Lille in December?

Lille in December is this a good idea? Yes, the inner city shows itself in beautiful illumination at night. And people in Lille like to sit outside in cafés even in light rains when they got wet when seated at a table not fully covered. The beer culture reminded me of nearby Belgium with its wide range of choices including great local beers. Another phenomenon were all the people jogging in shorts this time of year left me a bit in in awe. I started to like the city.

The Halles de Wazemmes were in walking distance from this lively inner city.

Entering the Halles

The Halles de Wazemmes are spacious, the ceiling is high, there is enough space between the stalls to have a smooth walk around. The ambiance is rustic, it does not exude luxury but provides a large variety of quality produce and goods. There are enough places to sit down like in a beer garden to enjoy some food.

What to discover?

The Halles de Wazemmes have a classic range of produce including organic and gluten free selections. Classic meaning meat in all kinds and forms, cheese, fish, seafood, veggies, fruit, pastry, bread to name a “few”.

Selling meat also meant that the butchers still butchered on the spot displaying their business as a craft and not only as a fresh food counter. The cuts went far beyond what one can find in a supermarket. They included pork feet, offals, terrines as well as little meals to eat on the spot.

Local cheeses were very present. I learned that this region is producing quite a range of distinct cheeses. I was already aware of round pyramid shaped Boulettes d’Avesnes, the strongest cheese I have ever tasted, it is full of spices and garlic. I learned about the Maroilles with a orange-red washed rind and a strong smell. I saw a range of orange colored cheeses in different age categories called Mimolette. Of course there was more to see, but my eyes focused on those.

There was a lot of love in the display of fruits and vegetables. Presented in baskets they seemed to be curated to show the best the fields can offer. The large variety was similar to what I can find in my German home town, so there were no surprises as such. Cabbages in all shapes were not as dominant as I am used to during this season.

To my surprise fish and seafood were strongly present in the market hall. Lille is not a coastal town, but nor too far from the coast either. Local turf, nearby surf I would say. This was apparent in the restaurants as well which served a lot of fish dishes. At least the ones we visited.

What to eat?

We went to a butcher where we saw filled crêpes and got curious. It had home made bechamel sauce and cooked ham. Heated up at the counter and very delicious. The bechamel was full of muscat which gave a nice accent to the ham and the dough.

As dessert we had nice pastry served with a good coffee. Unfortunately I forgot the names of those little jewels.

And if you are thirsty, there is an impressive selection of beers available as well.

All in all

The Halles de Wazemmes are a great place to shop when you have the opportunity to cook in Lille. In the meantime enjoy the dishes available, you will not regret it.

A little link list

• The official website
• The version 2 of the official website – why?
• Documentary on YouTube from 2022

The post Simple but tasty – Halles de Wazemmes, Lille / France appeared first on Food & Farmers' Markets.

Some time ago

Three years ago I stayed in Paris in the Montparnasse area as a starting point for a visit of the Rungis wholesale market. Close to the hotel was the Marché Edgar Quinet, named after a French historian. It stretches along a boulevard with the same name – comes very handy.

I really enjoyed the market as it offered a large variety of beautiful produce, wanting me to immediately buy a bigger fridge and stove. I took pictures but never turned it into a post. Rungis dominated my mind.

Rediscovery

In December 2022 I made it again to Montparnasse and had almost forgotten that there was a market in the area. So I was pleasantly surprise to rediscover it while looking for a breakfast place.

Had it changed in the meantime?

Not really to be honest, at least not in terms of beauty.

In size?

Not sure it still stretches for quite a bit and I needed some time to cover it all. Even without buying too much.

Produce

The produce were still beautiful. These great selection of cheeses from various French regions were so seducing. From my perspective: nobody beats the French is this domain.

Oysters were plenty, in all sizes and types. I still don’t know why I did not eat any on the spot. Two times the same mistake, I should be ashamed!

Unfortunately it did not make sense to purchase some fish. Hotels are not made for cooking.

As I am baking bread, I always have to test the ones of other bakers. This time it was an organic focaccia. Good but not impressive, I do better

What I have never tried to do is puff pasty, I leave this to the pros. I bought one filled with cheese. Just great! Even after a couple days back at home and reheating in a microwave I was just delighted. Delighted by the flaky pastry which gave a light crunch entry to the melted cheese with its full flavor providing a gourmet feel good moment.

The meat displays were just great, something I have not found in a comparable quality in Germany, the Netherlands and Eastern Europe. Even the impressive assortment at the St. Lawrence Market Hall in Toronto I recently visited could not match it. The market follows the nose to tail approach. From pig feet, via tripe, marvelous meat cuts, cooked hams with their bone to whole capons with their beautifully feathered heads, it was a journey through a sophisticated cuisine.

Fruits and vegetables stalls are plenty as well, but less remarkable than the other stalls. Here even in my German hometown I have a larger variety, at least in winter time.

Ready made meals of the hearty type complement the market offering. They are worth being eaten on the spot.

