The mix of languages & cultures

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

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

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

The mix of purchasing power

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

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

The mix of people, the mix of food

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

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

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

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

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

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

A little link list:

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

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

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

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

Interview

Askan: Hi Tim
Tim: Hi Askan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Link list & map

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

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

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.

The post Learning curve – Markthalle Belgisches Viertel, Cologne / Germany 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.

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

Meat

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

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

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

Vegetables

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

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

Bread

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

Cheese

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

Experience

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

A little link list:

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

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

Scroll down to the end for the map

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

The produce

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

Community building

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

A bit of history

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

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

A little link list:

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

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

The motivation

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

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

The starting point

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

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

Collecting the content

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

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

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

So what is it about?

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

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

And now?

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

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

A little link list:

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

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

Scroll to the end for the map to find Markthalle 9

Fascination

The first thing I stumbled across on the Thursday Street Food Night was craft beer. And not an IPA as usual, but a good old Pils from Heiden Peters brewed in the cellar of the Markthalle 9. It was served by an Australian who lives in Berlin since a while did not sound to leave the city any time soon. Good start and setting the tone for the rest of the hall. I have never heard so much in English in a German market, it seemed that many vendors had a background outside Germany: the British guy selling New Zealand beer, wine and pies, a guy from Thailand with dumplings, a French lady opening oysters for clients, an Iranian selling Italian pasta, a Portuguese lady making Pasteis de nata etc. Even the labeling of the street food was often in English only. I got the feeling that the world feels at home in Berlin – it’s a good feeling.

The stalls themselves all showed diversity, improvisation and creativity. Sometimes there were only a couple tables, cooking gear, a banner, social media signs, that’s all. Others came with their trailers, some very functional, some nicely put together. The toilet lady sits in an an old car full of stickers to collect the little fee. And there were the permanent stalls with their production facilities as well, with different offerings on the street food night and the farmers’ market day. This flexible, creative, pop up character of the market with such a diverse offering kept me walking around with eyes and mouth wide open.

I had the chance to visit the market hall on two consecutive days and was fascinated. On “Street Food Thursday” I ate and drank my way through the various stalls. On Friday, the larger Farmers’ Market day, I shopped a little bit without forgetting eating & drinking. Therefore this post will be a longer read.

Why 9 in Markthalle 9?

Markthalle 9, got it’s number from a time in the late 1800’s when the city of Berlin decided to build for it’s boroughs market halls to allow a good supply of food to the growing population. They all had a similar architecture and were just numbered, not very creative but systematic.

The market hall itself is not easy to spot as it is not separated by a street from its adjacent buildings. Getting there with public transportation is easy, still you need to walk a few minutes.

Markthalle 9 is located in the district of Kreuzberg, known for its alternative scene and a large population of (former) migrants, mainly but not only of Turkish background. This lifestyle is also reflected in the Markthalle 9, even though I did not see Turkish style of food – which is unfortunate.

Food entrepreneurship

There were enough stalls that I cannot remember all of them, similar to a nice dream you forget after waking up, just that this one was real. Having taken lots of pictures helped me to get back the mouth feeling of what I purchased along the way.

The vendors I met, I call them food entrepreneurs. They have not built up their business since generations, they are rather into their endeavors since a few years or less. They have not been able to rely on a regular clientèle which might encompass generations of the same family as in other traditional markets. Maybe this made them inventive, leaving traditions behind, to attract crowds with an offering between traditional, experimental, local and global with creative presentation. Lots of buzz words but valid, I believe. And one more thing I observed: most of these entrepreneurs put their efforts only on a very focused offering, meaning not a wide but a clear choice, certainly reducing complexity of the business.

Street food offering

On the more traditional side with a new twist is the butcher Kumpel & Keule (buddy & club) co-founded by the food activist Hendrik Haase. He advocates meat and sausages from quality producers and putting craft into the business in contrast to the current mass production. And that shows on the counter, a decent not overcrowded selection which brings back a true appetite. The guys  sell burgers as street food, but they will cook any other meat or sausage for you to eat on the spot. I chose Merguez and Kreuzberger sausages. The latter ones, similar to Nürnberger Bratwurst were delicious, with the right type of spices – a clear recommendation. And if you like, they also have merchandising, you may wear one of their hats or t-shirts.

