Last year Toronto’s St. Lawrence got a lot of publicity from a “list” that named our central market among some of the “world’ best”. While I am proud that St. Lawrence Market some long-waited recognition I think the spotlight should be shared with another nearby market that you should consider visiting.
Located just over 90 minutes away from Toronto in St. Jacob’s Ontario is…St. Jacob’s Market, just north of Waterloo. Autumn means that we are still in the height of having the best of Summer’s goodness and there’s nothing like walking through a central market filled with produce and food products from local artisans and farmers.
There are hundreds of food and craft vendors inside the main building, including lots of vendors offering their ready-to-eat specialties (try the apple fritters). The best part of St. Jacob’s Market has to be the outdoor market – a mix of local growers and Mennonite farmers offering fruits, vegetables, honey, bedding plants, cider and even more food vendors!
St. Jacob’s Market is open all year ’round on Thursday’s and Saturday’s from 7am – 3:30pm but I’d recommend you go soon before it gets too cold!
I can never visit Ontario without a visit to St. Jacobs market for whatever is in season. Take a drive down Mennonite road for some steroid free meats, maple syrup and whatever else is available.
Oh my!!!! Thank you Peter :)
Peter:
I found this link while looking up the locations for the farms for some of the vendors. I was there about three weeks ago with friends who had never been there. They had an enjoyable time and we all took home way too much meat and vegetables.
The main building burned down Monday morning and your photos will provide a memory of what the building looked like. The owners say they want to rebuild, so hopefully that will happen, but it will be more difficult to obtain meat from some of the inside vendors. I would guess the outside will also be cut back in space due to demolition and construction. Such a shame.