Entertainment

Farmers’ markets are about the location which defines produce, prices, customers and of course the traders or producers. Some of the traders know their business, some less. Some are communicative some not.

I believe those who communicate make more business. At least with me. Even when I make myself believe that I can distinguish a good product from a bad one, a good stall owner will certainly convince me of almost anything. At least in the moment I am there.

How does it work? Talk to me, entertain me or show that you are a nerd and know your produce. Or in short: have a good story to tell.

The guy who sold nuts knew exactly how to trigger me, he made jokes, complimented me in front of my wife (I like that) and “forced” me to try a sample of his almonds. They were good indeed and I had to buy a rather too generous amount. He made me try some other samples as well, but I was strong enough this morning to resist his charm.

And of course there is the classic joke on farmers’ markets: when I am asking for permission to take photos, I will get the answer to pay for it 5 or sometimes 50 €uro. This is of course the start of a jolly chat making me happy that I asked.

I will not remember all the dialogues we had at the market, but I certainly will always remember that I was nicely entertained at the Marché Edgar Quinet, one reason to come back another time.

All in all

The marché Edgar Quinet is a traditional French market which gives not only tourists a good introduction into the produce which are at the base the wonderful French cuisine. It is neither a low end nor high end or hipster market, it is down to earth, nothing fake about it. It is worth a visit, if not a detour.

Two tips

A book which always helps when I am in Paris is the “Markets of Paris” from Marjorie R. Williams. It describes quite a few markets by arrondissement (neighborhood) and helps me to find the good ones and their opening times. It is not too recent, but still a very good guide.

She has also written a guide on markets in Provence.

On this blog you will also find posts on other markets in France. Check here

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Preparing food sightseeing

Know your – local -blogger. This is what helped me. With just a few hours time a got some great impressions of what kind of food or produce is characterizing Zürich in Switzerland.

In my case it was Nicole Hasler the “zumfressngern” blogger. Her blog covers a lot of topics around meat, especially from a nose to tail perspective and on modern cuisine with a soul. Anybody a more perfect guide in mind?

And for a guy who is too lazy to prepare food sightseeing, it was really a blessing to know her and get some insights. Without this local knowledge, I believe I would have missed far more than half of what I was able to see and taste.

First impressions of Zürich

Zürich is a rich city. I am not used to that. Walking through the city center, I was impressed by the magnitude of luxury shops, not necessarily the usual luxury brands, rather something distinct and unique. All a bit beyond my budget but great to look at.

Zürich is a clean city. I am not sure how they make it. Are the people just behaving better than the ones in other localities? Or are there little elves which make everything non orderly disappear? Anyway, it left an impression on me.

Somehow all of this was a bit intimidating for an outsider but it gave a great sense of safety. I had no worries to walk after a few drinks at night being afraid of slipping and breaking a leg due to a banana skin on the walkway.

Starting food sightseeing

Before heading towards the real thing from the perspective of this blog, I was told to visit two food sections in department stores in downtown. Not my usual way of discovering the food “personality” of a city or village.

I have to say I was overwhelmed. The cheese section in the “Coop City St. Annahof” was pure paradise. The cheeses were in a separate room, a humidor, ensuring relatively high humidity so that the cheeses did not have to be wrapped every time. The variety of Swiss mountain cheeses was unbelievable. And the lady behind the counter incredibly helpful and humorous. She shrink-wrapped my cheese selection for home so that nobody would become jealous of my Swiss goodness while traveling. For my personal “streetfood” experience she cut some cheese cubes. They were gone fast. I thanked her by making the heart sign with my hands, she instantly asked if I was married and as I affirmed it, she mumbled “always the wrong guys are married” Well, I like those conversations which end in compliments (deserved or undeserved) …

The next stop was the food section, more precise the meat section of the Globus department store. The number of different cured hams and the meats from the best places on this planet was incredible, the same for the terrines. They did not have Swiss Magalica ham, but the alternatives were excellent as well and added to my streetfood treasures.

With these two discoveries my colleague and I had a small feast before heading for lunch in the market hall “Im Viadukt” my true destination.

Heading towards the market hall

The good thing about focusing on food and produce in a new location is that the weather seems not so important. And in November I do not expect anything else than: grey. As long it does not rain, strolling through the city is fine.

While walking for almost half an hour towards the market hall I was trying to think what I could expect. I was told to go there by my local blogger, and I knew that it would not be a mistake. This way I was at least prepared to see quality destinations, still I am always angry about myself of not doing more. There are always these questions which need some guidance beforehand: what is the characteristic food and cuisine of the region, what kind of produce are popular, in season etc. How are the markets, more producer or more trader centric? What kind of treasures should I look for. Yes, discovery is nice, but preparation is better. Next time, maybe … When I get smarter.

Market hall “Im Viadukt”

A “Viadukt” is an overpass, and in this specific case one for the railway dating from the 1890s . Underneath embedded is the market hall which opened in 2010. For more details see the history section of the homepage.

