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

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

The oysters

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

Walking along

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The costs of running a business on the market

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

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

A little link list:

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

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Düsseldorf has the reputation to be a posh city. The market at the Carlsplatz reflects this as well.

The setting

Strangely enough the Carlsplatz market is not listed in the city’s directory of markets, despite the size and downtown location (see map below), which makes it also interesting for tourists. But the market has it’s own website at least, so it is fairly easy to get some information – when you are ready for German.

The market consists of approximately 60 permanent stalls covered by a glass roof which makes it easy to do purchases or having a snack independent of the weather. The offering is very diverse from local to international/exotic produce and delicacies. This makes it easy to find the right ingredients even for unusual recipes. For serious cooks of the area certainly a must go.

So what is the offering?

Basically everything to be eaten. I found so many items which are rare to find, be it because they are truly exotic, rarely used in the kitchen or just out of season. The latter is not necessarily to my liking, but …

So I will focus on the stalls which got my special attention. And I will start with simple potatoes.

The potato stall

The potato stall impressed me the most on this market. I love potatoes with character and flavour and they are not always easy to find. Therefore it was revealing to find probably more than 40 varieties coming from the potato country of origin (Peru), Scotland, France, Netherlands, Germany … you name it, resulting in a large range of types of starch and colours, from white to even blue. I am not sure if I saw Idaho potatoes though.

The vendor offered this large choice for the first season and seemed to be happy with the success. It took him some time to find whole sellers who could deliver in consistent quantities all the varieties. For me it was worth the effort. Hopefully the vendor will continue next season with the same offering as well.

What TV cooking shows do to us

The spice stall had such a large offer, ready for any kind of cooking book. As it is still in fashion, many types of salt were available, the same was true for peppercorns. So I asked the lady about the current hip stuff. She told me that TV cooking shows have the largest influence. She can predict which spice mixe will be in demand the next day. Currently Ras El Hanout and Garam Masala are en vogue. She questioned the preferences of the fashion at times, but it still means business.

The pasta lady

The fresh pasta being sold in all kinds of colours, shapes and fillings comes from Berlin. The owner explained that they are made by former Michelin star chefs who preferred a – hopefully – less stressing lifestyle. The fillings of the pasta are really unique: ricotta with honey on red beet pasta, Zucchini with raw ham to name a few.

I was wondering why the pasta lady did not offer some meals to attract more customers. Well, as the city wants to keep the market as a produce market and not a street food market, she did not get a concession yet, despite other stalls offering food. She noticed that on days where people eat at the market, she sells less produce, therefore making such an offering tricky for her.

Family business: basket maker

To my surprise there was a basket maker booth. The fairly young basket maker was in the process of fixing a chair for a customer, when he explained why he was doing business at this place. He preferred to go where the customers are instead of them having to look for him. Customers usually want to have some chairs or other furniture fixed, often heritage items or new designer furniture. Repairing on site helps him to get the trust of the clientele as they can watch him working his craft (see picture gallery). The gentleman took over the stall from an old man who had died some 5 years ago. He explained that the craft of basket making is something which needs to be learned over a long period of time, therefore it is often a family business. He hopes his son will continue the family tradition.

Street food

Yes there is plenty to eat on the spot: from local to international. On the local side there is the obligatory Bratwurst, but also Reibekuchen, a potato pancake or fritter which is often eaten with apple sauce (you don’t have to – see gallery for close up). Then you have shrimp rolls, oysters, antipasti, Iranian specialities like yoghurt with rose petals, tartlets, … The cuisine is Asian, Bavarian, French and where ever from. Coffee is being roasted on the spot and the result is truly delicious (Kaffee Reich).

Be aware that the queues are getting long around lunch time.

What else?

Well, all kinds of local and exotic vegetables and fruit are available. There are some butchers, an organic one as well, but it seemed to me that the choice was not as good as at the Rodenkirchen market in nearby Cologne. Saying that: do not forget that Düsseldorf and Cologne live their rivalry with great passion. There was quite a lot of US beef available, which is mostly better than the German one. In Rodenkirchen there is one shop near the market with Argentinian beef

The cheese stalls are good, though not overwhelming. I was surprised by one stall focusing on true Dutch cheese, not the cheap and tasteless stuff you get usually in Germany. A piece of 3 year old Gouda is now in my possession with great pride.

Home made Italian style antipasti caught my eyes and taste buds. I forgot to buy the famous Persian nougat – but at least I made a picture (gallery). The last time I ate it was in my childhood and I still remember it. Next time I probably buy some geese eggs, as I never tasted them.

Well 60 booths have more to offer than you can discover on a single morning.

All in all: the broad offering and the many discoveries of rare produce make this market stand out from the crowd. For me the potato stall would be reason enough to visit it again. Still there is a lot to discover.

A little link list

• The official website of the market with a gallery and vendor listing – German
• The semi-official website – German
• Listing of Düsseldorf markets – German
• More pictures on my photo site

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The market of Würzburg is one with strong regional roots.

It is located in the heart of the city next to the Marienkapelle a Gothic church. Würzburg is also quite known for its wine as well as for the Würzburg Residence, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with the world’s largest fresco from Tiepolo.

The market has a permanent structure with a transparent roof protecting buyers from the rain and still letting them feel that the church is still overlooking the market. There are temporary stands as well mainly on weekends with farmers selling their produce. Even though Würzburg is a provincial city in the region of Lower Franconia in Bavaria the market has some noticeable and popular offerings.

Famous is the Bratwurst stand with its long queues and very fast service.

For excellent sourdough rye bread go to the honey stand. There, one of the German gourmet popes, Wolfram Siebeck, noticed the excellent choice of honeys. Well these days the choice is a bit more focused.

During the summer time there is even an stand with regional artichokes, a vegetable which is rather rare in this environment. It is also sold when in flower even though it looks beautiful, I have never eaten that part.

In autumn sauerkraut is sold by the pound in platic bags, for instant indulgence (really). Of course apples, and other regional fruit are in abundance, the same is valid for potatoes etc.

One permanent stand is specialized on goat products: meat, sausages, milk, yoghurt, kefir, all things possible from this animal are being offered. This is not so common in Germany.

I was also quite impressed by the cheese stand from a guy who mainly sells his own cheese from the region at large. Generally German cheese needs some improvements, but that one I would cater to guest without getting ashamed.

Of course in the permanent structures there is also some non-regional products available, as on most markets these days. Still the link to the region is noticeable.

All in all: A food market which focuses on regional products with some specialities worth making a break when travelling by.

A little link list:

• A market website in German even with a webcam – no people right now …
• A great blog post on Würzburg, with many pictures and a large description of Würzburg, which I do not fully agree with …  from “averylonghoneymoon.wordpress.com”

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