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.

Scroll to the end for the map to find Albert Cuyp market

The Saturday weather was great, so the ice cream guy at the market was almost sold out but I was still lucky. And the refreshment was needed. The Albert Cuyp street with the market of the same name is very, very long. And lively. And huge. It is not a gourmet, hipster, vegan or organic market. Lots of non-food items like clothes and electronics are available. But of course I am focusing on the food part of this more than 100 year old market.

Some bloggers like “that food cray” and “ginger girl” took their time to check on the street food like stroopwafels, a thin waffle with caramel syrup, or pickled herring. I was rather strolling around to see what I could buy for cooking at home if I would live in Amsterdam.

So there is plenty of fresh fish, smoked fish and seafood. Basically I have never seen a Dutch market without lots of fish and it is often served on the spot fried in a batter with some kind of tartar sauce. Strangely enough I did not spot much cheese.

What is not to be missed on a Dutch market are the stalls with dried or candied fruit and nuts, I have no idea where this preference is coming from. Obviously there are fruit and vegetable stalls as well with a standard offering.

All the produce stalls were squattered along this street resulting in a pleasant exercise to see them all.

Even though the market is much advertised, it is not one where I would go for to find delicacies, but certainly for the daily produce it is good enough. But the vibe of the market is really great and makes a visit worthwhile. People of all kinds are strolling along worth to be watched when you are a curious person. The traders with their rather rough expression give it an authentic feel, and as it is not far from the more touristic parts one gets a touch of “real” Amsterdam. And if there is a need for a rest, all along this street there are cafés, restaurants etc. Do that only after having tried a smoothie at one of the booths.

All in all: A very lively market and a good opportunity to discover “real” Amsterdam off the beaten path

A little link list:

• The market homepage
• Description of the market by the Dutch market directory
• The Albert Cuyp Market on Wikipedia
• The market on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram
• 5 things to eat at the market by “that food cray“
• Ginger Girl Says has her view on what to eat
• A list of markets in Amsterdam published by the city
• A post with pictures from Wanderblogger
• My other posts of Dutch markets

The post Popular – Albert Cuyp Market, Amsterdam / Netherlands appeared first on Food & Farmers' Markets.

Scroll to the end for the map

An accident

I just finished my visit of the Noordermarkt, a famous market in Amsterdam, when I tumbled across the Lindengracht market, just a little block away. This outdoor market stretched along in the middle strip of the Lindengracht street. At the beginning the friendly Theo Thijssen monument welcomes the customers. Theo Thijssen was a famous Dutch teacher coming out of this neighborhood called Jordaan not far away from the city center.

Contrast

The first thing which stroke me was the contrast to the Noordermarkt. I just had left it a minute ago with some hipster, urban and organic memories. And now at the Lindengracht I entered a world which I would call “classic”. The offering was more “usual”, somehow between hipster and supermarket. Still it got my attention, and the narrow, long stretched walking strip with stalls on the left an right created its own pleasant buzz. The traders had also a more robust appearance, and were used to a clientèle which was probably more focused on a quick shopping for quality then on elaborate explanations of each product – but maybe this is just my own cliché.

Having such a contrast of two markets next to each other, the question of preference comes to mind. It is a similar question to: “what is your favorite market?“. I tried to give an answer in an interview conducted by the food & market blogger Marjorie R. Williams. Markets have so many aspects which make them likable or not. This might be the location, buzz, offering, customers, community building, traders, opportunities to sit down and relax with friends etc. At the Noordermarkt I liked the quality of the food, and at the Lindengracht market the down to earth buzz. Therefore my choice will depend on my mood on any given day.

Offering

Even though I had not the chance to visit many Dutch markets, I found two distinct, characteristic elements often not available elsewhere in this quantity: there is always a large selection of fish and dried or candied fruit of all kinds. This was also the case at the Lindengracht market. And I discovered that vegetables chips are great as well, in this case carrots, green beans, parsnip and kohlrabi.

Of course the market had a complete offering as well, including flowers, bread, meat vegetables, cheese and the like. There was also a little street food, I saw a stall which was only orange: oranges in bags, fresh orange juice in bottles and cups. Fresh fruit pieces in transparent plastic cups were served as well, a product which has spread across European markets and is now widely available. Simple salads were made on the spot and ready to eat.

All in all: Peak into the Lindengracht market to have a contrast to the more hipster and famous Noordermarkt around the corner – it is a nice one as well

A little link list:

• An introduction to the market with all relevant data by Amsterdam.info – they consider it to be the best food market in Amsterdam
• A great photo gallery from Scenes of a Public Market – Check the other galleries as well, it is worth it
• A little Amsterdam market guide

The post Almost famous – Lindengracht market, Amsterdam / Netherlands appeared first on Food & Farmers' Markets.