The whole market hall is modern. At first sight I got a bit worried, it immediately felt like a place that had been transformed into a concept piece of real estate, not leaving enough room for creative shop owners. The booths were predefined in some aspects like the patterns of the fronts close to the ceiling. I had the same mixed feelings when I was at the Fresh Market in Bratislava, where the booth pattern put restrictions on design opportunities and lacked personality. But after a while I saw that the individual characters of the shops with certainly good to excellent products.

Well crafted traditional products like cheese, meat, sausages and pasta were next to “cool” lemonades, craft beers and chocolates. And not to forget the “street food” offers, like pies, Asian inspired and European dishes. A few produce, potatoes being my favorite, and flowers completed the offering I saw. So how would I characterize the offering? It is not hipster despite some elements indicating it. It is not traditional despite some products coming from small producers. It is also not trendy, even when seeing the craft beer and hipster lemonades. So I guess it is for people who appreciate the value of products were classic craftsmanship cannot be replaced to create food perfection and who are at the same time open for new, “modern” food and taste discoveries.

My personal highlights

I am cheese fan and I like great sausages. I found both in the market hall. Absolute delights. The sheep cheese “Hölziges Schaf” was not a typical great Swiss mountain cheese and did not remind me of other sheep milk based cheeses. It was for more interesting in its aromas especially with its complex “acidity”. A class on its own. And thankfully it survived more than day without fridge to be savored at home .

For the “Schwein/Rind Salsiz” a porc and beef sausage which is dried and pressed, I was less worried about lack of cooling. The producer is Tanya Giovanoli who got back to the old butcher crafts to create again natural perfect meat products. Just by seeing all these sausages hanging on strings in a special fridge made me so happy. All these colors and shapes showed that they could not be produced in a factory. And the taste indicated it too.

More impressions

I could not buy from every booth, still there were a few more things which impressed me. The pasta guy who produced on site. The butcher who had such nice cuts and dry aged porc hanging to beautifully. And the the pie stall which provided our wild boar pie. It is produced by 8 ladies nearby. We shared the pie for lunch, a whole one would have been to much. Remember: we munched our ways through cheese and ham towards the market hall.

Even though the market hall is not huge there were more things to discover than to be expected at the beginning. So take more time than I had the chance to have, you will not regret it. And hunger and thirst will find relief in the restaurant.

Zürich from a food perspective

For me it is clear: Zürich stands for high quality food, especially cheese, meat and sausages. By my own definition it is a great city. With a little more money in the pocket a gourmet life in Zürich could be close to heaven.

All in all: In the market hall “Im Viadukt” in Zürich you will find great products, a lot from small Swiss producers and some nice places to eat. Worth a detour.

A little link list:

• The official website of the Markthalle im Viadukt in English
• The website of “my” local blogger
• The sausage producer Tanya Giovanoli
• The “Berg & Tal” booth were I bought the sausage
• The “Tritt Käse” booth where I bought the great cheese
• A post from lovefoodish including a short video on the market hall

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Waking up early, very early

We got up at 3 o’clock in the morning to catch the tour bus to the world’s largest food wholesale market, the Rungis wholesale market in Paris. Thankfully everybody in the bus was quiet at this time of the day, so it was easier to gear up in a smooth way.

After a 20 minute we entered the market which is basically a city in its own, 236 hectares (583 acres or 330 soccer pitches), larger than the Principality of Monaco. It is just gigantic. One German visitor who had visited the Hamburg wholesale market considers it now in comparison just as a little playground.

And there is no way that you can walk through the whole market area, it is just too big. There are also security considerations when groups are being transported around by a bus. There is just too many hectic lorries driving around.

Upon arrival we had to dress up a bit, we all got some white protective gear to wear during the whole visit. I had the impression it was less about the hygiene than rather for the guides not to loose sight of the visitors.

Francis – the basis of a great experience

The visitor groups were divided into the French and English speaking ones. The English speaking group was very small: 3 Germans and one Canadian. Lucky strike one. And Francis was our guide. Lucky strike two. He is working in the market since 10 years with a visible great passion. At least this how he guided us through the different halls. Always with a good portion of humor, full of knowledge and great envy to answer ALL the questions. Even though the tour was maybe 3 hours long, it felt much shorter.

The products

The Rungis wholesale market offers all types of fresh produce: meat including poultry, some game, fish & seafood, fruit & vegetables, dairy (mainly cheese) as well as horticultural products. Some produce categories even occupy several of the huge halls. Here a more detailed plan of Rungis as a pdf.

The Rungis customers

Rungis does not cater for supermarket chains, they have their own direct trade platforms. Its customers are independent retailers, restaurants and especially vendors reselling at the many open markets in Paris. The latter ones may even be the most important ones – something which made me happy as a market fan. Due to the high rents for shops in Paris, the prices seem to be lower at the markets.

Indeed 65% of the trade is being done in Paris, only 10% goes outside France, mainly high value products. It is estimated that Rungis feeds daily 18 million people!

