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

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New in town

January 5th, 2018. The opening of a new market hall in Cologne, Germany. Renate & Ulrich Engels a couple living since a long time in the neighborhood took on the challenge to create something new in the area: “Markthalle Belgisches Viertel“. Several years of struggling to get all the permits and the renovation of an existing structure, finding the right people, “just” to make a dream come true. The couple does not belong to the classic start up generation from an age perspective and therefore I am stunned by their willingness to take on this risk. They transformed their passion for the markets in France and elsewhere into something beautiful.

The market hall caters rather for the neighborhood (“Veedel” as it is called in Cologne) then the “whole” city. It is a place for food, produce and meeting neighbors, producers and other people, not huge but big enough.

It is difficult to compare it with other market halls. Most of the other ones like the one in Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Budapest, Athens or Cork are well established, partly with generations of traders. The Rotterdam one has an incredible architecture, but still has to find its true character beyond being an attraction. The Markthalle 9 in Berlin is probably the one which comes closest, but the Markthalle Belgisches Viertel is more embedded in the surrounding culture and way of living.

Creating individuality

What surprised me when I entered the building: I felt immediately comfortable. Everything is nicely put together and makes you feel that the market had been around for a while and got its “patina“, the sign of real life. There is lots of room for individualism, each stall – and there are only 10 – is different, nothing is standardized. The baker lady has chosen a pale yellow, a painful decision for some people. The butcher shop opposite is very modern: lots of glass for transparency, no hiding of the crafted meat. The chairs and tables on the lower floor are all different, the tables as well. The bar of the restaurant has been decorated by a local graffiti artist – he has now free espresso until …

Challenges

Giving every trader his freedom to design his/her shop as desired, needed to be balanced with requirements of the other ones, not an easy task for the couple. And indeed the challenges were not only on the bureaucratic side – German construction laws have a reputation of their own – or dealing with craftsmen in times of construction boom. Finding the right shop owners was the toughest part according to Mr. Engels. As the concept is based on true individuals or characters who know their products, franchises were not aimed for. And not every entrepreneur has the capacity to serve the market six days a week for 10 hours daily. And indeed the guy who was suppose to take over the restaurant canceled it shortly before the opening. But improvisation turned out well: for the first days some pop restaurant folks from Cologne took over and served great street food (to my delight: no burgers, they have turned from my perspective to a plague in Germany).

Chatting with the traders

Mrs. & Mr.  Engels truly chose individuals with a passion for their products. It was fun chatting with each of them, they were so eager to explain their offering, providing samples and giving advice on how to use them. Each producer had its own style.

The baker lady with her down to earth shop explained in details her breads based on a 47 year old sourdough – mine being only a couple months old, I felt sort of young again. Coming from an area where I believe some of the best bread is being made, I was pleased with her rye bread.

I was happy to meet the wine maker who remembered me from another event. He was the one who told me about this market hall and is therefore responsible for this post. Unfortunately I was not in the mood to drink some wine. But he was also offering some fermented veggies from Mrs. Avci. She explained the process of fermentation as I wanted to understand a bit the hype around it as I observe it in some foodie segments outside Germany. We are used to sauerkraut but not much more. Try it and also her small batch Kombucha which she produces with a partner.

Mrs. Collin who runs the French cheese shop (nice selection) told me how she got into the business. She met her French husband at a university in France, but as she was the first to find a job, they moved to Germany and soon her husband, a former shepherd started the cheese business. She will continue running the market hall shop, whereas he is handling the one at the Carlsplatz market in Düsseldorf. Not an easy life. And I have to thank her eternally for connecting me to Mr. Engels. I learned a lot from him about running such a place.

The young hunter & butcher Lappen & Prengel was hyper this day. He was walking around in the hall looking at the people, serving and telling everybody about his meat and sausages with endless energy. He takes a lot of pride in the animals he hunts or sources and the transparency in the butchering process he tries to achieve. Visitors of the market hall can even the see the meat stored on hooks behind a glass window, the sausages are made in front of everybody – great approach to promote crafted meat. I bought for the first time some kidneys. I was surprised to see how many people suddenly became interested in it and one lady from Bavaria shared her recipe with me – gorgeous result. As the young owner butchers only a few animals per week you have to hurry to get them.

