The biggest produce store in the country, Bucharest Obor Market, is located in Bucharest. Farmers and regional producers showcase their produce downstairs, while meat and dairy producers welcome customers to taste and purchase their products upstairs.
The biggest produce market in the nation is worth visiting while in Bucharest. The modernized Obor Market in Bucharest left a lasting impact on British journalist Erica Wagner from Financial Times.
Among other European markets that impressed her, she named the Romanian market.
I am at Obor Market (Piața Obor), the country’s biggest produce market, right in the heart of Bucharest. There are few things I love more than a European market — I’m especially fond of the Lices market in Rennes, and the twice-weekly farmers’ market on the Dern’sches Gelände in Wiesbaden — and Obor has now been added to my list of favourites.
Erica Wagner on Bucharest Obor Market
The journalist was especially taken with the regional veggies that the farmers in Obor Market were selling.
You’ll have to forgive me, because I’m a city girl, but at first I didn’t recognise the baskets of spiky little leaves one trader was eager for me to buy from him, but in Romanian and English we figured it out in the end. Urzici — nettles, traditionally gathered in spring, from which I made a velvety soup, using a base of those sweet, slender leeks and fennel seed bought loose in a little paper bag. I tried loboda too, which I’ve never seen in Britain. Atriplex patula, sometimes called “French spinach” — I discover — has soft, gorgeous reddish-purple leaves and adds an earthy sweetness to salads or, like the nettles, can be whizzed up into a soup.
Financial Times on Bucharest Obor Market
The British journalist was thrilled by what she saw as she published a vegetable recipe at the end of her article. Enjoy your meal!
2 or 3 pleasing leeks, tough greens cut away, well washed, chopped into 2cm pieces
5 or 6 big handfuls — wear gloves! — of nettles, well washed
2 tsp fennel seed
2 tbsp butter
Glug of olive oil
Salt and pepper
3 cups of vegetable or chicken stock
Dash of Vietnamese fish sauce, if you’re not vegetarian
Parsley, dill, if you have them to hand and you like them
Sweat the leeks in the butter and oil in a heavy pan until they are nice and soft. Add salt, pepper and fennel seed, and let it soften with the fennel for a few more minutes. Add the nettles, swirl around, pour in the stock and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Allow to cool and liquefy in a blender; if you let the blender run, you won’t need to add any cream, but a dollop of sour cream or crème fraîche will be delicious. (I’ve been buying smetana in Romania.) Taste for seasoning: now’s when you’ll add the fish sauce and the chopped fresh herbs, if you want it. Enjoy!
The straightforward takeaway is that attractions aren’t always just museums, dining establishments, or nightclubs. Foreign visitors may sometimes find it more rewarding to immerse themselves in the culture by visiting local produce marketplaces, such as Obor Market in Bucharest. Or go somewhere else that the residents know. It’s more priceless than any historical information a tour leader may impart.
You are welcome to travel to Bucharest at any period of the year, as best we can. You can explore Bucharest, which has been dubbed one of Europe’s newest hidden jewels, whether in the spring or at any other time. Ask for a personalized Bucharest City tour and enjoy the hidden gems the guide will show you.
If you visit Bucharest and want to enjoy the local atmosphere, visit Obor Market. It might enchant you more than any other touristic objective, especially if you love visiting this sort of local attraction.
Follow the map and enjoy Bucharest Obor Market.
