The World’s Greatest Food Stores – we made the readers’ picks!

From Dublin, California, Munich, Brazil – this list of food stores is incredible! If you love food stores and adore delis, you’re going to want to read this list. The Financial Times came up with the top 50 and then asked readers to send in their favourites and we made it!

As a food store that’s been going for nearly twenty years in Bristol, we seen lots of trends and fashions come and go in the world of food – but one thing that has remained constant is that so many people love the excitement of entering a deli, with shelf upon shelf of fascinating, unusual, delicious tins, bottles, jars of all colours and shapes.  Wonder in a little further and find a cheese counter full of amazing local cheese and some from further afield, softly ripe, firmly salty and tangily blue veined.  And there might be sweet treats – an array of chocolate, honey, syrup, berries, nuts, biscuit bases, cheesecakes, flapjacks, gateau, traybakes from brownies to flapjacks to banana loaf to chocolate mousse cake or lemon tart.  It’s a dream come true for so many to just be in such a place.  And we’re so grateful to those who love it as delis like ours can exist and keep creating and sourcing deliciousness for the enjoyment of others (and ourselves of course!)

When we travel (oh yes, remember the delight of travel) be it to a local town or European capital, we love love love visiting food stores, of any type, to soak up the food love. The owner runs independents established by crazy people like us who just want to share food and new flavours and dishes. There’s always inspiration and a conversation about our reasons of being where we are – it’s our work and our hobby, to seek out the loveliest, most beautiful and tasty foods from all over.

So being on this list means a lot to us – if you check out the list you’ll find some tremendous food stores that you can dream of visiting one day.  If you’re in Bristol, you can visit Papadeli in the meantime!

To read the full article, click here.