On one of the next stalls I noticed that I never had Asian dumplings before, so I tried some with different fillings, vegetarian and meat ones, all great. The most surprising one contained sauerkraut & bacon. I was amazed how that worked out, also with the hot sauce. Despite this not obvious East & West combination it was a true winner. I like when culinary borders are being expanded.

Next the oyster stall. It is impossible for me to go by without eating a few. They had mainly Irish and Dutch oysters and was managed by a German cook and a French lady, friendly people explaining me a lot about the products, one of the reasons why I like to go to markets. I tried the flat oysters which are supposed to be the original European variety, but they did not convince me. I am too much stuck to the taste of the French ones.

Aaah, yes I had another beer in between, a black IPA again from Heiden Peters. Good stuff, not boring at all.

I forgot: before that I had a Portoguese Pasteis de nata from Natas-Berlin. Nice.

Next comes cheese. I love cheese, unfortunately I very very rarely come across German producers I appreciate. So I had to test some from Alte Milch (German for old milk). The stall is very simplistic and has a little more than half a dozen cheeses on offer, again a clear focus. My opinion about German cheeses has not changed significantly despite a rather positive experience. The neighbor stall Menze sold cheeses and sausages from small producers of the Vorarlberg region in Austria. Their mountain cheeses tasted well.

Okay, then there was this guy who once was an agricultural consultant in the pork industry. He started this career shortly after the fall of the wall. The air in the pork stables wasn’t so good for him. His doctor told him to get more fresh air, so he started raising free range pork and became a sort of a celebrity for doing so according to his claims. At the Markthalle 9 he is not only selling produce under the German regional label Echt Fläming, but also “Original German Food” as his banner indicates. It is roast pork with a crisp fat crust and sauerkraut. Very cliché but also very good. He claimed that the market hall wants him, as he is the only one with true German food, something I could not confirm. Apparently many Chinese are attracted to his street food, I just saw one

I think this is what I ate at this evening, I got heavier and my wallet lighter. Still there is much more appetizing food: quite a few Asian stalls with food I am not familiar with, tapas, rösti (Swiss potatoe cake), Käsespätzle (German noodles with cheese), pasta, tofu, cakes, donuts, ice cream and of course burgers, sandwiches and pizza. Classic Berlin street food like Currywurst and Bouletten (meat balls) is not missing as well. And no worries about drinks, plenty of opportunities.

The farmers’ market part

Markhalle 9 has also regular produce available, in parts also from young food entrepreneurs as well. And I will only mention those ones I gave a visit and were not mentioned in the section above.

Italian style bread from Sironi is baked on the spot, the whole process can be observed through a glass wall. And yes, they do fresh pizza with a very nice dough.

A couple attractive vegetable and fruit stalls – with a regional focus – were present , too little for my taste. To my delight a wide range of potato varieties were offered. I had been told that on Saturdays the choice is a bit wider and that one particular vendor had superb quality. I missed it.

100 pct., thus the name of the little company, has direct relationships with some small Greek producers of olive oil, herbs and pistachios. I had to say that the wild oregano and the pistachios were really superb.

The fresh Italian pasta from Pasta e Più is not done by Italians, but by an Iranian couple. When I consider Italian food basics nowadays, I have to realize that it has become so global, available anywhere that at some point Italian producers and cooks will not be sufficient to cater for the demand. Anyway, I bought some red beet gnocchi as gift for a friend and was rewarded by a “yummy” a few days later.

The wine stall got my special attention. First the name: “Schöner trinken – Weinhandlung Suff” which may be translated into “Nicer drinking – wine shop boozing”. I believe in German it sounds funnier. Then the choice, really good. They had some of my favorite German wine makers, which speaks for their professional knowledge Then they truly knew their stuff and are very pleasant to talk to, no snobbish attitude at all. Their offering by the glass is worth more than one sip.

