Jo'burg market picks: January 13 2011

In a city as fast-moving and fickle as Johannesburg, it is nice to know that some things do not change from year to year.

This weekend sees the return of the Market on Main, the gathering of fine-food producers of all sorts in the garage space at Arts on Main.

If the weather is good, it is fun to chill on the grass in the centre’s common space and to drink Ethiopian coffee and eat sour flat breads called injera with spicy condiments. There are also curries, Mediterranean and Moroccan stews and smoked salmon sandwiches with latkes.

Arts on Main, 264 Fox Street, City and Suburban. Tel: 017 007 0080 or 083 245 1040. Website: artsonmain.co.za.

■ In summing up the popular Neighbourgoods Market in Braamfontein, M&G writer Nechama Brodie described it as the “sister to the Cape Town gourmet food market held at the Old Biscuit Mill”. Since opening in May last year, the weekly shindig has brought a sense of celebration to the once sedate office suburb. Saturdays now consist of a trendy young crowd downing gourmet pizzas, freshly concocted smoothies, exotic beers and dizzying margaritas. The website tells us that the market’s goal has been “to revive and reinvent the public market as a civic institution”, which it has done, as well as breathing life into the surrounding galleries, boutiques and coffee shops.

Neighbourgoods Market, 73 Juta Street, Braamfontein, every Saturday from 9am to 3pm from January 13. Website: neighbourgoodsmarket.co.za.