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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A market can be full of stories. This one delivered many.

Intro

Schlebusch is a neighbourhood in Leverkusen, a city close to Cologne, which is not known for being a touristic attraction. You will probably travel there only if you are fan of the successful soccer club Bayer 04 Leverkusen or the even more famous company Bayer AG.

The market itself is in a residential neighbourhood and not the only one in town. It might have a few dozen stalls or so. It has all the stalls necessary for daily needs: fruits and veggies, lots of meat, fish, cheese, eggs, honey and the like.

The customers all looked like they were coming from all directions of the neighbourhood, most of them seemed to bring their own bags saving plastic in the city with this famous chemical company (Bayer AG).

The little stories

Talking to strangers is rewarding.

The butcher

The butcher I talked to, serves the market since 35 years. He won’t have somebody taking up his business when he retires in the near future. It is just hard work, starting very early in the morning – not appealing to many. And business is not easy. He had a pre-ordered Barbary duck from France but the buyer failed to show up. Selling it for 25€ instead of 35€ was still a hard task.

80 to 90% of his clientele are regular ones. They mainly come because of the better quality and a wider choice in comparison to supermarkets. There was boar and deer in the offering, not for much longer as the the hunting season was ending. He has rabbit all year long, in the past this was also only a seasonal product. Rabbit has its fans, I am wondering how people learned to appreciate it, as it is not widespread in German cuisine. He could pinpoint to a certain category of people buying it.

German markets are in decline rather than on the rise, he stated, and a solution on how to change this did not come up. For sure social media as a tool to attract a new clientele was not his worry. This always puzzles me a bit, as I see US & UK markets being active in this field.

The vegetable seller

He had a cold and was not in the most talkative mood. But at least he allowed me to take some pictures. And he told me that truly the demand for sweet potatoes, US import in this case, was on the rise, even though there a certainly not as common as the good old potato.

The fish ladies

The fish ladies had a much clearer opinion on how to make the market more attractive: shift the operations to a later hour when young families have already done their breakfast and are ready to go on a Saturday. And offer them also some street food as they enjoy eating something different but on a budget.

The fish ladies knew their customers and have seen some of them getting old, suffering from dementia and even dying. They see themselves not only as business persons but also as companions of their customers. They enjoy this a lot, even though the stories were not always jolly.

For one story they pitied me because I had no chance to see it on this day: every Saturday there was these two big dogs waiting at the entrance area of the market on their own, while their “master” was doing shopping. They sit here, do not move, watch the scenery and do not bother anybody. A pleasure to everybody.

When I wanted to take pictures of the merchandise, the ladies first made sure that everything looked pretty. I was not used to it, but the wait was worth it – check the pictures in the gallery above with a large choice of smoked fish: kipper, mackerel, eel, halibut, herring and more.

The Sorb lady

While I was discussing with the fish ladies on how to get a younger crowd to the market, an old lady approached me. She first told me that the younger preferred the organic farmer’s market not so far away. She had a bad experience there: money was stolen from her purse once. Therefore she does not go there anymore.

And then she told me a bit about her own history: she is a Sorb or how she preferred to call it: a Wend. I tend to forget about this centuries old Slavic speaking population in Eastern Germany. It turned out to be more than a recap. I learned about the complicated times during the Nazi regime, where efforts were made to teach the Sorbs/Wends to speak the German language only. Apparently they got teachers even from the Alsace region, whereas the Sorb ones had to got in other areas. She continued with a few other stories about frictions between different cultures in Germany and that led her to believe that tolerance was a necessity in life.

The epilogue

I made a few purchases: smoked fish and some Gouda with cep, both very nice. But what I will remember most are the chats I had during the short visit with all the locals.

All in all: A nice neighbourhood market, which is just missing a little spot where people sip a coffee and exchange their stories

A little link list:

• Overview on the markets in Leverkusen, incl. Schlebusch – German but easy to translate
• There does not seem to be a lot on the Internet on this market

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Surprise: winter is cold

It is cold, it is grey on this winter day in Zagreb, but suddenly there are bright summer colours popping up. Piles of oranges, mandarines, apples, kiwis and the abundant red umbrellas pop up when approaching the Kvatric market (or Kvaternikov Trg). A friendly touch to this day.

Located next to a larger street (Ulica Pavla Šubića), the iron fence around the market gives a feeling of being a protected school yard. And it is busy indeed, despite being smaller than the more famous Dolac market.

Structure & order are everything

The city of Zagreb has a very clear idea on how a market has to be like: it has to look very, very organized and structured. All stalls in the centre have the same tables of the same size of the same shape. Against sun, rain and maybe bad luck the stalls are all protected by the same umbrellas, the ones beach cafés might use as well. There is a section with open stalls which need refrigeration and a glass protected display. Also here the same size, shape and style. The open space is surrounded by permanent structures which look also similar to one another.

