It’s that wonderful time of year again, where I look forward to the twinkling lights, my study playlist of Apple Music’s Christmas Essentials, christmas shopping, and the delicious holiday-themed food. To start off the festivities of my holiday season, I went to the famous Leeds Christkindelmarkt (The Traditional German Christmas Market) for the very first time to find good food and get started on this year’s Christmas shopping.
After a bit of exploring and wondering around, here’s a list of things you can do at the market:
Firstly, indulge your inner shopping side by buying various Christmas themed ornaments and decorations from a variety of stalls. The market is full of small shops, each specialising in a different kind of decoration or ornament! You could spend hours just looking at all of them and deciding which one is the best for you. All of them are handcrafted, have beautiful, intricate designs and would make great additions to your perfect holiday arrangement. Additionally, you could take a break from the shopping and enjoy the joys of being a kid again by riding the carousel!
After shopping, I took a look around to see what’s available to eat. As a vegan, it’s a little hard to find something when a Christmas Market is full of frankfurters, potato pancakes, and currywurst, but I did some exploring and here are my top choices:
Mulled Wine
There are plenty of shops selling this delicious Christmas themed drink that is packed full of aromatic flavor made from berries and spices and once you have your first sip, it warms you right up on a cold winter’s evening!
Pretzels
If you don’t eat dairy you can choose from the sweet or salted pretzels, but the pretzel stands do offer other options such as pretzels with cheese and ham. (Ensure you double check with the individual stall beause some soft pretzel recipes do include butter!)
Fried Mushrooms
I opted to for fried mushrooms, with a little bit of tomato sauce, but if you’re feeling hungrier, you can get the mushrooms with potatoes and onions, and if you eat eggs, you can get it with a free side of garlic sauce! I really enjoyed this dish, as it had a great garlic umami flavor to it and was straight from the pan onto my plate. (If you are strictly vegan just double check whether or not the mushrooms are fried in the same oil as the sausages etc. but these ones I tried adhered to all my cooking preferences and were delicious!)
The Leeds Christkindelmarkt was beautiful and would make for a perfect Christmas themed outing the next time you’re in the City Center by yourself or with friends. If you are interested in visiting, the market is located in Millenium Square and is open from 10:30am to 9:30pm Monday to Saturday and 10:30 am to 7:30pm on Sundays. I hope you have a great holiday season!