The Organic Traveller
Wednesday, 11 May 2022

Esslingen: Zero Waste and Supermarkets

Ohne Ebbes

A serious university city Esslingen sports a small package-free self-service supermarket where you can fill your boxes, bottles, bags and jars yourself, and any pre-packaged item either comes in glass or paper packaging. Ohne Ebbes (the Swabian dialect word "ebbes" refers to "anything", hence the name can be translated as "without anything") is located near Hafenmarkt, with its entrance facing Milchstraße. Missing a glossy window front it can appear nearly invisible. The clean and welcoming shop offers dry food, sweets, cleaning detergents, household items, and sustainable body care. All non-packaged items are organic, but since the shop is missing an organic certification it is not allowed to advertise this. Only some pre-bottled regional beverages are not organic. The shop follows a German tradition among organic shops in university cities to offer a 10 percent discount to students on Thursdays.

Weltladen Esslingen

For fairly produced gifts, fashion and dried food fair-trade world shops always are a good bet. But the Weltladen in Esslingen is even better: At its left-hand site it has a small zero-waste shop-in-shop with gravity bins containing nuts, cereals, pasta, sweets, coffee and more, not all of them certified organic, though. Bring your own jars, boxes or re-use clean paper bags from previous shoppings. As long as covid-19 requires stricter hygiene ask one of the helpful volunteers who are running the shop to fill them for you – and use the time for a chat. The shop also offers a small assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Tee Gschwendtner Esslingen

To buy loose weight tea take a stroll over Germany's next to oldest stone bridge, the Innere Brücke ("inner bridge") over the Neckar canals and the Maille park: In a beautiful pavilion integrated into the bridge you'll find Esslingen's branch of the Tee Gschwendtner franchise. If you present your tea box to the shop assistant before you decide on the tea of your choice they are happy to fill customer receptables.

A few steps north of the train station you'll find a branch of the nation-wide operating Alnatura supermarket chain inside the ES shopping mall. It's far from being dedicated zero-waste but offers a basic assortment of preserved food, wine, beer, juices and soft drinks, dairy products and vegetable alternatives in retour glasses or bottles as well as package-free bakery products (provided you sport a bag), fruits and veges.

Naturgut Esslingen

If you prefer a regional chain of organic supermarkets head for the Naturgut branch inside the old fire warden. Apart from diary products and beverages there's no focus on returnable deposit bottles and glasses, but you may of course buy package-free fruit and greens. For bakery items turn to the right at the entrance: The bakery counter is located inside the attached self-service day cafe, Brot & Cafe.

Although Germany's arguably largest organic bakery chain, Munich-based Hofpfisterei ("bakery with appointment to the (Bavarian) court") traditionally restricts its branches to Bavaria (and the German capital Berlin), there's a Hofpfisterei shop in the pedestrian area of Esslingen's old town, too. As in all Hofpfisterei branches, there's not need to argue with the shop assistants when you present a bag or box to take your breads, rolls and pastries home – they will happily comply.

Outside the city, in Sulzgries, you'll find the organic farmshop of the Eglisenhof farm, a grower of both, veges and grapewine. They also have a (local) delivery service. Unfortunately the vinification of their grapes by a local co-operative does not (yet?) seem to happen according to organic standards, at least I was not able to find any organic local wine and even met strong resistance when I asked for it at local wine specialists.

The farm also has a booth at the farmers' market on Wednesdays and Saturdays. However, you have to rise in time to get there as the market closes already around noon.

2022-05-11 20:00:00 [Esslingen, organic, coffee, vegan, zero_waste, fair, unverpackt, cafe, grocery, market, supermarkets, farms, bodycare, household, corona, covid] Link

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This work by trish is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. For commercial use contact the author: E-mail · Mastodon · Vero · Ello.

Sunday, 27 March 2022

Stuttgart: Railway Terminus

Stuttgart 21, the German national railway company Deutsche Bahn's biggest and most controversial development project is the reason why the capital of Baden-Wurttemberg for many years will be missing a functional and representative station building worth a city of its size and importance. There are almost no shops and food stalls, but do not dispair: If you take the exit next to platform 16 through the historical Bonatzbau you will come to the urban surroundings of Arnulf-Klett-Platz instead of to a tree-less anonymous desert of a huge construction site bordered by faceless business buildings. At the southern end of Klett-Passage you will be able to shop for organic supplies, even on Sundays, and it takes only five minutes to come here from the tracks. So, even if you have only half an hour between connecting trains, you will get there and back in time unless you take the wrong (northern) exit.

