8 Of The Coolest Food Markets Around The World
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It’s one thing to travel to different cities intentionally seeking out their best restaurants and another entirely to check out their food markets at random. The former gives you a curated sense of local culture and cuisine while the latter gives you the full experience of a city in terms of its local produce and native ingredients. You’ll be engulfed by people, aromas, tastes, languages, agriculture, seafood and customs when exploring a food market. In our opinion, there’s honestly no better way to get to know a city. Here are eight of the coolest food markets around the world.
1. Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market — San Francisco, California, U.S.
San Francisco’s Ferry Building is the city’s most famous landmark. The marketplace gathers local farmers, artisan producers and independently owned and operated food businesses. It showcases small regional producers and promotes the Bay Area’s diverse landscape and fresh farm products.
At any given time, you can stop by the market and see some of San Francisco’s most well-known chefs and famous farmers. You’ll find produce, herbs, meats and poultry from organic, small, regional farmers and ranchers. You can grocery shop as well as go for a meal with all of the pizza, sandwiches, tacos and other street foods available.
2. Pike Place Market — Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Pike Place Market is a community in the heart of downtown Seattle. It combines the city’s vibrant neighborhood with hundreds of farmers, craftspeople, residents and small businesses. Pike Place overlooks the Elliott Bay waterfront in Seattle, Washington. It’s one of the oldest operating public farmer’s markets the United States. There are more than 200 owner-operated shops and more than 80 restaurants. You’ll find everything from donut stands to fine dining. There’s the actual farmer’s market, the crafts market and specialty food stores with fresh meat, spices, fish and dairy sourced from Washington as well as around the globe.
3. Borough Market — London, England
London’s oldest food market is rich with history and has been serving residents for a thousand years. Borough Market is always changing with farmers, fisherman, breadmakers, butchers and small-scale artisan producers that have all established reputations for themselves.
Experts are there spreading knowledge about their niche industries with shoppers. Chefs, food writers, campaigners and teachers add to the impact of the market with cooking demonstrations, publications, public debates and educational programs. Borough Market operates on the Slow Food movement with a low-impact approach to food production, and an emphasis on local traditions and customs.
4. La Merced — Mexico City, Mexico
Located at the eastern edge of the historic center of Mexico City is La Merced. It’s known for its gigantic market, which is the largest in the city and has a stamp of approval from Martha Stewart herself. The main attractions are the fresh fruit and vegetables, but there’s also a whole selection of fresh meats and cheeses. You’ll see pyramids of limes, tomatoes, avocados, bananas and apples around every corner. La Merced isn’t fancy, but it’s vibrant with every color of the rainbow and the smells, tastes and sounds are about as authentic as you can get.
5. Queen Victoria Market — Melbourne, Australia
Located in Melbourne, Australia, the Queen Victoria Market is also known as “Vic Market” or “Queen Vic.” The historic landmark spreads over two city blocks, and inside, you can shop for Australian fruits and vegetables, local and imported gourmet foods, clothes and cosmetics. You’ll find game meats like crocodile, rabbit, kangaroo and venison in addition to regular meats. There’s the Meat Hall with special cuts and styles of sausages and 10 fish mongers with all of the fresh fish and seafood you could want. The organics section has biodynamic produce, organic dried goods, fruit stalls and Victoria’s first certified-organic butcher.
6. La Boqueria — Barcelona, Spain
Located in the Ciudad Vieja district of Barcelona is one of the city’s most notable landmarks, La Boqueria. Inside the large public market, you’ll find small tapas bar-style restaurants, and stalls of fruit, herbs, wild mushrooms, vegetables, nuts, candied preserves, cheeses, ham, fish and poultry. A lot of Barcelona’s top restaurants buy their produce from La Boqueria. For lunch, try some of Catalonia’s specialties (it’s a region of northeastern Spain) like bacallà (dried salted cod), esqueixada (a tomato, onion and black-olive salad) and cargols (snails).
7. Mercato Centrale — Florence, Italy
Imagine a giant Italian market like Eataly where, instead of imported goods, it’s all local. Mercato Centrale is the place to be if you like feeling overwhelmed by Parmigiano-Reggiano and truffles. Inside the giant indoor market, which also has a Rome location, you’ll find all of the fresh bread, confections, fish, fried food, rissoles (small croquettes), fruit, vegetables, meats, salamis, buffalo mozzarella, burrata, gelato, fresh pasta and wine. You can pick up groceries to cook at home, but you can also buy homecooked meals like the Florentine special Lampredotto.
8. Khlong Toei Pier Market — Bangkok, Thailand
Known as Bangkok’s biggest fish market, Khlong Toei Pier Market is a chaotic, sprawling food market located not too far from the center of the city. It’s the ideal place to take all of your food and travel photos with market vendors packed to the brim, shouting and selling live animals, eggs, fresh fruit, curry pastes, vegetables and cooked regional dishes. Locals come here to pick up a fresh fish and whole chickens for dinner. You can snack on steamed dumplings, grilled meats and Thai sweets while you browse. The Klong Toei district is the biggest slum and seaport area in Bangkok, so you know there’s always going to be a crowd.
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