The Urban Foodie: Noordermarkt

Thursday, 15 November 2007

Noordermarkt - Amsterdam

The Noordmarkt in Amsterdam has to be one of the best food markets I have possibly even been to. After weaving around many streets in the Jordaan quarter
you get to a square nestled between the Westerstraat and Prinsengracht. The first part of the market is actually antiques, bric-a-brac, vintage clothes, records, plants and other curios. To be honest I would have been content with that, as along with food markets, my other passion is fleamarkets - I just can't get enough of them..., not to be confused with car-boot sales, or market stalls selling old tat or grey goods, these are stalls selling unique and authentic vintage items, antiques, and other objet. So, past all of these stalls lies the food market - and wow, what a market!!!!

The produce as you would expect would look good, but for some incredible reason it all looked amazing, as if it had all been airbrushed. The colours of the produce were so deep and pure, and everything had an aroma, an aura of freshness, smell of the earth, rain, woodlands, all the smells of what you imagine a vegetable garden would smell like. And indeed what a vegetable garden it was; Peruvian Black Truffle potatoes, lengths of ruby rhubarb, the freshest herbs, white asparagus, all many of fruit and vegetable in every shade under the sun.

How to get there
Walking: 10 minutes from the Westerkerk and Anne Frank House
Tram: tram 3 & 10, stop Marnixbad.

1 comment:

Vida said...: What a fantastic market... I too would have loved the vintage part as well as the food. The market in Adelaide is like this that you have described, the produce smelled "RIPE", as though it was still on the tree and warmed by the sun, allowing it's frangrance to come through... memories... Vida x; 17 November 2007 at 09:11

Post a Comment

MUSINGS AND QUOTES ON FOOD

"My weaknesses have always been food and men, in that order."

Dolly Parton

"Fish, to taste right, must swim three times - in water, in butter, and in wine."

Polish Proverb

"A fruit is a vegetable with looks and money. Plus, if you let fruit rot, it turns into wine, something Brussels sprouts never do."

P.J. O'Rourke

"An empty belly is the best cook."

Estonian Proverb

"A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch."

James Beard

"The smell and taste of things remain poised a long time, like souls, ready to remind us...."
Marcel Proust

"When the girl returned, some hours later, she carried a tray, with a cup of fragrant tea steaming on it; and a plate piled up with very hot buttered toast, cut thick, very brown on both sides, with the butter running through the holes in it in great golden drops, like honey from the honeycomb. The smell of that buttered toast simply talked to Toad, and with no uncertain voice; talked of warm kitchens, of breakfasts on bright frosty mornings, of cosy parlour firesides on winter evenings, when one's ramble was over and slippered feet were propped on the fender, of the purring of contented cats, and the twitter of sleepy canaries."
The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame

"People are more violently opposed to fur than leather because it is safer to harrass rich women than motorcycle gangs."
Unknown

"Scallops are expensive, so they should be treated with some class. But then, I suppose that every creature that gives his life for our table should be treated with class."
Jeff Smith, The Frugal Gourmet

"Never eat more than you can lift.."
Miss Piggy, Diva.

"The squid is so cooperative. Its body forms a tube that can be stuffed with marvelous fillings. You don't have to be Greek to enjoy this one. "
Jeff Smith, The Frugal Gourmet

"The joys of the table belong equally to all ages, conditions, countries and times; they mix with all other pleasures, and remain the last to console us for their loss."
Jean Antheleme Brillet-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste