Markets in South Australia

Adelaide Central Market opened in January 1870 and has been the centre of gravity for food shopping in the city ever since. It is the one market almost every South Australian can name, and it sets the tone for the rest of the state: markets here lean Saturday, run in the morning, and are packed up by early afternoon.

Beyond the city, South Australian markets track the wine and produce regions almost exactly. Willunga in McLaren Vale is one of the state's best-established farmers markets, Angaston serves the Barossa, and Hahndorf and Stirling cover the Adelaide Hills. These are small, weekly or fortnightly, and genuinely producer-led rather than craft-and-candles affairs.

Coverage is thinner here than in the eastern states, which mostly reflects population rather than a gap in the listings. What South Australia has, it tends to do properly.