Toronto, I like you

Winters must be cold in Toronto. This is the impression I got from the St. Lawrence market hall in the heart of Toronto, Canada.

Lots of hearty products which fill you instantly with joy and energy to overcome any harsh weather conditions. It was warm at the time of the visit but the resistance to stuff my belly was rather weak.

The St. Lawrence market hall is conveniently located in downtown in this rather pedestrian friendly North American city. It is an old spacious building with two floors where sales happen and a partly covered outdoor seating place for consumption of the foods served inside.

But the market hall does not only serve meals, it has a wide range of produce available to cater for home cooking. Toronto is a multicultural city par excellence. Nevertheless the majority of the offerings seemed to target consumers with a rather European background, thus reflecting the neighborhood.

Diving into the St. Lawrence Market Hall

The peameal bacon sandwich is the thing to try in Toronto according to several guides. It is all about a juicy peace of bacon supposed to be rolled in ground peas. I could see that it was rolled in something but I could not taste any pea. It was rather disappointing when measuring it against the hype. Still a decent sandwich though.

That experience made me skeptical about the market hall offering, which in hindsight was not fair.

Comparing with US markets

As I have been a several times in the USA, I always compared my experience there with the one in the St. Lawrence market hall. There are a few commonalities and a few differences.

Meat

The meat selection is very broad in quantity and in terms of cuts. Emphasis is on beef but I found more game meat than in the US. The game was focused on deer and wild boar, I was hoping for more “exotic” meats. Maybe this is not the area for that.

I love the displays here, they are so generous as if space is unlimited for the merchants. you have to truly walk along a single stall to get an idea of the offering, just glimpsing form one point will not help. This is probably what meat eaters consider as paradise on earth.

Considering this large offering, one must assume that people are still cooking a lot. The meat merchants all had their little ready made food stand, like ribs, wings etc. but that looked rather tiny in comparison, indicating only a small portion of the clientele not wanting to cook.

Nevertheless a merchant complained that things had change over time, that they sold more in the “old days”, and that people were not cooking as much anymore. That would mean that all the meat would be left unsold in the stall. Of course this is not the case. I am aware that in the “Western world” I am living in, home cooking is on a decline, and I see streetfood becoming more popular. Still the stall displays showed a still persistent need for produce.

Fish

Toronto is situated at lake Ontario, not exactly seaside but seems to be full of fish and seafood lovers. Octopus, salmon, shrimps, squid, oysters, tuna, trout, halibut, swordfish, cod, lobster and much more on several stalls. I did not ask how often the fish mongers get new deliveries as they looked fresh to me. Strangely enough I did not see whole fish, only filet. That’s a pity.

Cheese

The cheese stalls surprised me the most. In the US these sections are rather small, focusing on more or less local production. Here I saw so many European imports from many countries and regions. The selection would make many cheese stores in Europe jealous.

I do not know where this is coming from, maybe because the French influence via Québec is quite strong. Or maybe the import regulations in Canada are more liberal than in the US?

Some of the cheeses were brands you may find also in European supermarkets, others were more artisan cheeses even hard to find in my home town. I had difficulties to spot artisan Canadian cheeses, being overwhelmed by the wide choices.

Vegetable & fruit

Generally speaking I saw similar choices here in Toronto in comparison to Vancouver and the US markets I have visited over the years. The share of stalls with vegetables was smaller but one could find all the seasonal products. Green asparagus, all the lettuce, topical fruit, a nice selection of potatoes etc. Of course, as convenience food is gaining traction, there were enough plastic containers with cut fruit or nuts to go.

I was impressed with a couple stalls showing a wide selection of mushrooms. They get my attention as they look good to me and I am still wondering how to best prepare them.

Being unfair to vegetables

When writing over vegetable on farmers’ markets I am lacking a bit of imagination and do not present them as something special. Which is a bit unfair. Yes colorful displays catch my attention without noticing the details too much. Probably this is due to my lack of having a deep enough understanding of their origins, quality and distinctions in aromas or taste.

When I see a tomato or a lettuce or an onion, do I have an idea if it will be a good or not? No.

I still have memories from my times as a student in Turkey when the tomatoes and other veggies really had taste. And they were not necessarily organic. The same was valid for the potatoes I ate during an internship at a Northern German farm, they were so lovely. For insiders the varieties were Linda and Granola. Linda, organically grown, has gained popularity in the meantime, whereas Granola is hard to find.

Since then I have not been overwhelmed by the commercial produce. But the homegrown carrot from my colleague I got recently truly had a great taste.

I need to kick myself into my rear to get a little more exploratory here.

What else?

Toronto is a truly multicultural city. I had been walking through Portuguese, Chinese, Indian and Pakistani influenced neighborhoods. On some other spots I saw many more different cultures without having seen their respective centers. This is somehow also reflected in the St. Lawrence market hall, I observed it mainly on the food level, not so much on the produce level.