Lucy Barré who owns with her husband a French pastry shop did not have a fixed stall so far, which I hope will change soon. Despite being close to delivery she chose to be at the opening of the market hall. I am very grateful for that as she was selling true Galette des Rois (King cake). It is a puff pastry filled with an almond paste and somewhere hidden is a tiny porcelain figurine. The person who discovers it in his piece of the cake becomes the king of the day and gets a golden paper crown. I bought one as my childhood memories popped up, unfortunately I did not become the king when we ate it. Anyway, Mrs. Barré might be a mother by now, I wish her and her child all the best.

Food place

No market hall nowadays without a food place. The folks from Dreigang (three course in German) who were only here as a stand in, usually work as a supper club. They loved the open kitchen as they prefer to work in direct contact with the customers. I took advantage of it. My detailed questions about the business were appreciated (or tolerated?) and I learned not only how to produce rosemary syrup but also about the advantages of such a business being different to running a restaurant.

Learning curve

With all the discussions I had, especially with Mr. Engels, I gained a lot of respect on what it means to set up and run the market, the individual shops. And what it means to orchestrate the unbelievable magnitude of details to make it a success for the customers, the traders and the owners. It is a steep learning curve for everybody. I am very curious on how the market hall will develop, which traders will sustain the long working hours and how this place will develop to the place to meet your neighbors. There is enough space, even for events to bring people together.

All in all: Go for the Markthalle Belgisches Viertel in Cologne, it is a place where you will feel comfortable, get to know the neighborhood and eat & buy get great products as well.

A little link list (mostly in German):

• The official website
• The market hall on Facebook
• The hunter & butcher Lappen & Prengel
• The French pastry shop
• The bakery
• The hip guys from the IMI winery
• The fermented vegetables producer
• French cheese shop
• The pop-up restaurant folks
• A short report on TV (min 4:00)
• My other posts on markets in Cologne

Most producers have also a Facebook presence.

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Map at end of post

German street food

Generally speaking I am skeptical of street food markets in Germany. I see too many burgers, hot dogs and other American style food which certainly does not match the original. Often it demonstrates the lack of innovation in food, but I am also aware that it is an economic risk to focus on dishes outside the mainstream. Bratwurst still rules. Saying so, I also had the chance to eat good street food in Germany as well.

A great place

So I had mixed feelings when checking out the Thursday evening market – 4pm to 9pm – at the Rudolfplatz in Cologne (see map below). The first thing which stroke me at this sunny evening: a very relaxed crowd. Under the large trees people were sitting on the typical German beer garden benches, enjoying each other with drinks & food – no Pokémons apparently. It was easy to have conversations with strangers. Great way to turn a public place into an enjoyable one.

Tasty food

So what kind of food was available? First there are also a few food stall as well. Cookit my favorite from Bonn is there, then a cheese monger who offers also great wine by the glass, and a butcher. All in good quality. But I guess most of the visitors were more into “meet & eat” as the management company of this market calls it – I think they forgot the drinking part in their tag line.

My list of foods available is not comprehensive, I’ll give it a try: empanadas, burgers, bratwurst, cakes, handmade potato chips, ice cream, Lebanese, Peruvian, Thai, Reibekuchen (German potato pancake, a must eat for foreigners), wraps, steaks, currywurst (true German culinary invention), pizza and more which remains to be discovered. I guess in total there should be 15 to 20 stalls.

Peruvian cuisine

I could not eat my way through all the stalls, but I got great support by Nicola – Thanks!. The journey started with a glass of Italian white wine (Lugana) from the cheese monger, best choice amongst all the others we drank afterwards. Then I could not resist the Peruvian stall.

I am aware that there is a certain hype around the Peruvian cuisine since some years, so I had to see the light by myself. The stall was selling ceviche, a fish dish were the cooking is replaced by curing the fish with lemon juices. It was accompanied with some little salad, roasted corn all beautifully spiced. Great stuff to be honest. Just to make sure: it is completely different to sushi! A young couple standing at the same table, having traveled to Peru several times, told us that it was the best ceviche in town.

