The province of Groningen is bursting with flavour. The countryside, the mudflats and the water provide wonderful, authentic local produce. Fortunately, to find the very best that Groningen has to offer, you often just need to take a back road instead of the main motorways. Not only is there much more to see there, but you can also pick up some treats from the little roadside stalls. If you look around a bit, you’ll soon spot the first cosy stall full of fresh vegetables and homemade treats. Help yourself. You’re in Groningen, after all.
Quirky and cosy
At the market stalls, you can see straight away that everything is harvested, prepared and sold with love. No folding tables with crates on top, but quirky and cosily decorated stalls with cheerfully displayed signs. What you’ll find there depends entirely on the season. You’ll struggle to find fruit and veg any fresher than this. The produce goes straight from the field to the stall. In summer in particular, you’ll be treated to a wide variety of fruit and veg. Lettuce, rhubarb, strawberries and potatoes, for example. As well as local produce, the stalls also sell other lovely things. Or sometimes they’re simply given away to anyone who’d be happy to have them. Books, for instance, or little plants for next to nothing. Be sure to bring some loose change with you. That’s because here, you still pay by dropping coins into a glass jar.
Good for nature
Buying something from these stalls isn’t just tasty, it’s also good for the environment. That’s how we keep Groningen nice and green. The produce doesn’t have to travel a long way to the supermarket. And ‘odd ones out’ are perfectly welcome on the stall – pieces of fruit and veg that might not look quite as perfect, but taste just as good. And you can buy exactly what you need, so you don’t have to throw anything away. There’s no need to throw anything away anyway, as there’s no plastic or other disposable packaging involved. Jam is sold in glass jars, juice in lovely glass bottles and fresh eggs in cartons. You’re asked to return them once you’ve finished everything, so they can be reused later. That way, you can take something tasty home with you straight away.
