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Author: Florian Holzer, author, journalist, and restaurant critic
Status as at January 2016
Treat yourself – with a clear conscience!
Lohas devotees attach equal importance to sustainability, ethics, quality, and enjoyment –
and are seen by trend researchers as one of the most important consumer groups of the
future. But in Vienna, they are today’s consumers.
Trend researchers and opinion leaders love them: adherents of Lohas (short for lifestyle of health
and sustainability), people that like to put an enjoyable lifestyle first, but still prioritize heath,
sustainability, ethics, and an overall sense of living with a clear conscience. They are an important
future market segment, because they enjoy shopping, have uncompromisingly high standards and
are not afraid to seek out and pay for quality – three key metrics for marketing experts with an eye
on the future. The origins of the trend can be traced back to the USA, when some of the more
pragmatic elements of the green and environmental movements in Berkeley, San Francisco and
Seattle began to discover the appeal of a less ascetic way of life in the late 1990s: trendy designer
clothes, pioneering forms of communication brought about by the introduction of new and emerging
technologies, the proliferation of smartphones and blogs, low impact tourism, contemporary
architecture (low-energy housing) and, of course, good food.
And it was the latter that proved to resonate particularly well among sustainability fans: organic
food, short distances, smaller dwellings, a focus on disappearing and long forgotten recipes and
products (such as those championed by the Italy-based Slow Food movement), fair and direct
trade and finally tougher regulations for livestock lit the touchpaper for a completely new urban
gastro scene that united enjoyment with a clear conscience, adding a generous pinch of fun and
creativity to the mix.
This lifestyle is now shaping the European culinary Zeitgeist too, and in the view of some it never
really went away in the first place. In Vienna, a city which somehow manages to remain true to its
roots without turning its back on new ideas, where education and income are significantly above
the European average, and quality of life is paramount, a greater sense of awareness quickly
spread and flourished. This is reflected in countless ways throughout the city, from the booming
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number of restaurants that cook using organic ingredients or specialize in vegetarian or vegan
cuisine, to the renaissance of the capital’s markets, and an increased appreciation of the role
played by the farmers working the land surrounding Vienna and even inside the city limits.
Market renaissance
The days of Vienna’s markets facing oblivion in the face of relentless competition from
supermarket chains and retail behemoths are well and truly over. Vienna’s Lohas crowd is back in
action, and enjoying making informed purchases, expecting to be able to talk to traders about their
produce – according to the latest figures more than 62,000 people can be found at the Naschmarkt
each week, Vienna’s largest and most popular market. And it’s a safe bet that they are not all there
just to soak up the atmosphere or visit one of the countless cafés, bars and restaurants. It’s more
than likely they have come to get their hands on fresh vegetables, specialty cheeses, sustainably
caught fish or well-seasoned beef from the Waldviertel.
One special Naschmarkt sustainability highlight is the farmer’s market on Friday and Saturday. A
who’s who of the elite local growers on the Vienna sustainable growing scene, it offers a full range
of fresh produce including organically farmed fish, free range chickens including old breeds,
Bergkäse cheese from traditional small-scale Alpine artisans, handmade hams and sausages and
even rare old English rose varieties. The model has taken hold and spread throughout the city. The
now well-established Saturday morning farmer’s market on Karmelitermarkt in the second district is
laden with rare vegetables, herbs and meat. Slow Food Vienna has a stand on the market where
cooperatives give buyers a chance to sample a full range of products such as original Vienna
Gemischter Satz wine, or Rowan berries from the Vienna Woods. Meanwhile, gourmet stand Kaas
am Markt is the place for jams and preserves made from old varieties of fruits, alongside hams and
sausages from old breeds, artisan breads featuring ancient grains, and another firm favorite among
foodies: the Viennese escargot. Andreas Gugumuck started breeding vineyard snails on a luscious
green herb meadow in the southern outskirts of Vienna in 2008, for a particularly high-quality
delicacy.
Over the course of the past few years farmer’s markets have sprung up in various squares in parts
of town with a high Lohas population, and it goes without saying that all of the produce is strictly
organic. Highlights include the markets on the picture postcard Servitenplatz, Sobieskiplatz and in
the courtyard of the WUK culture center (all in the ninth district), in front of Lerchenfelder Kirche
(seventh district), in Langegasse (eighth district), on Kurt-Pint-Platz (sixth district) and on
Fasanplatz (third district). It almost looks like the city is in the grip of a trend. But there’s also
something for people that try to steer clear of trends and have trouble identifying with the latest
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fads: at Viktor Adler-Markt (tenth district) for years now up to 60 traders have sold their wares from
simple market stalls, letting their voices do the hard selling work.
Elsewhere in the city, some of Vienna’s less fashionable markets continue to have an important
function as communication centres and barometers of everyday life. Volkertmarkt and
Vorgartenmarkt – both located in less salubrious parts of the second district – have transformed
themselves into charming and thriving hubs of the local community that bring people of all cultures
and culinary backgrounds together. The larger than life Brunnenmarkt in the 16th district, Ottakring,
presents a blend of everyday suburban life, with immigrants from Turkey and the Balkans
contributing to the kind of diversity not seen since the old days of the Empire. Meidlinger Markt in
the 12th district has been showing strong signs of life for the past two years, on the back of a
number of successful community-led cultural and culinary revitalization initiatives. One of which,
the Purple Eat initiative is all about sustainability: the dishes themselves are prepared by asylum
seekers facing deportation and are inspired by culinary traditions in the chefs’ home countries.
Markets are also helping to improve quality of life in some of Vienna’s most upmarket
neighborhoods. Once pigeonholed as a bastion of conservatism, Kutschkermarkt in the 18th
district has recently undergone an astonishing regeneration process through the addition of
countless smaller cafés, designer soup kitchens and new traders. Elsewhere, Sonnbergmarkt in
the neighboring district of Döbling (19th district) is increasingly developing a taste for sustainable
delicatessen foods.
2015 saw another incarnation of the traditional market format go from strength to strength.
Branded “Die Markterei”, these pop-up and indoor markets bring together different – largely
organic – producers and vendors in changing locations throughout the city with a flotilla of hip food
trucks in tow. At Marktwirtschaft manufacturers of creative macaroons, artisanal vinegars and
coffee powder made from homegrown Shiitake mushrooms present their delicious produce to a
discerning urban clientele. A creative restaurant, an organic baker, a butcher whose black
puddings are the stuff of legend and a host of other epicurean specialists complete the cast of
culinary characters.
Regional, seasonal, organic
But there is much more to sustainable, enjoyable eating in the Austrian capital than shopping at
markets and cooking from scratch at home. Numerous restaurants throughout the city have their
own unique take on the subject. Jürgen Wolf, head chef and owner of Gasthaus Wolf, is committed
to only buying whole animals from selected slaughterhouses and using every last part – from the
end of its nose to the tip of its tail – in its dishes. Things take a similar line at the concept café
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opened by trendy Viennese bakery Joseph – not only are all the ingredients sourced from selected
regional organic producers, the furnishings are too!
Fischerhaus, a popular destination for walkers and daytrippers located on Höhenstrasse, has an
old wood-fired oven at its culinary heart. This quirky piece of equipment is used to bake bread, and
to fry, boil and steam meat, fish and vegetables from the Vienna region. Manameierei, on the
fringes of the Schwarzenbergpark, has also changed over to using products primarily sourced from
the nearby Vienna Woods in its chic breakfasts and contemporary snacks. In the old town, the
Figlmüller brothers’ venture, Lugeck, brings together classic Viennese flavors and contemporary
international tastes, both in a culinary and a visual sense. The dishes are served with a choice of
craft beers and “natural wines”. Still in the first district, Heuer am Karlsplatz, has an equally
interesting USP: a number of the ingredients are grown directly in front of the restaurant on
elevated beds in the middle of a traffic island.
And it goes without saying that the Slow Food philosophy has long since taken root in the capital’s
best restaurants. Heinz Reitbauer, patron and chef de cuisine at Steirereck – awarded two Michelin
stars in 2015, named the 15th best restaurant in the world by the UK’s Restaurant Magazine in the
same year, and tipped as the nation’s best restaurant in all the Austrian guides – has been working
with ingredients from quality-fixated local producers for many years, picking up a Slow Food award
in London along the way.
Sustainability and organic farming methods also set the tone in a number of places which do not
necessarily like to make a big thing of their Lohas credentials: organic products, small-scale
producers and authentic recipes provide the inspiration for Raetus Wetter, which might just explain
why he is fêted as one of the best Italian cooks in Vienna. The ultra-hip Motto am Fluss on the
Danube Canal even went as far as joining forces with Vienna’s largest brewery to create a special
organic beer. The beer has since gone on to sell well in other bars and restaurants in the city, and
the other ingredients are mainly supplied by organic specialists. Ströck Feierabend – a concept
restaurant launched by a Viennese bakery chain – sources its vegetables from a purpose built
market garden while the meat comes from the last remaining butcher in the city to slaughter the
animals themselves. The Culinary Love Band, a creative group of restaurateurs fronted by Brian
Patton and top chef Peter Zinter and who appear on the Danube Canal with different street food
pop-ups each year, harvested the chili and coriander for their avant garde tacos from their own plot
in 2015. The wine – exclusively natural and orange wines – were kept in a refrigerated wine store
in a container next door.
