Nuovo Mercato Esquilino — Attraction in Rome

I had SO MUCH FUN wandering around in this market!!! I didn’t want to do too much since it was blazing hot outside so I decided to walk the short distance from my hotel to this wonderful market - and was I glad that I did! My first impression was that everything was SO FRESH! The fruit looked as if it had been picked from the tree that same day, the fish and other seafood looked like they had been swimming in the ocean within an hour of arriving at this market, the fresh cuts of meat - beef, chicken, pork - all looked as if the animals had been grazing in the fields earlier that day. I’m from the US and I have never seen anything even close to this at home. Every spice you could ever want (beautiful and vibrant, not all faded and over processed), beans, rice, the most gorgeous vegetables, some of which I couldn’t name. My American self didn’t realize that one kilogram is equal to 2.2 pounds so I happily bought 1 kg of cherry tomatoes as they were the most enchanting, robust shade of red you could ever imagine! So, I ended up eating THE ENTIRE 2.2 pounds of tomatoes and they were indescribably delicious and soooo sweet!!! Hands down, without a doubt, the best tomatoes I’ve ever eaten in my life. Please make time to go and stroll through this awesome market - you will...

To put this rating in context, I should say we were here looking for Mexican chiles and other Mexican ingredients and did not find them. There is a bit of Peruvian stuff, and one or two Mexican things, like salsa Valentina and dried chiles de arbol, guajillo and pasilla, but the market is dominated by Asian offerings with a bit of African and very little Latin American. So we were a bit disappointed, however in its defense I will say that it is really not dirty at all, it's perhaps just not what some people are used to. It's a hell of a lot cleaner than NYC Chinatowns. It's a small version of a Tsukiji or Mexican / Latin market like Merced - it's not made for people used to Eataly. It's more chaotic and culturally diverse than your average Italian market, but the fish is fresh and clean - just inhale! It smells like the sea, not rotting fish. The eyes on all the fish are clear - fresh! The meats looked great and the selection of cuts was impressive (alllll the stomachs). The veg looked a lot better than my local chain grocer. I would eat anything in here with confidence. If I were to criticize, many of the stalls sell the same stuff from the same places, so it gets...

A food market unlike anything we have in Canada. For our first pass, we wandered through the market like it was a tourist attraction. We checke out the many vendor stalls, seeing the types of products for sale. Our second pass was to purchase fresh fruit, vegetables and fish.

The market offers a large selection of food items from herbs and spices, through fruit and vegetables, on to meat and fish. The quality was much better than the supermarket offerings we get back home.

The vendors were friendly, wanting to attract customers. Prices were well marked and allowed for a degree of haggling, were we so inclined.

If I lived close to this market, it would be the place I shopped at regularly. An...