Visit one of the 10 best produce markets in the world
Credit: By Mark Chipperfield
Adelaide’s noisy, colourful, much loved and occasionally chaotic Central Market has been called many things – the city’s spiritual home, a celebration of multiculturalism, a showcase for the diverse regions of South Australia.
Beyond the mundane role of supplying Adelaideans with their daily bread, or should that be ciabatta, the Central Market, with its old school neon, painted signs, enthusiastic hawkers and gloriously exotic smells, is also where the city meets for a chat, listens live music, reads the paper and generally just lets its hair down.
“This market is the only one like it in the country,” says Mark Gleeson, a chef, foodie, stallholder and the man behind the highly successful Central Market Tours.
“A lot of the shops are two or three generations old, so there’s a lot of history.”
Many of the original Italian, Greek, Polish, German and other European stallholders remember a time when Adelaide’s palate was less adventurous than it is today – and are rightly proud of the role the market has played in moving the culinary goal posts away from the Aussie staples of meat and two veg.
Shaking food foundations
The Central Market is one of Adelaide’s must-do travel experiences, attracting some eight million visitors a year.
While many shoppers are content to explore the daily markets (which are open daily apart from Sundays and Mondays), others take advantage of Mark Gleeson’s excellent food and wine walking tours or book into one of the specialist cooking classes now available; the twilight Wine & Champagne Tasting Market Tours are especially popular, alongside the long-running Breakfast and Morning tours.
Many of the established stalls such as The Smelly Cheese Shop, Barossa Fine Food, The Mettwurst Shop, Providore (look out for the large chocolate fountain), Cappo Seafoods, Charlesworth Nuts, Feast meats and Charcuterie Traiteur have developed a strong and passionate local following, but there’s always something new to entice adventurous tastebuds, so keep your eyes peeled,
Places to relax at the Adelaide Central Market
Anyone suffering from foodie fatigue should drop into one of the famous market cafes, such as Zuma or Lucia’s, to catch your breath before embarking on another circuit of the always-busy fruit and veg stalls; Lucia’s is held in particular affection by locals because it was Adelaide’s original pizza bar and continues to serve authentic Italian fare and a good range of drinks and tasty desserts.
Make sure you check out the latest addition to the empire – Lucia’s Fine Food, next door, which stocks a brilliant range of wood fired breads, pastas, sauces, small goods, cheeses, Italian biscuits and other delicacies.
Despite its palpable sense of heritage the Central Market continues to develop and is constantly introducing new experiences for the food-lover.
MORE INFORMATION
Central Market, 44-60 Gouger Street, Adelaide. Opens on Tuesday to Saturday, with late night opening on Friday but early closing (3pm) on Saturday.
Adelaide Central Market website: http://www.adelaidecentralmarket.com.au/