Bio B

To find a Sunday-open source of organic products train stations are the best bet in Germany. So it is here in Stuttgart: At the exit of Klett-Passage, just before you proceed to ground level, there's Bio B, a well-assorted fully organic supermarket, offering both dry and fresh food including fruits, veges and dairy products, natural bodycare and household items. Definitely your best and fastest bet for travel provisions. There's a second Bio B branch cum cafe in Kirchheim unter Teck south-east of Stuttgart.

If you turn left here, take the stairs up, proceed to the next street corner and turn right there's a branch of the DM Drogeriemarkt drugstore chain. In principle a supermarket focussing on all you need in the household it stocks a good selection of reasonably priced organic dry and preserved food, sweets and (non-alcoholic) beverages as well as natural bodycare and sustainable household chemistry; with an increasing number of climate-neutral products. For non-food you have to be more picky as conventional, environment-unfriendly brands (still) prevail. As the shop its not located on the premises of the train station it is however closed on Sundays and public holidays.

2022-03-27 08:30:00 [Stuttgart, Kirchheim_Teck, organic, vegan, snacks, supermarkets, grocery, trainstation] Link

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This work by trish is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. For commercial use contact the author: E-mail · Mastodon · Vero · Ello.

Thursday, 24 March 2022

Stuttgart-Möhringen

Few tourists will ever find their way to the Southern suburb of Möhringen. A settlement dating back to between 1100 and 1300 the place has a history, but is a mixture of urban sprawl, industrial area and lots of obese cars, combined with the remainders of an agricultural past and a village infrastructure with farm houses, workshops and house gardens.

Directly located behind the old station building of Möhringen Filderbahn train station you'll find the main shop of a traditional artisanal bakery and confectioner's, Schrade. The family-run business dates back to 1902, and as many surviving bakeries of old, is organically certified. Most breads and many rolls are organic, made with Bioland-certified grains from the region and home-made sourdough if applicable.Unfortunately neither the pastries nor the artisanal chocolate truffles are made from organic ingredients (yet).

Reyerhof

Further south, in the nicer part of Möhringen-West with its still visible village structure you'll find the Reyerhof farm, a biodynamic co-operative and community supported agriculture. Its homely farm shop is open to the public and sells raw milk from the farm which you can tap yourself into your bottle. A pleasant way to buy food and daily necessities, there's also a cafe corner with tables to sit down and relax.

Naturgut

There's a second organic farm shop in Möhringen-Süd: Bauer Klaus shares its shop with the suburb's package-free supermarket, Umverpackt. Unfortunately it is open on Monday and Friday afternoons only.

To complete your shopping there are also two well-assorted organic supermarkets, Naturgut in Möhringen-Mitte, and Erdi in the large housing neighbourhood of Möhringen-Ost.

2022-03-24 17:30:00 [Stuttgart, Moehringen, organic, farms, supermarkets, bakeries, coffee, zero_waste, unverpackt, cafe] Link

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This work by trish is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. For commercial use contact the author: E-mail · Mastodon · Vero · Ello.

Friday, 31 December 2021

Organic Augsburg: Eat & sleep

One of the oldest cities in Germany, with roots back in Roman history, a rich medieval history – including the world's oldest intact social housing project, the Fuggerei –, and the birthplace of Bertolt Brecht, one of the most influential writers in modern theatre, Augsburg is without doubt worth a visit. Conveniently located on the railway tracks between Munich and Nuremberg, urban trains ("Regionalbahn"/"Regionalexpress") from Munich central station depart twice an hour (at day time) and can be used with the Bayernticket flat-rate ticket for Bavaria which is the budget option if you plan to travel from and to Munich on one day (one way takes about 45 minutes). Augsburg is also an ICE/IC train stop: These high velocity trains will save you about a quarter of an hour on this route, but tickets usually come at a significantly higher price.