Salsa & guacamole

I go the biggest joy out a Mexican stall where I bought homemade salsa and guacamole. Eating them at the hotel was a real feast! So much flavor, nice acidity and a little trip through so many aromas. No idea how it had been created, where all the necessary ingredients imported? I doubt it.

Ukrainian bakery

The Ukrainian bakery called “future bakery”. The family fled from Ukraine to Canada with the outbreak of second World War. The name “future bakery” expressed their wish to look forward into a new future. Still the products have their roots in the former home of the family.

More goodies

The St. Lawrence market hall is not small and therefore offers a wide array of goodies which caught briefly my eyes.

A wide choice of honeys

A surprise; truffles!

Italian Pasta: fresh and imported

Of course maple syrup

Wine as well and so many other specialties.

All in all

Is it worth to have a look at the St. Lawrence market hall? For sure. When you are hungry it is good place to find yummy street food and small items to eat on the spot.

When you want something to bring home for cooking it is a great place to find a large variety of produce often of very good quality, still in a laid back fashion. Not snobbish for sure, but it would not harm to have a better display of all the goods, currently it is rather squattered and confusing. That could elevate it to very fine place.

It would be a shame not to visit the St. Lawrence market hall when in Toronto, it gives such a good introduction of what people eat here, I assume predominantly for buyers with some European heritage.

A little link list

• The official website
• The Instagram account

Map to the St. Lawrence Market Hall

The post Hearty – St. Lawrence market hall, Toronto / Canada appeared first on Food & Farmers' Markets.

After my post on the Porz market in Cologne, a friend told me to better visit the Rodenkirchen Saturday outdoor market as it offered better food quality. He was right.

Rodenkirchen is the most Southern neighborhood of Cologne, directly on the Western banks of the Rhine river. The market with a couple dozen or so stalls is at the centre of the shopping area (scroll down for map).

Carnival time

Currently the Cologne area is dominated by the last days of the carnival season. Carnival music everywhere, basically all songs celebrating the city of Cologne as the best place to be, including the soccer club 1.FC Köln, girls and at times the local public transportation company KVB. Nice mix.

Due to carnival the number of stalls was reduced, as there was a need to have space for the live music, marching bands and people drinking and dancing. So the market was full of loud music enjoyed by everybody. Ladies in fur coats were dancing while waiting to be served, vendors wore costumes and sang along. Great ambiance.

Upmarket offering

For German standards the offering is rather upmarket: a good artisan cheese selection, a good choice of meat, e.g. quails from France, rabbit, German patés, oysters and even real truffles!

The vendors explained me that the purchasing power of the population is quite high in comparison to other Cologne markets. As one butcher who serves 18 markets with 4 trailers told me, he has to adapt to each location with his meat and sausages offering, as taste and wallets vary across the city. In less wealthy locations, he does not even start displaying quails for example.

Of course good vegetables were available as well. The lamb’s lettuce was definitely better than the ones in the supermarkets. All the cabbages looked great as well. There was even local Jerusalem artichoke available and much more. But I still have to get used to the fact that fresh tomatoes are also available in winter time.

Truffles in Germany

There was something which really caught my eye: it shined like a gold nugget in a river bed or so: at the corner of a fruit & vegetable stall, there was a lady selling truffles. This was a first for me on a German outdoor market. The lady, Sabine Hörnicke, who just occupied that little spot had a few tubers from Italy to sell – really tempting.

She owns a business called Tuber Germania, trades in truffles, trains truffle dogs and helps to re-introduce this fungi into Germany. I did not even know that it was possible here, but apparently there was a significant production in Germany in the 19th century until World War I. I am curious about when this production will pick up again. It seems to be a hard task to build on those forgotten traditions.

The view of an Italian family

An Italian couple with a child did extensive purchases at the market, so I felt the urge to ask them about this market in comparison to those they experience in Italy. Well, they like the Rodenkirchen market and considered the quality to be good but the prices higher than in Italy. Rodenkirchen market seemed a bit small to them as they were used to much bigger markets with a wider choice in Italy, lets say 20 vegetable stalls instead of a few as here. A wider choice of vendors results into some headache at the beginning when one does not know the market to be sure to get the freshest product, but once having a vendor of choice, shopping becomes a quick thing to do.

With all their experience they liked to do the groceries here at the market, their heavy bags were certainly the proof.

A little marketing activity on the market

From my experience German farmers’ markets do not invest a lot in marketing as in comparison to the UK or US counterparts. In the UK initiatives like Love your local market or in the US the Farmers Market Coalition try to promote awareness and more. In contrast to this, there is little social media activity and not a lot of promotional activities in Germany. At least they do not seem to be very organized and consistent.

So I was surprised to see a customer with a shopping bag printed with “Mein Wochenmarkt” (my farmer’s market). He told me that from time to time they are being distributed for free, unfortunately not on this day. I am not sure if they are the best tool to promote visits at the market, but for sure I would love to have one. Creates a sense of belonging to a community, probably.

All in all: A really good market for quality food purchases, worth a little detour

A little link list:

• Wiki with all the Cologne markets
• Hope to find more

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