The buzz

5000 trucks and 25000 vans per day plus one whole train from the South of France. Lots of merchants and supporting staff. All in a hurry. This is what is to expect in Rungis. It is a busy place where operation starts much earlier than our tour at 5am. Most of the merchandise has to roll out of the place before 6am to arrive in time for the shop openings in the different cities or to reach in time the ferry to the UK, which will not wait.

In the halls themselves most of the movements are fast, pallet jacks and forklifts are busy to put the orders into the right space. The merchants talking to buyers with their clipboards taking notes of the deals and prices.

I am surprised, despite being busy, how friendly the professionals were when one of us got into the way. But I also heard that some halls are off-limits for visitors to not disturb the operations.

Fish & seafood

We started at around 5 o’clock in the fish & seafood hall. The white Styrofoam boxes stapled on top of each other gave us the impression that we had entered Legoland, just with different content. And ultra fresh! Indeed the scallops in their shells looked better here than what I partly saw later in the shops.

“Where does the fish come from?” asked us Francis. After a couple seconds of silence he answered: “from the seaside”. We were relieved. “But also from the river side” he added.

Business was already winding down, making it easier for us to have close looks at the content of the boxes, with a large variety of different fishes, including not so common ones, e.g. shark steaks. We were wondering who would eat the latter one, especially as our Canadian companion mentioned that it is a rather tough meat.

Lots of fish comes from Norway as the 5m inhabitants “do not eat fish”. The country has a longer coastline than France and thus higher fishing quotas under the current EU rules, making it able to continuously supply in relevant quantities.

Not only fish is being traded in this hall, but also lobsters, langustas, crabs, shrimps, all kinds of mussels including oysters and scallops. Strangely enough, frog legs are also part of the seafood section but we could not see them anymore as they were already sold out to the restaurants. It is usually not a French product anymore, as the frogs are protected, they come now from other countries like Turkey.

The merchants know pretty well the types and sizes of fish which are in demand and have set up the supply chain accordingly. Tuna usually comes in sizes of up to 40kg. But if one customer wants a 100kg tuna, he will get it anyway if ordered in advance. Satisfying whatever kind of demand is a the heart of the merchants.

I liked how the boxes were labeled, besides the weight and origin of the fish, the scientific Latin name of the species was displayed giving it a very official status. I learned that Sparus pagrus is a red porgy (see also photo in the gallery). I might remember it …

Pricing

Francis put our attention to the fact that no prices were attached to any merchandise. It is all a matter of negotiation between buyer and seller. I have no idea how this works and how the two parties remember the numbers. Just consider that salmon is being offered between 15 and 50€ per kilogram.

The deal is done with a handshake, the bill comes later. Here again I do not know how this seem to work. There is not digital machine which records the deal, it is all on paper. But there are offices in the upper floors of all halls. I hope these employees can read the handwritten numbers.

Vegetables & fruit

The vegetable and fruit hall truly showed the diversity of produce in Rungis. Yes the usual staples like tomatoes, potatoes, onion, cucumbers, salads etc. dominated the space. High “towers” of full boxes gave this hall a very colorful look. Buyers and seller were busy talking with each other fixing orders. We had to watch out for all the pallet jacks putting things together.

We got a closer look into the details. Suddenly we discovered on a few spots a merchant specialized in mushrooms: boxes of ceps in April (!) from South Africa, morels from Turkey and a few other specialities.

And then a small pallet of tiny tomatoes, called tomberry carefully put into transparent boxes. A buyer specialized on high-end restaurant even looked deeper into the matter and hand picked what he considered to be the best selection out of this quality item.

Strolling along I saw produce I had never seen before: radishes of all kinds of colors, sprouts unfamiliar to me, as well as salads where I needed a few moments to recognize at all what they were supposed to be. Happily enough I saw some cassava which reminded me of the my times on the African continent. Lots of discoveries.

Francis was pointing here and there and talking: this is top quality. As a German I am used to the term quality being used from a rather engineering perspective, meaning shape, size, color etc. But Francis comforted me, he was talking about superior taste when talking about quality. It fit exactly the cliché I have about French people

Nowadays we do not seem to have seasons anymore. Francis explained it via the cantaloupe. In the old days it arrived at the market from France only, then Morocco proved to be a good place for off-season growing but it was further stretched to Senegal allowing all three countries to have their own seasonal presence in Rungis.

Asking Francis what probably is the produce with the shortest season, he had to think for a while. Surprisingly it was a potato! A certain variety (I forgot the name), hyped by restaurants for its taste, has a season of 2 weeks only. Then the hype is over, it does not seem to be possible to grow it elsewhere for an extended season.

Horticulture

Before heading to the meat section we drove to the horticultural section. The hall was not as full and busy like the other ones. Another aspect also stood out: there were women working! In the other halls I did not remember having seen more than one, very much a men’s world.

The horticultural business in Rungis is declining, I believe to remember that half of the merchants closed their shops in the last ten years as the Dutch flower traders set up more powerful platforms. They have kind of a monopoly in Europe.

The merchants world

It is mainly a men’s world. And one where hard work dominates. In peak times, before festivities when revenues are at their peak, it is not rare that the merchants work 2 days straight without sleep. The urban legend says that they have less sleep in a week than a classic employee has working hours.