“They are Slow Food” the guy from Zürich told me when tasting the oysters from the nearby sea for the bar he wanted to start in his home town. The oysters just been collected, they were not farmed. “Slow Food” indeed describes the organic Noordermarkt fairly well. It is located near the city center of Amsterdam (see map below). It is surrounded by nice cafés, a play ground and the large Noorderkerk church, offering kind of a Mediterranean, relaxing feeling – at least on sunny days.

Due to the EuroPride 2016 canal parade the market was smaller than usual, but still worth a visit.

The oysters

Coming back to the oysters. The stall owner gets them from the North Sea, they are not farmed, they are wild ones, just collected off the ground, obviously during low tide. The helpful staff opens them up to be eaten on the spot, with lemon, Tabasco, pepper or just natural. A glass of champagne from Germany – yes! – complements them. Good start of the day. These oysters are not as famous as the ones from France, but the owner drives them even down to Switzerland, where they can be resold with a nice margin. And I learned something new about oysters: the “pregnant” ones taste creamier than usual, not necessarily to my liking. The vendor had unusual signs with pregnant and non-pregnant mermaids to represent them – check the picture gallery.

Walking along

After this first meal and longer conversation with the Swiss guy and his upcoming bar business, it was time to move on and discover the other offering. Summer is always a good season for a market visit, colors are bright due to nature’s bounty, people are in a good mood and have time to enjoy the food. The traders, as I have observed on other Dutch markets as well, have a nicely swift, direct and sarcastic humor. Not really gentle, but very funny. The crowd looks pretty much like health conscious middle class, not as diverse as in The Hague at the Haagse Markt.

The offering is nicely presented, flowers give the individual stalls a country home feeling, everything is tasteful aiming at high quality and not at cheap prices. The herbs vendor had a garden of Eden like display enticing an “I want to have it” feeling, just gorgeous. His salsa in the big clay pots gives an excuse to take a short cut instead of cooking yourself.

The fruits and veggie stalls were in peak season. Berries, plums, zucchini blossoms, all kinds of tomatoes, beets and much more celebrated summer, the samples helped to make the choice what to purchase much easier.

Cheese is a very integral part of the Dutch diet. Several stalls catered for the appetite. The selection was not only about the big cheese wheels as known from travel reports. Some are imported cheeses like the Austrian mountain cheese with honey & clover I enjoyed a lot as it was not sweet but made the honey taste blend in really well. In general the choice is rather focused on semi-hard and hard cheeses, with only a few fresh or soft ones, but with excellent aromas. It is popular to add spices like cumin, seeds, e.g. clover, pesto etc. during the cheese making process, thus creating more diversity. My favorites are still the 3 or more year old farmers’ cheeses (Boerenkaas) which have a very concentrated gorgeous aroma. For kids the younger ones are probably more suitable as they taste smoother. Let them cut in dices by the vendor, get some bread (or not) and you will almost save lunch, it is so rich in flavor.

Coming from Germany, I am not a particular friend of Dutch bread from a taste & consistency perspective. But on the market there were some decent ones available. And it is also baked on site. So I assume that they use prepared frozen dough like any (cheap) baking shop nowadays. This is a bit disappointing, their beautiful presentation helped me to overcome these feelings, especially since I cannot resist croissants, which were decent. I also think they are a good way to judge if a baker understands his craft or not and is using good products in the first place.

Next stop: meat and sausages. I bought some dried pork sausage to bring back home with strong aroma fitting well to a good beer. The meat is also a temptation, especially lamb. Most meat was vacuum packed, rather supermarket and not butcher like.

What I find in many Dutch markets are the dried fruit & nuts section in all kinds of mixes often of tropical origin. I do not remember other European markets having such a liking for this product category. Maybe I have not traveled enough.

Despite the appetite for fish in this country there was only one stall selling it, including live lobster. And I do not remember if it was organic, farmed or “regular” fish. The oysters were definitely more interesting to me.

And yes there was a little street food available, I think only Vietnamese.

The costs of running a business on the market

Markets are a business for localities, traders and at times market management companies like the Group Géraud. And I am always wondering what traders have to pay for being at the market. At the Noordermarkt it was easier to find out as two gentlemen in a kind of uniform were collecting the fees. They did that with a device that had each trader with his/her photo. They told me that the fees varied by size of the stall, day of the week and locality of the market. In this case it was about 19.20€ for a 4 meters stall per market day. That would translate into a 576€ monthly rental, highly likely much cheaper than any shop in that area. It seems to be a good place to start a business at reasonable risks.

All in all: A nice market worth a detour when you are in Amsterdam, especially when you are looking for organic products

A little link list:

• A quick introduction from Amsterdam.info
• A free e-book on the markets of Amsterdam
• The Noordermarkt on Wikipedia

The post Trendy – Organic Noordermarkt, Amsterdam / Netherlands appeared first on Food & Farmers' Markets.