Then I saw a strange juice being sold, so we had to go for it. I forgot the name, but it was corn based, fruits and spices were added. At the end it tasted like a mix of sangria and mulled wine, but cold and without alcohol. Great stuff I have to say.

Next dish: a beef heart skewer. Oh my god, really really delicious. The marinade was so great, and the heart just provided a nice firm but not chewy background. I had to share this with the people on the table who were first scared by the beef heart, but then surprised by the good taste. As my portion got smaller this way, I had more space for other goodies. By the way I have only pictures of these dishes on Instagram.

More for the stomach

We went on and I saw this VW bus mounted pizza wood fire oven. The pizza was thin, with the right texture and a good tomato sauce. Nice. We had to queue for a while to get our share. The young couple from Bonn making the pizza were under high stress, as the day brought in more customers than they expected. But they love their job: an honest product with instant customer feedback (mostly positive obviously), and when the job is done they go home without having to think to much about the day.

Time for dessert: ice cream. The guy just started his business this year, but he really understands it. He warned me that his grapefruit sorbet might be a bit bitter, but this slight bitterness was exactly what gave the right kick. At the end I tried pistachio. Wow, I cannot even remember that I had an ice cream with such a real and intense pistachio taste, nothing artificial or superficial, a must buy, no regrets.

The pistachio ice cream was the last course as two city workers rang the bell walking through the aisles of the market to end this wonderful evening. As we are in Cologne, authority is one thing, time another one, so it still took a little while for the traders to stop selling and people stop drinking.

It was really a wonderful evening with good food, good company and nice encounters with strangers – joy & happiness.

A bit of background

The market itself is operated by Agrarkonzept a company which manages a few markets – mainly organic – in Cologne & Bonn. What I understood is that they are very strict in the selection of the vendors, the waiting list is long. Still they do not run the market at full capacity, as they cannot find the right quality for this market. Assuming that this story is correct, I only can appreciate this vigor, especially since it helps me to gain trust in German street food Furthermore the opening hours until 9pm help to get new people into markets, the crowd was different to the one which usually visits markets, a nice mix of generations and languages as well.

All in all: This street food market is certainly a role model with its’ quality offering. Great ambiance, worth to be revisited more than one time

A little link list:

• Agrarkonzept, the company managing the market
• The official website
• Street food markets in Cologne
• My other posts on Cologne markets: Rodenkirchen, Porz, Aposteln

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LYLM2015 – an international campaign

“Love your local market 2015 (LYLM2015)” is an international campaign to promote the awareness of markets, market halls and the like. It started in 2012 in the UK and is now spreading across many countries in Europe and the US. Many parties are involved in these activities, the World Union of Wholesale Markets being one of them. There is a distinct branding across the countries, and the focus is on events at the markets themselves accompanied by (strong) social media communication.

The LYLM2015 event at the Apostelnkloster market in  Cologne

The city of Cologne which is responsible for most of the markets in its area, including the huge wholesale market. Some of the city staff has the task to promote the markets through a variety of events, promotional materials and classic media engagement. They do that together with the market vendor representatives. This year they wanted to benefit from the international LYLM2015 campaign and set up two events during the international local market weeks from mid to end of May.

I rushed to see the event on May 22nd at the Apostelnkloster market in the city centre of Cologne, but I was a bit late. Still the visit was not in vain. The whole stage and the supporting staff was still there. I had the chance to have some chats on how things worked out and got nice “reports”. Earlier there were some “talk shows” with vendors who described what it means to be on a market and what the impact would be to have later hours of operations. With some chance they will be made available online. There was also a charity where the donations for branded market bags were dedicated to children. Traditional potato pancakes “Reibekuchen” were sold for charity as well, really really yummy. Furthermore a carousel and a bouncy castle were set up for the kids. Hours of operation of the market were extended from 15:00h to 18:00h to my delight.

Organizers were quite happy with the event, and several vendors experienced more customers than usual, some guessed 20% more. I understand that there is a great chance that the Love Your Local Market umbrella campaign will be run again next year with a different theme despite the additional costs. Then I certainly will take a day off, not to miss anything. And I want to know what the market visitors are thinking of such a campaign.

So what about the market itself?

