A culinary journey through Alicante Market

In the heart of Alicante, amid the enchanting chaos of a weekday morning, we often find ourselves drawn to the vibrant tapestry of Alicante Market. It’s one of those rare places where time seems to pause, granting us time for unscripted freedom. As we wander through the maze of stalls and scents, a profound sense of contentment washes over us. For food greedy pigs like us, this bustling marketplace holds an irresistible allure.

Food is very important to the Spaniards. In comparison to many Western countries, Spaniards have always allocated a larger portion of their income to food expenses. This tendency has been influenced by cultural factors such as a strong culinary tradition, emphasis on fresh and locally sourced ingredients, and the importance of meals as social occasions.

The central Alicante Market sits on Avenida de Alfonso X el Xabio. From the outside it is a striking building that wouldn’t look out of place on the set of a Ghostbusters film. The style is Modern Valencian and is very fitting for this “Basilica” to food and ingredients.

At the weekends, Alicante Market is at its busiest when locals come and shop for their groceries along with all of the tourists. During the week the market enjoys the buzz from the slightly older generation, on a mission to seek out the best quality and freshest fish, meat and vegetables at the best prices.

It’s incredible to see how many fish stalls there are in this market alone, and then that can be put into context when you consider that, as well as the central Alicante Market, there are another three indoor markets in Alicante city, as well as a fresh fish counter at every Mercadona store and both of the El Corte Ingles supermarkets. It’s not surprising, then, to learn that the Spanish are the second largest consumers of fish and seafood in the world, beaten only by Japan.

One of the things I love most about Alicante is that it is a working city. It enjoys a huge amount of tourism all year round now, but, for the most part, living in Alicante is a truly Spanish experience. Alicante Market is a little smaller than the famous indoor markets of Valencia, just up the road a couple of hours, but the quality of produce is just as good, if not better. What it lacks in size it more than makes up for in authenticity and ambience. Wandering among the nearly 300 stalls, set out over two stories, you see the stall holders engaging with their regular customers, you hear the noisy banter between the workers and you just get the feeling that this place is happy with itself and doesn’t want to try to be anything different.

Our breakfast in Alicante market

We were only due to be in the Mercado area for a short while this particular morning, due to a meeting, so, while we waited, we decided to look for some breakfast, knowing we had a long day ahead of us and probably wouldn’t get a chance for lunch.

We sat on stools in an upstairs bar called “Mil Neueve Vientiuno”. The name celebrates the year that the Alicante Market building was completed. They even have a series of photographs on the wall where it’s possible to see some of the construction going on.

We needed something substantial to tide us over, so we ordered a classic Spanish breakfast of Pan con tomate y Jamón with coffee and fresh orange juice. You really couldn’t start the day in a more Spanish way. Although the dish is said to originate from the Catalan region, we find it hard to imagine that no one had thought of reviving slightly hardened bread with something juicy like tomatoes, salt, and olive oil before the good news came down from the Barcelona region.

Pan con tomate is such a simple dish, but don’t let that fool you. This dish is typical of Spanish cuisine, where they have perfected the art of combining a few simple ingredients and executing something truly magnificent.

We usually enjoy our pan con tomate without the Jamón, as it’s a little lighter, but on this particular day, surrounded by such wonderful produce from all over Spain, how could we resist such a temptation? Despite being such a substantial plate of food, it wasn’t heavy to eat. The Jamón was sliced very thinly, and we think that is one of the keys to making this dish feel so light.

As we sat contentedly on our stools, indulging in our meal, we observed the bustling activity of the market and relished the lively interactions unfolding around us. In that moment, a profound sense of harmony washed over us, as if everything in the world was perfectly aligned.

Shortly after finishing the delicious Spanish breakfast, and paying at the counter, we took the rear exit of the building and found ourselves standing at the back of Alicante Market in the Plaza de 25 Mayo in the Alicante sunshine, surrounded by the bright colours of the flower stalls.

Our eyes were drawn downwards to the floor where there is a permanent memorial to the hundreds of people that were killed in the market on one fateful day in May 1938 ( hence the name of the square) when it was bombed by Italian planes in the Spanish civil war. It struck me that this terrible event took place less than one hundred years ago. Yet, it feels like something like that could never happen now.

It just goes to show how quickly we can put nightmares out of our minds and move forward. The people of Alicante have suffered a lot of hardships over the years but have always been resilient. There’s a famous saying in Spain, “Para adelante como los de alicante” ( move forwards like those of Alicante).

Mercado Central de Alicante
Av de Alfonso X El Sabio, 8
03004 Alicante (Spain)
+34 965 140 841

Opening Hours:

Monday to Friday, 7am to 2.30pm
Saturdays, 7am to 3pm