Pointing out at some fancy expensive cars in the parking lot, I was told that the shop owners do not have time to spend their earnings, so cars are an easy and pleasant way of doing so.

Meat – Beef and porc

The first thing which struck me in the meat hall was its cleanliness. Unbelievable. I am certainly not able to keep my home as clean as this meat hall. The cleanliness is also comforting considering that 18 million people are getting their food via Rungis.

The second thing which surprised me was the quantity of German beef especially Simmentaler Rind being sold. It has a reputation to deliver good quality meat . This one I have to check out when back home.

The third thing was the whole beef – except head and tail – hanging on hooks. Lots of meat jumping into our eyes. “What is this?” asked Francis showing on a row of big animals. “Beef of course” was my answer. I was completely wrong and I have should have known better. The meat did not have the red color of beef but more a light pink one due to being fed mainly with milk which does not have as much iron as grass. This is usually the color of veal meat. And it was a veal, a Limousin one. But it was huge, really huge, looked like an adult animal to me. Francis showed us the label: the calf was born on October 15th 2018 and was now 6 months old. I was baffled.

Food waste

The topic of food waste came up naturally. There is just so much produce in one single spot. There is a simple answer and more interesting one.

Generally speaking there is not a lot of food waste, below 1% if I remember correctly. How is this being achieved?

First it really depends on the product itself. Potatoes or cheese can be stored for a longer period, whereas fish, strawberries, salads perish quickly. The merchants also have some experience in forecasting the demand and not ordering too much from their suppliers.

Every merchant has some kind of refrigeration to store products not being sold. And they know which quality levels the individual buyers need which helps them to steer the stock a bit better.

Last section: cheese

We approached our last hall, the cheese hall. It was probably the quietest one, due to the advanced hours. But the whole goodness of France was to be seen.

Comté, St. Marcellain, Brie de Meaux, Sein de Nounou, Banon, real Camembert, Boulette d’Avesnes and so many more names which help you to bluff your way through a party. Many of them were raw milk cheeses, truly to my delight. And all so nicely packaged. No sampling unfortunately.

And we got to see (not taste) the best cheese in the world – a goat cheese from the village where Francis originated from, big promise! A similar looking cheese from neighboring village was of course only half as good, if at all. Always when going back to his parental home he went to cheese makers next door to buy this cheese, only to discover after a few years that he could get it cheaper in Rungis.

Religions and their demand

Religious holidays mean more business for Rungis. Easter and Eid al-Fitr mean high demand for lamb, there is a Jewish holiday with high demand in living carps, and Christmas means foie gras and oysters etc.

Then the days are too short for all the working hours needed to feed Paris and the rest of the remaining world. The merchants are prepared, have negotiated with the suppliers, but then the weather changes. Easter 2019 meant good weather in Paris, a reason to leave home, go to the country side an eat there. This meant less business for the Rungis merchants. We saw some less happy faces.

Happy end, also called breakfast

It wasn’t dark anymore, the tour came to an end. But a new highlight was presented to us: breakfast. A real one! Not only the coffee we all badly needed before going to bed again in the hotel. Not only a croissant with some butter or jelly. A full charcuterie and cheese board full of delicacies from the island of Corsica. Even for somebody like me who enjoys quality AND quantity it was a great final experience. I wouldn’t say that the breakfast alone would have made me get up at 3 am, but…

Will the Internet kill the Rungis market?

Rungis seems to be confident that the Internet will not kill its business. It is not easy at all to find enough space for all the produce a city like Paris needs. Rungis has a strategic spot. All the infrastructure and processes to deliver continuously high quality in big enough quantities to the consumers via the retailers is not easy to replicate. Rungis knows how to handle perishable goods and keep hygiene to the highest level. Does this sound like a good reasoning?

All in all: Rungis wholesale market is a must-see for all who want to learn more about produce, its huge variety, origins and how it is being traded. And the breakfast is great

A little link list:

• The official website of Rungis in English
• Rungis on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
• The booking site for guided tours
• David Lebovitz wrote about the market in 2010
• The Food Republic posted as well
• And not to forget the New York Times
• Probably the best guide to the other markets in Paris from Marjorie R. Williams

The post Gigantic – Rungis Wholesale Market, Paris / France appeared first on Food & Farmers' Markets.

Tourists

Markets can be a real tourist attraction. Some famous ones are for example Borough market in London, La Boqueria in Barcelona, Pike Place market in Seattle and also the Rotterdam Markthal. And the Friday cheese market in Alkmaar / Netherlands is famous as well. 300,000 tourist per year come to see how cheese trade worked in the old days. It can be a bit crowded.

The procedure

Officially the market starts at 10am, we came a bit later, had to make our way through but it was still bearable, not too many heads in the way to do photos. And not so many selfies being done by the crowd, the market scenery itself was apparently more interesting – this time.

