a pleasant surrounding

A little link list:

• A map of all Bonn markets with hours of operation
• The other Bonn markets on my blog
• The market with vendors and more details

The post Slow decline – Duisdorf market, Bonn / Germany appeared first on Food & Farmers' Markets.