Off to the Naschmarkt Saturday morning. I have been keen to get here since seeing Anthony Bourdain’s Vienna show. It lived up to expectations.
Felt very similar to Victoria Market. Locals struggling through the hordes of tourists to get their weekly fresh food supplies. We started with breakfast. Joe and I both had ham and eggs. Lovely thinly sliced ham and three perfectly cooked eggs. Patrick had the fitness breakfast which was muesli with lots of banana. Nice family owned business. A good start to the day.
While we were there a man came by as we were eating and explained it was Photograph Vienna day. Could he take a photo of our meals from on high?Go to it, we cried. Later we saw others taking photos, presumably as part of the same exercise, i.e. they didn’t look like tourists. We saw one using a camera on a very long pole trying to get some sort of art shot.
Lovely fresh fruit and vegetables. Most familiar but with some oddities. Purple beans, fresh cranberries.
All the grapes being sold looked like wine grapes. Not very attractive. We should have bought some to taste. People were drinking, although it was quite early, at some of the stalls. We worked out some of them were trying out the Sturm, the unfinished wine, before buying their selection. That’s what I think is in these different barrels people were tasting from.
Lots of different sorts of mushrooms – all very fresh and inviting. There was a big focus on pumpkin and really big portions from very big specimens. We also saw quinces that looked very lovely. Also fresh tamarind – for the first time.
There were stalls with all the Asian fruits. In the fish stalls there were lots of octopuses. And we saw the biggest prawns I have ever seen – jumbo from Vietnam, frozen. Amazing. They are the ones in front in the photo. Also lots lots of cheese stalls – really strong smells from those!
Saw all sorts of meat – beef, pork. Even a small amount of lamb – don’t think it’s common here. Also venison, duck and,I think, pheasant. Organs in plastic bags – heart and lung (the lights) as well as liver probably. Rabbits or hares – very big. There was an emphasis on wild things – both in the fish stalls and those selling birds and meat. The chicken was all very yellow in contrast to the white flesh we get at home – presumably corn fed. A big Turkish presence. We felt like old hands viewing all the spices and sweets in those stalls. On further and here we were in a trash ‘n treasure market. Had fun here, buying figurines, brooches and prints.
Could have spent more but thankfully our cash ran out and we were saved. We had a good time.
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