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Gemischter Satz wine & co
Talking of wine: Vienna still has a thriving winegrowing industry. With some 700 hectares of the
city’s farmland given over to vineyards – from a total of almost 6,000 (1,450 of which are reserved
for organic crops) – the role played by wine in the capital’s economy shouldn't be underestimated.
While organic wine has traditionally been confined to the status of a niche product, things are
definitely changing thanks to the efforts of people such as Fritz Wieninger, Vienna’s most important
winegrower, who are leading the way by moving over to organic. Various newcomers such as
Stefan Hajszan and Martin Lenikus have subscribed to this winegrowing approach from day one. A
number of micro-wineries such as the ones operated by Martin Obermann and Peter Uhler have
added to the frisson on the capital’s wine scene, earning organic certification along the way.
Another sustainable success story with a rich cultural history is the recently rediscovered
Gemischter Satz: this old blend is a throwback to the days when different grape varieties would be
planted side by side to reduce the risk of damage by pests or bad weather. After years in the
shadows as a down-to-earth table wine, the typical Viennese blend was put back on the map by
Fritz Wieninger and up-and-coming young producers such as Rainer Christ, Richard Zahel and
Jutta Ambrositsch.
Thanks to advances in enology and a contemporary approach to quality, the Gemischter Satz is
already being talked about in the same breath as other top international wines. Wine specialists
from all over the world are full of praise for the blend’s terroir, singling out the soil composition and
the microclimate – as well as its potential. The long-established vineyards (50 years and older) are
being gradually re-cultivated and brought back to life, and the vines thoroughly mixed, in line with
the old traditions. This winegrowing concept made such an impression that it even caught the
attention of the international Slow Food organization, which crowned the Gemischter Satz one of
Austria’s first two Presidio products – an accolade still only conferred on a total of 10 wines
worldwide so far. Producers of the legendary Viennese Gemischter Satz will be able to display the
Districtus Austriae Controllatus (DAC) geographical indicator and quality seal on their wines from
the 2013 vintage onwards.
Whatever direction things take in future, Vienna will continue to prove that sustainability and
increased awareness of ethical approaches to eating and drinking add to the enjoyment, and make
life more interesting. And, above all, that ethical consumerism does not have to be synonymous
with abstinence and restraint.
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Addresses:
Fischerhaus, Höhenstrasse, 1190 Vienna, www.fischerhaus.co.at
Heuer am Karlsplatz, Treitlstrasse 2, 1040 Vienna, www.heuer-amkarlsplatz.com
Joseph Bistro, Landstrasser Hauptstrasse 4, 1030 Vienna, www.joseph.co.at
Kaas am Markt, Karmelitermarkt Stand 33-36, 1020 Vienna, www.kaasammarkt.at
Lugeck, Lugeck 4, 1010 Vienna, www.lugeck.com
Manameierei, Exelbergstrasse 32, 1170 Vienna, www.manameierei.com
Motto am Fluss, Franz-Josefs-Kai/Schwedenplatz, 1010 Vienna, www.motto.at/mottoamfluss
Martin Obermann, Cobenzlgasse 102, 1190 Vienna, www.weinbauobermann.at
Purple Eat, Meidlinger Markt 83-88, 1120 Wien, www.purplesheep.at
Steirereck im Stadtpark, Am Heumarkt 2a, 1030 Vienna, www.steirereck.at
Slow Food Wien, www.slowfood-wien.at
Peter Uhler, Hackenberggasse 29/7/4, 1190 Vienna, www.weinuhler.at
Weinbau Jutta Ambrositsch, Dannebergplatz 12/2, 1030 Vienna, www.jutta-ambrositsch.at
Weingut & Heuriger Christ, Amtsstrasse 10-14, 1210 Vienna, www.weingut-christ.at
Weinbau Lenikus, Cobenzlgasse 2, 1190 Vienna, www.lenikus.at
Weingut Wieninger, Stammersdorfer Strasse 31, 1210 Vienna, www.wieninger.at
Weinbau & Heuriger Zahel, Maurer Hauptplatz 9, 1230 Vienna, www.zahel.at
Wetter, Payergasse 13, 1160 Wien, Tel. +43-1-406 07 75
Ströck-Feierabend, Landstrasser Hauptstrasse 82, 1030 Vienna, www.ströck-feierabend.at
The Culinary Love Band, www.tclb.at
Gasthaus Wolf, Rienösslgasse 17, 1040 Vienna, gasthauswolf.at
Die Markterei, www.markterei.at
Die Marktwirtschaft, Siebensterngasse 21, 1070 Vienna, www.facebook.com/mrktwirtschaft
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