Well the Apostelnkloster market is a good standard market at a convenient location in the middle of the city (see map below). Big trees give almost a Southern France type of feeling – at least when the sun is shining. And the adjacent Basilica of the Holy Apostles fosters the peaceful ambiance.

All what is needed on a market can be found: vegetables & fruits, meat, cheese, fish, flowers, eggs … but I did not see the honey stall. Unusual. A few street food stalls, e.g. a crêpes maker catered for the immediate appetite.

The fun part was a lady butcher who works on deer antler as a hobby and sells the results on the market – check the photo gallery above for a sample.

The coffee guy was a fun one as well, friendly and easy to talk to. He is relying purely on his regular customers. He knows fairly well when his clientèle will come for a coffee in which order. Fairly predictable business apparently.

The future of the markets in Cologne (and elsewhere)

I had some discussions during my visit about the status of the markets in Cologne and in Germany. With some exceptions times are a bit tough, clientèle is rather decreasing, and it is hard to find new vendors. The working conditions for the vendors, aka working hours are demanding and do not fit the requirements of a satisfying work-life-balance. Apparently the city of Cologne will try some new concepts which will include a shift of operations to later hours at some markets in order to cater for the working population. And (modern?) street food will probably play a more prominent role. I am very curious.

All in all: Good idea to promote local markets, it still remains an uphill battle. Refreshing Apostelnkloster market wouldn’t be a bad idea either.

A little link list:

• The mother of all LYLM
• The site of the international Love Your Local Market campaign (LYLM)
• The German homepage of Love Your Local Market – Erlebe Deinen Markt
• The German LYLM Facebook page
• The Cologne market media presence (German)

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After my post on the Porz market in Cologne, a friend told me to better visit the Rodenkirchen Saturday outdoor market as it offered better food quality. He was right.

Rodenkirchen is the most Southern neighborhood of Cologne, directly on the Western banks of the Rhine river. The market with a couple dozen or so stalls is at the centre of the shopping area (scroll down for map).

Carnival time

Currently the Cologne area is dominated by the last days of the carnival season. Carnival music everywhere, basically all songs celebrating the city of Cologne as the best place to be, including the soccer club 1.FC Köln, girls and at times the local public transportation company KVB. Nice mix.

Due to carnival the number of stalls was reduced, as there was a need to have space for the live music, marching bands and people drinking and dancing. So the market was full of loud music enjoyed by everybody. Ladies in fur coats were dancing while waiting to be served, vendors wore costumes and sang along. Great ambiance.

Upmarket offering

For German standards the offering is rather upmarket: a good artisan cheese selection, a good choice of meat, e.g. quails from France, rabbit, German patés, oysters and even real truffles!

The vendors explained me that the purchasing power of the population is quite high in comparison to other Cologne markets. As one butcher who serves 18 markets with 4 trailers told me, he has to adapt to each location with his meat and sausages offering, as taste and wallets vary across the city. In less wealthy locations, he does not even start displaying quails for example.

Of course good vegetables were available as well. The lamb’s lettuce was definitely better than the ones in the supermarkets. All the cabbages looked great as well. There was even local Jerusalem artichoke available and much more. But I still have to get used to the fact that fresh tomatoes are also available in winter time.

Truffles in Germany

There was something which really caught my eye: it shined like a gold nugget in a river bed or so: at the corner of a fruit & vegetable stall, there was a lady selling truffles. This was a first for me on a German outdoor market. The lady, Sabine Hörnicke, who just occupied that little spot had a few tubers from Italy to sell – really tempting.

She owns a business called Tuber Germania, trades in truffles, trains truffle dogs and helps to re-introduce this fungi into Germany. I did not even know that it was possible here, but apparently there was a significant production in Germany in the 19th century until World War I. I am curious about when this production will pick up again. It seems to be a hard task to build on those forgotten traditions.

The view of an Italian family

An Italian couple with a child did extensive purchases at the market, so I felt the urge to ask them about this market in comparison to those they experience in Italy. Well, they like the Rodenkirchen market and considered the quality to be good but the prices higher than in Italy. Rodenkirchen market seemed a bit small to them as they were used to much bigger markets with a wider choice in Italy, lets say 20 vegetable stalls instead of a few as here. A wider choice of vendors results into some headache at the beginning when one does not know the market to be sure to get the freshest product, but once having a vendor of choice, shopping becomes a quick thing to do.

