Eat, drink and hold court at two Halifax farmers’ markets.

Halifax is a city rich in food culture with unique and diverse food offerings. The Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market, located in the beautiful Pier 20 building at 1209 Marginal Road on the bustling waterfront, brings many of those foods together under one roof.

The market, which has moved several times since it was first established in 1750, is the oldest continuously running market in North America and home to 230 vendors. It’s spread out over 45,000 square feet, so wear comfortable shoes.

If you decide to have breakfast or lunch there one option is to take the elevator to the third floor where you can enjoy the large rooftop patio with an incredible view of the busy waterfront and harbour. While you’re up there you might even want to participate in one of the rooftop yoga classes on offer!

With such a wide variety of vendors it’s difficult to single out just a few, but suffice to say my market tour always begins at Foxhill Cheese House for its amazing chocolate milk. The milk is pasteurized and non-homogenized, creamy and rich, and served in an old-fashioned milk bottle to boot. Delicious.

I also like to visit the Seaport Bakery for its over-the-top, mouth-watering sweet potato bread. It is to die for. Once I have these two necessities the adventure begins in earnest, and I never really know what I will be taking home.

On offer are ethnic foods, cheeses, local wines, chocolatiers, honey sellers, meat vendors, sausage makers, bakers, gluten-free bakers, vendors offering paleo (stone age diet) options and vegan specialties, to name a few.

The fabulous art community is also well represented at the market, with fused glass, paintings, wood products, jewelry, soaps, body products—and the list goes on and on.

The market is open year round. On Saturdays, when it’s the most busy both from a vendor and customer perspective, it runs from 7am to 3pm; to see other days and hours of operation visit halifaxfarmersmarket.com (Note: this is a new website, still under construction)

The market used to be located just up the street in the ultra-charming Brewery Market building, with its stone-lined winding hallways. When this site became too small many vendors moved to the new locale but there are some very noteworthy vendors at the Lower Water Street site, such as spice merchant Costas Halavrezos. For me, market day is not complete without a visit to those sellers as well. The Brewery Market is open only on Saturdays. For hours of operation and a complete vendor list visit historicfarmersmarket.ca. ~Alain Bossé