This market is huge, really huge – and busy.

Intro

The Maastricht treaty is probably what makes this city sound so familiar. But it has more to offer, especially style and good shopping opportunities in a very nice historic setting. The Friday market adds its share to enhance the shopping experience. And it is very large, according to official sources up to 300 stalls. This alone is impressive. I am not sure, but I guess the produce and food section represents more than half of all these stalls, the other ones were more into clothes, textiles, bike spare parts and equipment etc.

What was impressive?

This Friday market exudes a real buzz. Even in the earlier hours people queued at some stalls for their shopping. The vendors are very communicative in many languages (Dutch, English, German & French) to attract their clientele and serve them with high efficiency. The supply never seems to end. All produce, be it fruits, vegetables, meat, fish etc.  are piled and busy hands make sure that those piles never get to small to impress potential buyers.

In the meat and fish section, it seemed that there is a zero waste policy. All parts of the animals were being sold. You will find minor fish cuts to make a fish soup of fish stock. I am not sure what chicken feet are good for, but there certainly will be a recipe somewhere in this city.

The fish stalls are something worth visiting. First there are plenty of them, each with a wide choice. Most of them are clustered at the Northern side of the market making comparisons very easy. Not being familiar enough with fish I would not be able to name them, but it is certainly overwhelming to see the different shapes and colours. It seemed that most come from the North Sea. I even found oysters, which always makes me happy. The further offering consisted also of smoked fish and street food, often seafood in a batter and then fried. I am not sure how one chooses her favourite fish stall, but all looked great.

The meat stalls were selling mainly chicken and some pork as well as convenience food. Chicken was rarely sold as a whole but each butcher seemed to have a big pile of each of the chicken parts: breast, wings, drumsticks, heart, feet, you name it. Next to those chicken specialists who reminded of wholesale business, there were more traditional butchers with a larger variety of animals and often meals for taking home like goulash etc. Lately I seem to suddenly “discover” rabbit on each market, this market not being an exception. The whole rabbit I saw came from France (see picture gallery). The sausage choice was rather limited comparing to what one will encounter in Germany.

When in the Netherlands it is a must to buy some cheese – Gouda is certainly the most known one, still the country has more to offer. Strangely enough, I saw only a few stalls in comparison to the meat & fish ones and they were distributed across the market. One of the characteristics of Dutch cheese is that it is being sold in different maturity groups, from young to very old. The older the cheese the more concentrated is the flavour, the young ones are very mild. I got a few: an old gouda (approx. 18 months, one with cumin, a young cheese and a Limburger (the one with distinct odour). Happiness back home!

The Netherlands are a hub of the global flower trade. Alsmeer is the location of the world’s largest trading centre for flowers and plants. Maastricht market makes a show case out of it. Many stalls offer flowers, bouquets and more in all kinds of colours. Enough to make the right choice for a loved one.

The fruit & vegetable stalls were a plenty as well. They looked like wholesale business going retail. Boxes and boxes full of what the greenhouses, fields and orchards across the planet are able to offer in large quantities. The prices were low, which also explains why so many people were doing their purchases here.

Besides all the produce, many street food stalls serve the market: fish & chips, all kinds of Asian ones, filled donuts and much more. Trying a mixed seafood platter – with batter and fried, accompanied  by a remoulade was rather disappointing. The donut filled with apple was a winner.

By the way: the Maastricht Friday market has been awarded best one in the Netherlands in 2014.

What was less impressive?

Despite the wide choice, especially when it comes to fish, this market offers rather commodities than specialties or gourmet stuff. Being familiar with European markets, there will be no real surprise. To a certain extent it is a huge outdoor supermarket – for feeding people in an affordable manner it is the place to be.

Some of the street food would have deserved a more sophisticated twist, it would make them truly unique. This is especially valid for the fish food.

But the market still fascinates me, my thoughts are coming back to all what I saw. There is some attraction I cannot explain. Probably it is the impressive buzz at the market, it gives me a great incentive to cook more often with truly fresh stuff.

All in all: A market which is attractive because of its sheer size and buzz. The large choice and quantity of fish is remarkable.

A little link list:

• The official site of the city with market information
• A small but nice post with beautiful pictures from the Crème fraîche blog
• More pictures on my photo site

The post The big one – Maastricht Friday market / Netherlands appeared first on Food & Farmers' Markets.

It was a rainy day. A pity for the very very touristy but still very pleasant town of Provincetown. The whole town reminds me of a possible American equivalent of a European medieval one like Rothenburg ob der Tauber, which could have been invented for tourists, just far more liberal.

By accident we tumbled upon the farmers market which stretched along the road next to the beautiful Town Hall. There were probably not more than a dozen stands and despite the rain with quite a few buyers.

Vegetables and fruits were dominant, but meat (beef, pork, lamb & chicken) out of Vermont was also available from a friendly vendor. As a highlight there was a guy who demonstrated spinning of threads, kind of Gandhi like style, but more comfortable on a chair. The guy selling mushrooms was either sold out or did not want to show too much of his produce.

I like a lot the one veggie stand which display its merchandise on a shelf were the shelves themselves were made of wood in a shape of barrels cut in half (the picture shows what I really mean).

It was rainy, so we left a bit faster than necessary.

All in all:  Fairly small farmers’ market, nothing wrong about it.

A little link list:

• Listing of location, vendors & products – not sure if up to date from farmfresh.org
• Nice blog post from serious eats

The post Provincetown farmers’ market, Cape Cod / USA appeared first on Food & Farmers' Markets.

On the Dewey square in the middle of the city of Boston and next to the Boston South Station is one of their public markets which is indeed a farmers’ market. Quite a clever location, even though the many people seem to be in the rush to go somewhere. And there are a lot of tall office buildings around the market giving almost the feeling of being in a valley. So there is people coming during the day, placing their orders and picking it up after work is finished.

And the market has a lot to offer for daily consumption: fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, milk products, bakery goods of all kinds, pasta, mushrooms etc. and a mobile coffee stand. The latter one is very important to me. To my surprise there is also a stand representing the organization of the Boston Public Market (BPM) with a person informing the public as well as replacing vendors when they go for lunch or so.

One particular farmer impressed me: Carl Hills who grows more than 50 varieties of tomatoes!! He did not have all of them on the stand, but quite a nice selection. I am wondering how he is managing his farm with such a diversity. According to him, he learned that over time as he is not new in the business. And the tomatoes tasted really good.

The bread from the Swissbäkers stand did not impress that much, but it was still good. The selection of Fromage Blanc – French for curd – was nice. Unfortunately I could not taste the pasta sauce from the mushroom stand, if it as good as the mushrooms on display, then it is worth being bought. By the way pasta, there was also a stand dedicated to that produce in all kinds of shapes and colors, a nice temptation.

Despite the not so big size of the market for a city like Boston, it spreads a nice ambiance in the surroundings of business and office towers full of busy people. Walking by the stands during a lunch break seems to be like a little vacation for eyes and brain before the stress starts again. And in the evening you pick up your purchases to prepare a simple but tasty meal at home for a smile on your face and a happy stomach. Or so.

All in all: A very pleasant market in a busy environment with some good quality produce to be discovered

A little link list:

• Official website with all the ongoing developments
• Website of the impressive tomato farm
• An interesting perspective on the development of the Boston Public Market and its impact on gentrification – from untappedcities.com
• A listing of the other Boston farmers markets

The post Boston Public Market (Dewey Square), Massachusetts / USA appeared first on Food & Farmers' Markets.