Besides Kumpel & Keule there is another butcher in the hall. Mr. Frindt is the owner of that stall. He is one of the few remaining independent butchers left in Berlin. In his 6 or more trailers he offers high quality meats and sausages from Germany and other countries. He is a good recommendation and I loved his “Sülze” (head cheese) and Mettwurst.

And yes, the Spanish specialty stall had wonderful cured Iberico ham, a must try, freshly cut of the whole leg on the spot.

The crowd – a difficult topic

The crowd enjoying the place is coming from everywhere and all kinds of language are being spoken. Besides German, English is quite dominant indicating that we are in a tourist destination. But it rather seems – and I might be wrong – that a lot of expatriates enjoy the place and its urban culture, one which might be seen in other larger Western cities as well. In the earlier hours I could see families with their little children, later smaller groups across the generations enjoyed drinks, food and chats together.

Lets reconsider, as one vendor told me, the neighborhood of the market hall is not a rich one, despite an ongoing gentrification. And a lot of migrants are living here since decades. And let’s recap that some years ago the former Governing Mayor of Berlin, Mr. Wowereit, called the city “poor but sexy“. So people were (are) used to low prices for produce & food. The quality of the offering in the Markhalle 9 is certainly above average and so are the prices. The result is that the neighborhood is not well represented amongst the visitors, and certainly the migrant population is not – despite the discounter Aldi being under the same roof.

Mr. Frindt, the butcher I mentioned earlier, explained a similar story when it comes to the food prices Berliners are used to. But he also explained that in this borough there is also a segment of people who are conscious eaters and willing to pay once a week a good premium for meat instead of having cheap one from the super market every day on the plate. This crowd is certainly to be seen here.

The economics

All the food entrepreneurs find a good testing ground in this location. The crowd seems to be curious enough and willing to hop on new trends, so why not giving your passion a try.

The vendors do not look as posh as lets say in the market halls of Stuttgart and Frankfurt in Germany. Most of the stalls look like low invest ones in contrast to the quality they offer. The focus is more on the creativity and development of new culinary fields than on business assets like carts and the like.

On other German markets there is barely any social media activity, here it is just the opposite, those who don’t use them are the exception. These efforts in building customer relations would certainly help other markets to rejuvenate.

According to a vendor I talked to, it is often  struggle to make decent profits and to build a life based on this type of business. It may take several years to reach the first milestones of sustainability, probably only somebody with a strong passion or other side business will make it. I hope for the best.

Bonus track: the owners and their concept

The market hall varies the focus from day to day, on Thursdays evenings there is a lot of street food, whereas on the other days there is more produce to buy, even though the difference does not seem to be large. I have been told that on Saturdays the farmers’ market becomes more vivid. From time to time the location transforms itself according to the needs of theme days such as on cheese, sweets etc. or for special events like “Stadt Land Food” which promotes sustainable food and agriculture. This pop up character contributes further to my fascination for this market hall.

Funny enough there is still the discounter Aldi in the hall giving it an intersting contrast. It seems that this presence is based on old contracts when the current three private owners took over the building. I assume that the contract will not be prolonged since I have been told that the owners pursue a concept of sustainability. According to Wikipedia this is supported by the city of Berlin. When the city sold the asset in 2012 the current concept of renovation and establishment of the market was preferred over an 1.1m € higher (!) offer from a large investor. He would have teared down the building to construct a type of mall with underground parking. I am happy for the wisdom of the city of Berlin.

All in all: A must see for food lovers in Berlin, the many food entrepreneurs exude creativity and passion for great food

A little link list:

• Official website
• Markthalle 9 on Wikipedia (German)
• The accounts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook
• A list of markets in Berlin by Angloinfo

The post Pop Up – Markthalle 9, Berlin / Germany appeared first on Food & Farmers' Markets.

Scroll to the end for the map

The market

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

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

The traders & their offering

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

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

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

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

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

Decline & its reasons

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

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

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

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

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

A little link list:

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

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

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

The post Very tasty – Street food market at Rudolfplatz, Cologne / Germany appeared first on Food & Farmers' Markets.