The Waagplein square in front of the beautiful weigh house is being fenced for this occasion, so that the cheese trading can be conducted the old way along a clear procedure. Big round loaves of cheeses weighing roughly 13kg each had been stacked in an orderly manner on the square.

Men in white uniforms and hats with different colors belonging to the 400+ years old guild of cheese carriers, move in couples up to eight of those cheeses on a wooden barrow. They carry the load from the square, where the cheeses are orderly piled to the weigh house and back so that they can be transported further to the buyers. To carry the heavy load without cheeses falling off, they perform a walk which is kind of a hybrid between running and dancing. This is one of the highlights of the whole market show which was explained by a friendly lady to the audience in several languages.

Truth be told

Indeed it is a show and not everybody knows it, which creates its own little confusion. Even me, I wanted to believe that there is still some cheese retailers which buy the cheese on the spot. I was told wrong by a gentleman in the weigh house. He was producing the certificates for tourists being weighed for a Euro on a historical cheese scale. In his regular job he is a bus driver. He just finished his morning shift, and would continue driving after the market closure at 1pm. For the performance he is paid by the city and he enjoys it a lot. The city still keeps up this tradition as a folkloristic event, something he appreciates. “We need to remember how things have been” was his statement, sounding like: we are in the digital age, but there is another life as well.

The cheese itself is being brought from nearby factories by lorries to the site and being brought back afterwards.

What to think of it

Of course the whole thing is a show, a free one. Everything is fun to watch. It is not about the food itself, it is more about trade, traditions and the role of guilds centuries ago, in short. a living museum. And for me, somebody who is not a hygiene freak, I like to see that these cheeses which laid on the ground on mattresses are being sold in retail with this touch of “old days style”.

All in all: Let the show begin and enjoy a folkloristic view on cheese trade as it happened in Alkmaar long time ago

A little link list:

• The official site of the cheese market
• The cheese museum in the weigh house
• A little blog post from HolidayparkSpecials
• Some nice photos and tips on how to reach the market from Amsterdam – from A wanderlust for life
• And some more nice photos from dacemiracles.com a Japanese dancer

The post Show time – Cheese market in Alkmaar / Netherlands appeared first on Food & Farmers' Markets.

Scroll down for the map including directions

Yes! This is the feeling I got when walking through the Thursday market in Rethimno. Yes, because when you think Mediterranean you think colors, freshness and buzz. And this what I experienced.

A rainy day

No a good start of a day when you do vacation on Crete: gray clouds and increasing amounts of rain. But this cannot stop a market aficionado, better get wet than missing a chance. And it was worth it, as there were a guy selling cheap umbrellas and friendly vendors with their large enough marquees.

Colors

Stepping around some water peddles I came across approximately 60 stalls each with its own small truck in the back with replenishment. It was a feast for the eyes, everywhere local produce of the season in all their colors: tomatoes, peppers, grapes, beans, apples, pears, leaves, okra, clementines, potatoes, nuts, beets and much more. I saw freshness everywhere, and the produce were not standardized and photo perfect as what I am used to find in supermarkets. It was great to see that the produce had their own personalities aka. shape, color and size, their roots certainly have touched some real soil. Nothing seemed to be coming from a wholesale market. I saw apples which the size of apricots, and they had their distinct taste. Just great to see, smell and eat that.

No butchers by the way.

Buzz

This market does not focus on products for tourists. Certainly, there was nicely packaged olive oil, herbs and honey available, ready to bring back home on a plane, but this was something everybody bought anyway. The market was clearly made for local consumption, people were walking around selecting their fresh produce by themselves, the mostly large quantities handed to the trader to be weighted and paid for.

The crowd was astonishingly relaxed and even the partly heavy rain die not create a bad mood. As the vendors had large marquees, there was shelter for some people at least. The umbrella vendor probably had a good time as well.

Still what impressed me most, is that the people really looked at the produce, smelled and touched it before making their own selection. This to me is a sure sign that people still have and interest in good food, and put a high value into tasty, satisfying meals.

Viagra

Quite a few vendors were able to speak at least a few words in English making interactions possible, something I really love about markets, they produce nice little stories and memories which pop up from time to time when I am day dreaming.

This way I learned about the Cretan Viagra. “I got one son from it!” the cheese monger said, “it is Viagra” pointing at the cheese I could not identify and looked a bit different from the others (check picture gallery). “One son!” he said again. With a help of a friend he explained me that this hard cheese was made from goat milk and ripened in a kind of goat skin bag. A must buy, as it is so rare to see. I still have some at home, easy to preserve. Unfortunately I forgot its name. Anyway, the aroma is intense as can be expected from an aged cheese, yet does not remind too much of goat or goat skin. And I cannot confirm the Viagra part of the story.

Buying as a tourist

When I am visiting markets outside my own city, I often buy produce like sausages, cheeses etc. because of easy transportation and no need of refrigeration. As I wrote after my visit at the Fresh Market in Bratislava: it is a mistake. First of all it narrows down the experience and secondly the opportunity to expand aroma knowledge.

