The Central Market Hall in Budapest (Hungarian: Vásárcsarnok) is one of the main attraction for tourists. If you go to a foreign country I think markets are a great way to discovers the culture and food preferences of the country. If I am on holiday usually half a day is reserved to go to a market and check out what is offered there.
It is probably the same in the Central Market Hall in Budapest because you find typical Hungarian things such as paprika powder, goose liver or Pálinka. At least that is what the tourists should think about Hungary and their eating habits and I guess that is similar in any other touristic market in the world, they try to make you believe what is traditional. But of course Hungary is not only about paprika, Goulash and Salami even though that is what you mainly find in Central Market Hall.
Anyways this is not about the tradition of Hungarian cooking and drinking rather a subjectiv opinion about the Central Market Hall which is located at Fövám Tér right at the end of thenumber 1 touristic street in Budapest Váci utca. So there are mainly three types of shops in the Central Market Hall which are vegetables (yes you will find a lot of paprika there), meat (yes, Salami) and souvenirs (ever heart about beautiful Hungarian table covers?). But to protect the Hungarian variety you just have to go to the cellar and you will find fish shops, an Asian shop with a shit load of spices, herbs, vegetables and all that kind of stuff. Additionally doenstairs you will find “Savanyúság” which is pickled vegetables such as cucumbers, cabbage, paprika, peppers and even baby melons.
If you go upstairs in the Central Market Hall you have mainly bad quality textils such as T-Shirts with the parliament on it saying “I love Budapest” or the above mentioned table covered which maybe my grandmother would buy. But you also have restaurants and fast food places where you can get (bad quality) Hungarian food such as “Hurka” (sausage), Goulash Soup, “Székelykáposzta” (cabbage meat stew) and of course “Lángos”, “Palacsinta” and beer.
Central Market Hall Tourism Days
The Central Market Hall in Budapest is not only a great place to explore Hungarian culinary highlights but the organized “Tourism Days” give you the opportunity to get to know traditional food and ingredients from many different nations. Find below the past and scheduled tourism days for the year 2015:
- 1-3. September, 2015 – Israeli Days
- 8-10. September, 2015 – Szekely Days
- 6-8. October, 2015 – Australian Days
- 10-12. November, 2015 – Japanese Days
- 24-26. November, 2015 – Vietnamese Days
- 1-3. December, 2015 – Santa Claus Day
- 8-10. December, 2015 – British Days
Images of the Central Market Hall in Budapest
Experience the Central Market Hall in Budapest with the Food & Wine Tour
More information about the Food & Wine Tour you can find here.
Further Information
View Larger Map
No Comments