How tiny can a market be to still be called a market?

Well the one at the St. Josef church in Bonn-Beuel has only three stalls. So is it worth a visit? Surprisingly yes, at least for the many regular customers. And yes, then we should call it a market.

What makes it so interesting?

Well there is large fruit & veggie stall with a wide range of products like herbs, fresh garlic, sweet potatoes, Mediterranean produce, wide range of salads and the like – basically everything for the day to day and more sophisticated cuisine. A large selection coming from the wholesale market I suppose.

When I talked to the lady from the game meat, poultry & egg stand, I got a nice introduction into her offering. But first she made an effort to present her game meat for a better photo. Then she told me that her game meat originates from the rural Eifel region. Friends of the stall owner hunt the game and he is preparing it into smoked ham, smoked Bratwurst, which is much lower in fat than the pork based one and with a very distinct character. Yummy.

Asking the stall owner if this small market is, like many markets in Germany is having difficulties to maintain turnover, he vehemently denied such a trend for this little market. He mentioned that there is very diverse clientèle in terms of age and that not only old loyal customers as for many other markets. Furthermore his customers seem to be low maintenance, always ready for a friendly chat and jokes. His expression clearly indicated that they contribute significantly to his quality of life and motivating him to continue his market journey for many years to come.

And the third stall on the market is the Polish one. I did not check it out seriously enough, even though I am curious about the Pierogi being offered, a type of Eastern European ravioli. Next time hopefully.

All in all: The number of stalls is not a barrier for being a market worth making purchases from

A little link list:

• The other markets in Bonn I blogged about: the one in Bad Godesberg (my favorite), the organic one and the busiest one
• A recipe for a type of Pierogi or Varenyky the Ukrainian version from the Food Perestroika blog
• Another tiny market: Castanheiro at the Place de Paris in Luxembourg by akihart (German) … and even tinier the, one in Saarbrücken
• … and here in Rome by marketsofrome.com

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