This time I took besides cheese, nuts, almonds and herbs some grapes, apples, mandarins, yogurt in small quantities. It was worth it and it was possible to consume it without refrigeration. Okay, I had to hurry up a bit.

Many tourists on Crete like the market hall in nearby Chania (see my post). It has a wonderful architecture, there are some nice places to sit down and eat small dishes. But it has transformed over time and the availability of local flavors has decreased. I had more fun at the Rethimno market as it represented to me more of Crete “authenticity” or at least what I believe it to be. The market was not fully of street food stalls, just a few pies were available, enough to get a taste, while not having the feeling ot be at a food court.

And despite the rain I had a good time. What do I want more?

All in all: a traditional Mediterranean outdoor market keeping up a great local experience in the middle of a tourist region.

A little link list:

• A short post with a map on other markets on Crete Island
• Another culinary must see in Rethimno: one of the last hand made filo dough makers
• A nice overview on the different Cretan cheeses with pictures & names
• And a little hint from the BBC on foods not to miss on Crete

The post Traditional in the city – Thursday market in Rethimno, Crete / Greece appeared first on Food & Farmers' Markets.

Scroll down for the map including directions

What I still remember is the cheese, the wood oven bread and the horse meat sausages – all from the region of Saxony – I had to buy it.

A bit of walking

It was the end of the summer school vacation. It was warm but gray, the ambiance at the market very relaxed. The vendors had time to talk and nobody seemed to be in a hurry.

The Sachsenmarkt in Dresden is not a small one I have to say. Two parallel lanes of about 100 meters separated by grass and rows of trees for picnic (is it allowed?), each lane with two rows of stalls – officially around 160 – facing each other. I had to do a bit of walking to get a glimpse of the wide choice.

A Westerner meets the East

As somebody who grew up in Western Germany my notion of Eastern Germany is rather limited, nothing to be proud of. When thinking of agricultural production in the East, I always have the big state farms in mind. And looking at the fields while traveling, they looked much larger than the ones in my area. So I was pleasantly surprised to see so many small producers at the market.

The whole market has a strong focus on regional products, also something I am not used too. “International” products were rare. Yes, the fish was not from the area, a Turkish stall served Mediterranean delicacies, the flowers probably came from the Netherlands and the Hungarian stall was run by real Hungarians. But that’s about it I guess. The rest was showing what the region has to offer.

Cheese, bread & horse meat

I do not consider Germany as a cheese country, the market seems dominated by large scale dairies which produce surprisingly low quality or boring stuff. France, Italy & the Netherlands are still the true cheese heaven to me.

The Sachsenmarkt surprised me. I guess at least 6 stalls with regional artisan cheeses, the highest density I have ever seen at a German market. Most of it was organic, from cow milk but also a lot from goat milk – I do not remember sheep milk. The choice was plentiful: from fresh cheeses to more mature ones up to a year old; with different ingredients and spices – always a winner: fenugreek; but also with funny names: Gute-Laune-Käse (jolly mood cheese) – did not try this one, I was already fine. The only thing I really missed were truly old cheeses. I just love the “yellow gold” which is 3 years old or so, the aroma is so concentrated and overwhelming. Unfortunately these artisans do not have enough space to produce it and maybe customers would not like to pay the necessary premium.

Another attraction was the baker who produced on site in a wood fire oven. People were queuing to get their share. He does not mind making the effort to bring his mobile oven to the markets and living a life where you have to get up early to produce real bread. He loves his craft and does not want to stop even though it is hard to find apprentices for his business. I guess working in a bread factory means having a more socially compatible schedule. He had a large variety of breads, I bought three smaller ones: a potato bread, one with sprouts and a regular sourdough one. They were tasty.

Three stalls had horse meat and sausages. I once had in Italy my very first horse steak tartar. It is decades ago and I am still chasing this taste. These stalls brought me closer to it and I bought a few sausages. One of them was run by one of the few remaining horse meat butchers in the region, the old generation does not seem to find successors. The clientèle is also rather limited but thankfully he still continues his job. Of course he sells also other meats to make a living.

BBQ on a bicycle

What a surprise! At the end of the market I found something I saw once: a charcoal grill for Bratwurst on a bicycle! Three years ago I had a stop over in Chemnitz at the market roughly one hour drive from Dresden. I saw the same bike, and yes the guy told me that it was him, the one from Chemnitz. The world is a small planet! But I don’t think that he was cycling the whole distance.

Learn the difference between Dresden and Leipzig

Most of the vendors cater for several markets. As regional and organic food is not on the budget side, they are looking for larger cities with purchasing power. Leipzig, the largest city in the state of Saxony is not far away from Dresden, its capital. Space for a rivalry. And yes, I learned my lesson from a lady selling bread; the message was very clear: Leipzig people are grumpy, they complain too much, they are not laid back. You go there only for the money not for the fun. Dresden people are just the opposite: friendly and gemütlich! They always have time for a chat and are patient. I can confirm the latter for this market: once I started a conversation with any vendor he did not end until I continued my walk, while real customers waited patiently for their turn.

Now I have to check out the Leipzig markets.

All in all: A display of Saxony produces, go for it if you want to get to know the regional bounty – only on Fridays.

A little link list:

• Farmers’ markets in Dresden (German)
• Marktgilde, the company managing the Sachsenmarkt amongst many others in Germany

The post Cheese, bread & horse meat – Sachsenmarkt in Dresden / Germany appeared first on Food & Farmers' Markets.

Scroll down for the map including directions

“Let bring you to the market manager” said the Lebanese nuts dealer. And I got a remarkable introduction to the Jiřák farmers’ market in Prague.

Getting there

So how did it all start? I had already visited Holesovice market, so I read a post on tasteofprague.com and off I went. Subway line A to “Jiřího z Poděbrad” station, up the stairs and across the street and there it is, this beautiful farmers’ market.

What makes it so beautiful? I saw a great mix of stalls: fresh local produce, delicacies from abroad, places to eat and drink including craft beer. Just browsing through I could feel the sense of quality the traders were eager to deliver. The rather well-off neighborhood catered for a good purchasing power making it easier to sell premium products.

Strolling around

I strolled through the alley which separates the two lines of stalls, looked at a nuts stall and the vendor gently and persistently asked me in English to try his Spanish almonds. For what ever reasons I feel uncomfortable to take samples when I have no intention to buy – a mistake. The almonds were great, we started a conversation and soon I found out that he was Lebanese and living in Prague since some years as his wife is Czech. We switched to French and continued our conversation. I got his business card to follow him on social media and went along.

The fish monger had only a few fish, but since 5 years he is preparing a fish & mussel soup on the spot in a large pot. Looks like good home cooking as he was chopping fresh ingredients in front of everybody under a tent. I took a picture and he was making fun of me, guessing loudly if I was a journalist from CNN, Newsweek, Die Welt or other news media. I still have to work hard to make my blog be known

I went further along, looking at the butchers, flowers, wines, pickles in big buckets, fresh vegetables and fruit, cookies, muesli, coffee, craft beer home made syrups and even a burger stall. Even though I am getting a bit annoyed by all the “hip” burger joints popping up in Europe, only the early hours prevented me to try it together with a craft beer, and beforehand the fish soup of course.

Chat with the market manager

Suddenly the Lebanese nut dealer saw me again and said: “let me bring you to the market manager“. Even though Mrs. Brabcová was in a conversation, she took quite some time to tell me more about the market. The 7 year old Jiřák farmers’ market was managed by a private company, but in February 2017 the city took over. Mrs. Brabcová worked in the private sector beforehand, and now she is running the show.

She gave me a closer look to the nice balance of local and international products at the market in more than 30 stalls. The need to have international products, Gouda cheese amongst others, is also driven by the European expats living in the neighborhood. Still local produce are at the soul of the market and are originated within a radius of 100km.

She sees more potential for this location and is eager to find more producers and traders and has more ideas to make it look better than at this stage. Yes the market is neatly line up along one alley, still it expresses a kind of an urban laissez-faire character with its own charm. Bringing in better equipment is one of her goals to make it look more professional.

At the end she pointed me to the cheese maker a few meters away who even caters for Michelin star restaurants in Prague. This was the perfect bait for me and she could continue her conversation with her friend.

The cheese maker

David Kolman is running with his wife a dairy where they produce cheese as well as yoghurt and kefir. The dairy is located halfway between Prague and Brno. It was his wife, a teacher at the time, who had the idea to start this endeavor. After several years of experiments they made a professional business out of it. Since 5 years he is at the market to sell their products from goat and other milk.

Even though I was still traveling I could not resist to buy some cheese to bring back home. As I had to fly back, he asked me if I was concerned about the cheese smell. Certainly not I answered, I would take the risk of being an unpleasant passenger for the sake of great taste at home. So I got  fresh cheese for immediate consumption and an older, more firm one for home. After this experience I give the following advice: do it the same way. I ate the fresh cheese soon after the purchase – delicious. With the older cheese in my luggage I did not get any dirty looks from my dear co-passengers, even after a couple days without fridge. It was worth the “risk” I was rewarded with a great cheese full of character. I have to thank the wife of David Kolman for pushing this idea and making it real and make me a happy gourmet!

Epilogue

Life goes on and unfortunately I had to leave. I had a great time also because I did not expect to see something as refined and diverse as this market in Prague – so much about my prejudices. The market had a very metropolitan touch but still exuded a down to earth, unpretentious feeling. I hope to see it from time to time over the years on how it is developing.

Next time I will eat the fish soup, independent of the day time.

All in all: a beautiful market to enjoy life in Prague and certainly worth more than a visit for all the local and international discoveries

A little link list:

• The official website & the Facebook account
• A nice site of food & farmers’ markets in Prague: tasteofprague.com – a clear recommendation
• Facebook page of the nuts dealer
• The website of David Kolman the cheese maker and a couple videos
• My post on the Holesovice market in Prague

The post Eager – Jiřák farmers’ market, Prague / Czech Republic 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.

“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.