Stockholm’s Saluhall Market

If you’ve been reading our blog for more than, say, a week, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of markets. I love the piles of food, the sausages, the fish, the many, many kinds of sauces and jams and jellies all neatly arranged in their jars.  So while in Stockholm it made a lot of sense to stop by the Saluhall Market, which is Stockholm’s version of an indoor marketplace.  It was pretty nice, and for an American who has never traveled outside the US who has never seen a marketplace, I think it would be pretty impressive. But I’ve seen a lot of markets, and maybe I’m just becoming a market snob, but the market has to be really damn impressive to get my seal of approval.  That’s a long way to go to basically say that my impression of Saluhall?  Meh.

The exterior of the building is quite nice, although I have to say that it’s not very well way-marked from the nearby metro station. We weren’t sure which exit to use, and kind of stumbled upon the hall by accident.  There is a large square opposite the hall, but I didn’t see many people sitting outside to eat. Was it too cold?  I would have loved to get some food at the market and then chow down in the square, but perhaps there isn’t any/enough seating?

The interior of the hall is not as large as I expected. It’s a large room, but it feels like a room rather than a hall. It’s lovely having such a tall ceiling, but if you can see through to the wall on the other side, it feels a bit cramped.  It was also quite crowded, although it seemed that most people there were locals rather than tourists, which perhaps goes a long way to explain the produce on offer …

Pineapples?! Since when are pineapples a Scandinavian fruit? But as I looked around the market, I realized that it had more exotic foods than local.  Which is why I think this is a market for locals. They don’t want to see the regular Swedish foods – they can get that anywhere. They want the unusual, the exotic, the unfamiliar.  It’s just unfortunate that what is exotic to them is painfully plebian to me!

Of course, you have to love the fish. Even the ugly ones. (Maybe especially the ugly ones!)

 

All of the stalls in the market had the same design – with the same storefront, signage, and fonts.  I suppose that’s Swedish design – uniformity – but I think the moose and deer heads are a nice touch!