The vendors

The vendors, mainly ladies, gave this rigid structure and organization a nice charm. To my relief some of them spoke English. The cheese stands operated by old ladies throughout, my lack of Croatian by big smiles and body language for great conversations.

I don’t know how they made it throughout the day in this cold weather as not everyone had an outdoor heater to get at least some warmth. And the cafés at the market helped as well. The weather did not stop people from leaving the market with their hands full of large bags with merchandise.

The offering – quite local

The offering was seasonal for sure. Oranges, apples everywhere. Cabbage, beets, potatoes, carrots, dried beans of all kinds were the common vegetables. Pickles, open sauerkraut, and whole fermented cabbages were unique and interesting to discover.

Strange to me was the set of egg shops, maybe half a dozen all in permanent structures. So many eggs on one single market. No idea why.

The old ladies of the cheese stalls offered only local ones, no Camembert or so.

The butcher had a shop on the side of the market with classic cuts of beef and pork and some dried sausages. As he allowed me to take some pictures, he took away the tray of sweetbreads as he deemed it as not esthetic enough. What a pity.

One my way out I was surprised to discover the small fish market hall: beautiful selection of Mediterranean fishes like sea devil, calamari and live shrimps. It is almost as living at the sea. Not too many customers were on a shopping spree, an easy time to take some pictures. One fish monger even posed some seafood to get better pictures.

All in all: a typical Zagreb market, a little bit hidden, worth a visit for market lovers who want to experience charming vendors

A little link list:

• A blog post on the market from tatjanapasalic.com
• The official/administrative site for all Zagreb markets from Zagrebački Holding – trznice-zg.hr  with the listing of all the vendors

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The setting

The centre of the Bad Godesberg outdoor market is dominated by a modern style type of fountain where kids are playing around. The parents can easily watch them while having a coffee from the mobile stall or in a café next to the market. Bicycles can be seen all around where there is space, some of them with carts to take children along.

Everything is relaxed, people are meeting and talking with each other. A very picture book type of setting especially when the sun is shining. And the audience is fairly international.

No rush for shopping.

The shopping experience

You get everything when it comes to daily food. There is fresh fish, meat, sausages, game meat, bakery goods, vegetables, fruit, honey, organic food, Spanish delicacies, flowers etc. A large variety indeed. Is there a stall sticking out of the couple dozen or so? Not really, most of them have really friendly vendors who give good advice on their products. Not all the stalls sell own products, but the quest for quality is visible. And only a few stalls provide food ready to eat, like the one which offers fried Spanish snacks.

As it was pumpkin season, there were a lot spread across the market. Some were painted with smileys. A discovery was the new variety “microwave pumpkin” (see picture gallery above). The lady selling them indicated that she just named them like this as they are really good for microwave cooking. Still she prefers them out of the oven.

The Spanish delicacies guy

The owner of the Spanish delicacies stall had enough time for a chat. I knew him from the Bonn main outdoor market. As that market was started being managed by a private company (Marktgilde) instead of the city itself, he preferred to leave it, as he did not like is new location within the market.

For him being at a market gives him more flexibility than having an own shop with fixed opening hours. He has also reduced over time the number of staff and as an end result he has a better work life balance. Something market vendors will probably have hard times to actually find in their lives, as most of them work hard.

He sells a lot of cream cheese type based delicacies nicely mixed with other ingredients, but also Aioli, warm tapas, filled peperoni, wood oven bread and more. He is great at giving generous samples. Maybe this is the reason why even children come and spend their pocket money.

Distinguishing from the supermarkets

The Bad Godesberg market is rather focusing on quality than price. And this is how the vendors are trying to distinguish themselves from supermarkets, which they clearly see as competition.

The lady from one stall explained that she specializes on potatoes and onions only, as she can clearly provide quality through this focus. She has established relationships to some farmers in the area who are able to provide the right products. The stall is already handed by the 3rd generation of owners. Somehow they must have an idea on how to keep their business successful as both products are rather commodities.

Another vendor, purchases his vegetable & fruits on the wholesale market in Cologne at selected dealers (similar to the guy at the Porz market) to ensure quality. This is being done in the 4th generation. He offers a rather very wide choice instead of being specialized as the potato/onion lady. The larger main market in Bonn wants to gain him as a vendor in order to increase the overall quality, but so far he has resisted.

And there is again the Spanish delicacy guy who offers is own unique food selection, since around 10 years on this market. His selection is certainly not be found that easily in supermarkets, therefore attracting a crowd longing for something different.

These are three different strategies of vendors on how to stay successful. The mix of classic, if not traditional products and some innovations like Spanish specialities or “microwave pumpkin” will (hopefully) help to keep the loyal customers and attract new generations.

All in all: The Bad Godesberg market expresses a very relaxed ambiance where people have a coffee, meet friends and shop for good quality products.

A little link list:

• The vendor website managed by the fish monger with the listing of all the vendors: www.unser-wochenmarkt.de
• List of the markets in Bonn (pdf)
• More pictures on my photo site

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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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