The fruits and vegetables sold at the Hunyadi tér Piac may be perishable, but the debate surrounding the indoor/outdoor public market in the heart of Budapest's District VI is likely to be as long-lasting - and pungent - as a jar of spicy pepper sauce. While a contract between the district and a company called Amelus Kft was annulled last week in the face of community opposition, the fate of the covered market and a part of the adjacent square used by food vendors remains an open question, according to officials and representatives of the residents and civic groups fighting the proposed redevelopment of the area.

The most recent chapter of the Hunyadi tér market saga goes back two years, to a proposal to reconstruct the existing market hall and square into a shiny, new Európa Ház ("Europe House") with trendy restaurants, shops and a multi-story underground parking garage. According to the district's chief architect, the estimated price tag for the project was Ft 3 billion (€12 million). The cancellation of the contract is a major victory - at least for the time being - for the group that had spearheaded the opposition, Our Treasure, The Market (Kincsünk a Piac - Hunyadi Tér).

The part of the plan that generated the most criticism involved the square opposite the market hall, as it would have involved uprooting numerous trees from the tér and adjacent streets, as well as relocating outdoor vendors to a basement area in the renovated hall. Meanwhile, much of the ground floor of the hall, which is currently home to a mix of homespun food vendors, would be dedicated to "European-focused" shops and restaurants. But opponents also claimed that they had not been given access to details of the redevelopment plans, further stoking their suspicions and resentment. Representatives of Our Treasure, The Market set up kiosks on the square to gather signatures (left) against the plan, accusing the district's leadership of making decisions without consulting the public. Their protests worked.

Erika Szilagyi, a spokesperson for the district government, last week confirmed to Chew.hu that Amelus Kft - which is controlled by offshore investors - pulled out because of the criticism from civil groups. Yet despite the result, Gabriella Bartha (left, helping to gather signatures), the founder of Our Treasure, the Market is not satisfied, saying that she thinks the door might still be open for a similar contract to go through.

"Very tough negotiations are ahead of us," Bartha said. "Actually, we feel we got rid of this one contract, but I don't know if there is any guarantee, they might announce [a new tender] and the same investor might end up winning under a different name. We are not convinced of the honesty of [the district's] intentions, or that things will radically change." Szilagyi confirmed that there is a possibility that the same investor could win the next tender, which she said will open next January.

As they were throughout the "uprising" against the planned redevelopment, most of the vendors working inside the market and on the square outside seemed to be less concerned about the market's fate than the activists purporting to speak for them.

"The vendors, well they are a little, I guess you could say, apathetic. Yes, apathetic," said Zsuzsana Varga (with Bartha at center), a member of Our Treasure, the Market who lives on the square. "The issue of closing the market has been raised so many times that they do not take it so seriously. They don't believe it, or if they do, they say there is nothing they can do to change anything. It is a defeatist attitude."

Likewise, Zoltán Bogáthy, co-owner of the nearby Culinaris gourmet grocery store, said he wasn't shocked by the latest twist in the saga of the market, pointing out that such negotiations had been going on for the last dozen years.

Bogáthy said he is also not opposed to a reconstruction of the square. "Change is not always bad, some changes can be good," he said.

But he stressed that the needs of a market can run counter to those of pedestrian-friendly developments if they make it hard for businesses like his to actually conduct business, adding that one reason he chose Hunyadi tér for the first branch of Culinaris was because the square made it easy to receive deliveries. "[It] is in the interest of the residents who live in the city to be able to get their produce and groceries locally," Bogáthy said. "If you have to drive outside to get your groceries, why bother living in the city?"

Meanwhile, for some shoppers it is not just important to get their groceries in the city, but in surroundings of the sort epitomized by the sometimes ramshackle public markets like the one on Hunyadi tér.

"I rarely shop at the hypermarkets since this is what I wanted to escape in the United States," said Allaine Cerwonka, who has been living and teaching in Budapest for the past four years. "[These markets] are part of the pleasure of Budapest for me."