Markets have always been the heart and soul of any community. If you want to understand the culture of a city, visit the market. In Tel Aviv, three very different markets tell me a great deal about the little communities that surround them.

Shlomo is a happy man. He serves me a strong cup of his own roasted coffee. His grandfather, a Yemenite immigrant in the early 1900s, started this little roastery in Carmel Market. But Shlomo is likely to be the last of his family to roast and sell coffee.

There are many like him, in markets around the world. The younger generation, he tells us, isn’t interested in working in a market. Curiously, despite this attitude, markets are making a huge comeback and more and more people are turning to local farmers and producers. It’s not surprising. Markets have always been the heart and soul of any community. If you want to understand the culture of a city, visit the market.