Bayerischer Wirt

If you plan to stay overnight there's a pleasant fully organic hotel about three kilometers from the main train station, the Bayerischer Wirt, a certified Bio Hotel in the suburb of Lechhausen, yet easily accessible by tram and bus or bike. Although the hotel is located directly at a noisy main road, the outdoor seating area in the backyard is a peaceful oasis. The hotel restaurant serves Bavarian meat and fish dishes as well as internationally inspired vegetarian ones – with varying results: While the roasted meat was perfectly done (rare as requested, caramelized yet melting), and served with the most delicate onion crisps I've ever tasted, the strips of veal in mustard cream were quite bland and uninspired – health food with boringly blanched veges and saltless (though home-made) spaetzle. Instead of ordering bottled mineral water you may fetch tap water from the water dispenser at no cost. Needless to say that all drinks are organic, too, and the aperitifs were a pleasant refreshment in the summer heat. The dessert menu is quite limited – prefab organic ice-cream, home-made cakes and a parfait when I visited.

If a healthy local kitchen with liberal opening hours does not satisfy your expectations of a city vacation, there are two promising day cafes easily reachable for cyclists on the way from the main station to Lechhausen: Café Himmelgrün near the banks of the river Lech in Berliner Allee serves fully organic breakfast, lunch, coffee and cakes, and you can also find sustainable gifts and nice things. The cafe is run by Augsburg-based organic bakery Schubert – you may have come across the name at the bakery counters of organic supermarkets, both in Munich, Nuremberg and elsewhere in Bavaria.

In front of the cafe's outdoor area the bakery has installed a mobile sales booth for bread, snacks and cakes of yesterday's production, from the quality control desks, with short best-before date or small blemishes, all sold at low fixed prices: A kilogram of bread for example comes at 3 EUR, yesterday's savoury snacks at 1 EUR the piece, and six pieces of cake at 7 EUR. Customers are encouraged to reduce waste and take home their purchase in their own bags or boxes. Unfortunately the booth dubbed Grünfux deluxe is closed in the afternoon as well as on Mondays and on weekends.

Augsburg's long history of textile fabric production, print and trade is reflected in the Bavarian State Textile and Industry Museum, less than 10 minutes from the inner city hotspot Königsplatz by tram no. 6. The museum's cafe dubbed nunó (from the Japanese word for "cloth") is not only a charming spot in an impressive industrial building of a former spinning mill, but also predominantly and certified organic, serving light and internationally inspired lunch, breakfast and Sunday brunch, and of course a recreational coffee. Meat, bread, veges, and eggs are reliably organic and of regional origin if possible while drinks at the bar are still predominantly conventional. As most museums the place is closed on Mondays and – except for special occasions – in the evenings.

If you are so unfortunate to strand before closed doors the next organic supermarket with a small bistro – a branch of the Denn's Biomarkt chain – is located in walking distance.

Inner city

Dreizehn

My absolute favourite for meeting friends or family is the cosy day cafe and bar Dreizehn within the Kresslesmühle cultural centre. The food is 100 percent vegan, properly seasoned and absolutely delicious. There's a daily changing special meal (a marvellously filling mushroom-spiced polenta with ratatouille, fried organic tofu crumbles and salad when I was there) in addition to the small standard menu. Unfortunately it's not possible to have breakfast yet, and when you cannot sit outside next to the old mill stream due to weather conditions it's advisable to book a table.

Anna

In the backyard of St. Anne's church, the Annahof next to the fenced city market, the church parish gives host to a lively all-day cafe restaurant cum bar dubbed Anna with a great outdoor area, which is open in the evenings, too. The place serves lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch inspired by international kitchens. Once it was certified organic, but since it no longer is the restaurant is not allowed to advertise with organic ingredients. Nevertheless the managing director assured me that they were still using as much organic produce as before: both eggs, milk and most fruit come from organic farms and distributors in the vicinity. On the menu you'll find organic beer (Lammsbräu), on occasions organic wine (ask for it), lemonade (charitea) and ice-tea. For breakfast you can have organic crunchy cereals, and the bread comes from the Schubert bakery. Unfortunately meat products usually aren't organic. During the warm season the cafe sells organic ice-cream to take away in a biscuit cone, delivered by the Cramer's confectioner's. Only plain flavours like vanilla, chocolate, plan hazelnut and lemon were available in July 2019, the scoop at 1.50 EUR.

