A taste of Tel Aviv's largest open-air market
Tel Aviv, Israel is home to more vegans, per capita, and more vegan restaurants, than any other international city. So where does the vegan capital of the world get all of its vegetables?
Carmel Market is an excellent place to start.
Known locally as Shuk HaCarmel, Carmel Market is the largest open-air market in Tel Aviv. From Magen David Square, and just 10 minutes by foot from the beach, a sea of low-slung stands and mismatched awnings rush about a quarter of a mile along HaCarmel Street, a pedestrianized street officiated in the 1920s.
What sets the market apart, according to Ron Harari, owner of Personalized Tours of Israel, is that “Carmel Market today is not just a food market.” Harari is referring to the chef-led restaurants and cafes which spill east and west along alleys and parallel streets, hugging the market on all sides and pulling daily flavors straight from produce stands — altogether making Carmel Market something like a buzzing utopia for foodies, for afternoon hangouts or drinks.
Long before it had a name, the market evolved on the fringe of Kerem HaTeimanim, a Yemenite neighborhood, which like much of Israel, was a matter of real estate; in the 1920s, the leader of the Zionist movement, Arthur Ruppin, along with Russian refugees who’d purchased neighborhood plots long before, spurred commercial development in the area, encouraging a clutch of stands to flourish into many.
Today, Carmel Market is more or less common ground for Israel’s young immigrant cuisine, a blend of North African, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and more roots represented across market stands. While Jewish cuisine’s distinct ingredients can be hard to trace, patterns do emerge: like a golden hour of spice, baskets and tubs become a palette of deep red sumac, bright red saffron, earthy cumin and yellow turmeric. Bakers slice sheets of filo — locking each together with honey and layers of bright green pistachio — into diamond-shaped bites; vendors blanket tables in a green tapestry of fresh parsley, mint and cilantro; pomegranates line kiosks in a row like fresh bricks ready to be pressed into juice.
There are tangles of fava and green beans, gnarly rows of celery and turnip roots, whole heads of artichoke and garlic, and bursts of cherry tomatoes. Here, veggies get their moment in the sun.
“In Israel, the best product is going to be the vegetable,” says chef Ohad Solomon of Tel Aviv’s CoffeeBar on a recent walk through Carmel Market. No matter the season, veggies are in hot demand in this Mediterranean city, and since they’re especially abundant during Tel Aviv’s peak tourist seasons, spring and fall are some of the best times to visit Carmel Market.
Open every day of the week besides the Sabbath (Saturday), here’s what to taste while you’re there. Browse the photos above for a sampling, and see more market tours below.
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