FOOD MARKETS – New series

THE SERIES

Shopping at the market is an incredible sensorial experience: while deciding what to buy, we are overwhelmed by perfumes, colors and tastes. Food Markets tells the stories of the vendors, producers and products following the food chain that brings us to visit the marvelous places they come from. What are birch champagne and hemp spread? What is the secret of the savory Tuscan soup? What makes the Paski Sir cheese, produced only on the Croatian island of Rab, so unique?
FLORENCE, RIGA, ZAGREB, TOULOUSE AND FREIBURG are the protagonists of our second series. From the Baltic Sea to the Pyrenees Mountains, from the Florentine hills to the Mediterranean Islands, we dig into the stories of people working everyday to preserve and enrich the European food tradition.

FIRENZE – MERCATO CENTRALE
a film by
Stefano Tealdi / Vincenzo Caruso

The Renaissance capitol is where the city food market as a concept was born. More than 1000 years ago farmers from the countryside came to the main square of Florence and gave their goods to the craftsmen, merchants and bankers for money. The tradition is still alive today and walking through the stalls of the Mercato Centrale in San Lorenzo one can taste the best food treasures Tuscany has to offer. From the olive oil of the Fiesole hills to the onions of the medieval borough of Certaldo and up to the Natural Reserve of San Marcello with its Tuscan cured meats, we discover a food region where the simple and genuine tastes are king and where one of the oldest food traditions in the world is constantly reinventing itself.

TOULOUSE – VICTOR HUGO
a film by
Stefano Tealdi / Nicolas Baby

In the deep south of France the so called pink city of Toulouse hosts a coffer full of world wide famous food treasures: the Victor Hugo Market. The black truffles of Quercy, the Rocamadour cheese, the foie gras and the white beans of the most traditional Cassoulet allows us to discover the French Pyrenees confining with the Catalan and Basque regions of Spain. While the Michelin-starred chef Michel Sarràn gives us his tips on what the belly of Toulouse really is, we visit an unexpected yet extraordinary cheese cellar, the cutest fishmongers in town and a futuristic quality fast food restaurant which uses only locally and traditionally prepared food.

ZAGREB – DOLAC
a film by
Stefano Tealdi / Dana Budisavljević

Looking at the “Kumice” selling their baskets full of vegetables and cheese on the Dolac market stalls in Zagreb is like going back in time. These ladies come to town bringing only what they grow in their gardens. Croatia is the last country that joined the EU, and visiting its food market is the best way to embrace Eastern and Western Europe in one look, and to taste it in one bite. The country goes from the breathtaking Mediterranean islands to the Austrian Alps in a few hours drive. The market offers humble greens, fish freshly caught and simple Baltic snacks but surprises us with an internationally awarded cheese from the island of Pag, and Turkeys breed uniquely on the hills overlooking the town.

RIGA – CENTRALTIRGUS
a film by
Stefano Tealdi / Uldis Cekulis

Latvia is a small country yet Riga Centraltirgus is the biggest city food market in Europe. Located just aside the Old Town of the city famous for its Art-Nouveau architecture, the market astonishes its visitors with specialties coming from the country’s extended forests, its birch groves, flatlands and thousands of rivers. Century old bread making, fishing and hemp cultivating traditions were kept strong against the soviet based agriculture and animal breeding systems. Today the best of these traditions and food making knowhow is maintained and pushed fast-forward into the digital era by young and curious chefs, bloggers and pop-up restaurants.

FREIBURG – MÜNSTERMARKT
a film by
Stefano Tealdi / Ingo Behring

Freiburg is the ‘green’ city of Germany and surrounding its imposing gothic cathedral there is the Münstermarkt, its food market. Every morning, six days a week the farmers from the Black Forest bring their trout and herb pestoes, the wild berries and their world famous smoked ham to the city. Others come from the hills of the KaiserSthül – the mild climate area producing one of Germany’s most important white wines and the renowned white asparagus. At the enchanting open-air market the customers know that “we are what we eat” and be it a vegan wurst or a traditional cheese cake, it is how it is made and where it comes from that makes it a quality food.

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