With all their experience they liked to do the groceries here at the market, their heavy bags were certainly the proof.

A little marketing activity on the market

From my experience German farmers’ markets do not invest a lot in marketing as in comparison to the UK or US counterparts. In the UK initiatives like Love your local market or in the US the Farmers Market Coalition try to promote awareness and more. In contrast to this, there is little social media activity and not a lot of promotional activities in Germany. At least they do not seem to be very organized and consistent.

So I was surprised to see a customer with a shopping bag printed with “Mein Wochenmarkt” (my farmer’s market). He told me that from time to time they are being distributed for free, unfortunately not on this day. I am not sure if they are the best tool to promote visits at the market, but for sure I would love to have one. Creates a sense of belonging to a community, probably.

All in all: A really good market for quality food purchases, worth a little detour

A little link list:

• Wiki with all the Cologne markets
• Hope to find more

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Prologue

Me: “May I take a picture of your stall?”

Vendor: “What is it for?”

Me: “I love markets so I take pictures”

Vendor: “Ok, but don’t publish them on the Internet”

Me: “I want to publish them on my blog”

Vendor with a smile: “Ok, but only if you write nicely about us”

So do I write nicely in this post? Well, I like food markets and I try to rather understand why they are as they are. Some are exciting, some are probably just deeply rooted in their community. And so is the Saturday market in Porz.

The setting

Porz, is a city district of Cologne, latter being  famous for its cathedral, Kölsch beer and of course carnival. It is an industrial city, neat, but not a tourist attraction. I found quite many vegetable and fruits shops in the city centre mainly managed by people of Turkish background. The Saturday market seems to find its niche despite similar offerings.

There are about a dozen stalls, some selling clothes, but the majority selling produce. It is a little bit squeezed in between rails, a pedestrian zone and a parking garage. Not the nicest surroundings, but the humor of the vendors and some of the clientele made up for it.

So why are people coming?

Well, it really looked like that the customers and the vendors knew each other.

A customer got a credit from his vendor as he would come back as usual in 2 to 3 weeks and pay without being reminded.

One lady is coming every week since 1985 at the very large fruit and vegetable stall. Her and the vendor were joking the whole time about silly things, a joy to watch. The reason why the lady comes every week is the good relationship to the vendor but also his merchandise which offers superior quality to a supermarket. The produce just stays fresh much longer she claimed. Even though the source was the wholesale market, the market vendor has then the role to chose the best produce there.

What about the young generation?

As on most open markets I visited, the customers are rather middle aged or older. Not too many twenty-something around. A vendor claimed that the young generation does not know how to cook anymore, therefore not having the urge to buy fresh produce. Another one stated that in today’s families both parents have to work to make a living, therefore making it difficult to visit the open market, especially during the week. I don’t know if those are realistic explanations… Probably it would be interesting to experiment a bit more on how to attract a younger customer base.

This leads to the question:

What to find on this market?

Lots of eggs, really lots of eggs. At least 3 stall had a large selection of chicken eggs: small, large, jumbo, brown, white, you name it.

One butcher (the friendly one in the picture gallery) had a stall which was really shiny, pretty and modern, thus making all the sausages, meats and so on very appetizing. He does not own an own shop, but serves several markets. Another butcher had rabbit legs, something I do not see everywhere. The lady selling knew very much about the Mediterranean and German style of cooking them, so must be the clientele then.

The vegetable & fruit stall mentioned above had an incredible variety of produce spread over probably 10 meter or so. I have no idea how somebody can manage that many produce from a business perspective. Well he does the job since decades in second generation, that might explain it.

Only one farmer was present a the market, a fairly old guy selling organic produce more adapted to the season: potatoes, beets, carrots and the like.

Besides this offering: honey, vodka-honey-liquor, flowers and baking good where available as well.

The cheese selection was noteworthy, with fairly high quality of French cheeses and a nice selection of German ones. Something not be found easily even in supermarkets.

All in all: A small market with vendors and clients who know each other and have humor, giving a sense of community.

A little link list:

• Porz on Wikipedia

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