The Naschmarkt in Vienna, the capital of Austria (old joke: not the country with the kangaroos) is a market with origins in the 16th century. It is a fairly huge one with permanent stalls serving daily needs as well as the ones of more ambitious cooks in the middle of the city.

The choices of vegetables, fruit and cheeses etc. does not only encompass Austrian produce but offers also those from distant countries. And their presentation is all about celebrating food. It is difficult to leave the place without  having eaten something, especially since there are quite a few stalls which have been transformed into little restaurants. Those ones give a nice choice of local and foreign cuisines. And it is a place to taste Austrian wine as well. As the produce stalls close down in the evening, these restaurants become real busy catwalks

The Naschmarkt is not only international when it comes to the produce, but also the vendors come from different countries, often from Turkey thus giving almost a melting pot flair. It is also a market full of discoveries: the selection of spices is tremendous, a lot of bakery goods are probably not known outside the country. The cheese selection is surpasses certainly the one of any supermarket, and there is meat parts available which is not common, like rumen etc. I liked a lot the Wandererschnitte – (hikers’ fruit bar) which is a pressed cake consisting of 13 ingredients, mainly dried fruit and nuts. It is something which can easily be transported back home.

Looking at this huge market as a whole, it is a probably one of the few  which is not only alive during the day, but also has a night life side, thus making money almost around the clock.

To my surprise this market is rarely mentioned in best of lists.

All in all: The Naschmarkt is a true celebration of food, definitely worth a detour

A little link list:

• The official website in English
• A post with lots of pictures from epicures
• On tripadvisor
• Naschmarkt by night
• Wandererschnitte – the nice hikers’ fruit bar

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