For a light vegan lunch bowl or a smoothie stop by 100 percent organic ice-cream shop Juice 'n Cream in the Ulrichsviertel neighbourhood.

If you are in the mood for a pizza there's a branch of the partially organic NineOFive chain at Fuggerplatz.

For a no-frills coffee, snack or lunch you may also head for the self-service cafe at the city branch of the Basic organic supermarket chain between the state theatre and the cathedral.

Want a liquid give-a-away or treat yourself with a good bottle of organic wine or high-quality juice? Uli Scheffler Weinhandel in the Bismarckviertel is one of those small owner-run shops that create the soul of a city: Describe your occasion, and Uli will come up with a suggestion for you that (as to my taste and knowledge) will work (and taste) perfectly. While the shop keeps open on Saturdays you'll have to go without his advice as you'll find Uli at the Mariahilf farmers' market in Munich on that day of the week.

Bäckerei Schubert Königsplatz

Around the main train station – bakeries and package-free

For last minute travel provisions you can buy an organic snack or sandwich at the Hofpfisterei bakery branch five minutes from the main train station. Unfortunately it's closed both on Saturdays and Sundays.

If you have some more time the city's package-free supermarket Ruta Natur is located no more than 10 minutes from the train station, directly on the way to the Stadtmarkt market place.

Alternatively you may proceed to the Schubert branch at the tram hub of Königsplatz. There used to be a serviced day cafe but after some reconstruction work the area of the bakery shop has diminished to the sales counter and a small self-service area where you may sit down with a sandwich or snack. When the weather is nice there are also chairs and tables outside. The coffee drinks from the automatic machine could taste better, but everything is organic.

There's another Schubert branch inside the city market, around the corner from St. Anne's church (and you'll find another Hofpfisterei branch there, too).

Sunday-open in Hochzoll

To buy fresh bread, rolls or cake on a Sunday morning you have to commute to 12-Apostel-Platz in Augsburg-Hochzoll where the only Sunday-open Schubert branch is located. It also sports a cafe, most suitable on weekdays, though.

More on Augsburg

Closed

2021-12-31 20:45:01 [Augsburg, Augusta, organic, vegan, vegetarian, breakfast, lunch, dinner, Franconian, German, restaurant, eatery, hotel, accommodation, ice-cream, cafe, coffee, supermarkets, grocery, bakeries, zero_waste, unverpackt, wine] Link

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This work by trish is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. For commercial use contact the author: E-mail · Mastodon · Vero · Ello.

Tuesday, 07 September 2021

Hamburg: Organic Altona and Ottensen

Leaving the train at Altona station does not bring you to the heart of the city but to the vibrant neighbourhoods of Altona (to the East) and Ottensen (to the West) offering a great choice of lively (partially) organic places. None of them are very posh as the distinguished bourgeouis citizens usually live and roam elsewhere, and there's a good chance to mingle with locals.

Schanzenstern

Where to stay

As long as you are satisfied with a basic yet clean and well-kept hotel room head for the Schanzenstern. The name derives from its original location in the Sternschanze neighbourhood, but even though the hostel moved to its current location surely fifteen years ago references to its old address haven't vanished from the net completely. Most rooms are equipped with bunk beds, and you are well advised to book in advance especially if not travelling alone. The entire building is painted in clear basic colors, orange and blue the rooms, yellow the hallway. Since rain water is used for flushing the toilets its colour can be explained easily, and the soap dispensers in the bathroom are filled with liquid organic hand wash. If you're travelling by bicycle there's a locked shed where you can store it safely overnight. The hostel also has a handful basic three-gear bikes to rent, at a price tag of 10 EUR per day, not to go fast, but well suited for the sett surface streets around.

The hostel's 100% organic breakfast buffet keeps open daily from 7:30 to 10:30, but is not included in the price for the night. For additional 9.50 Euro you can order it until late the evening before. The restaurant also serves organic lunch on weekdays, and there are board games and journals to spend the time with.

Zeit für Brot

Bakeries

Breakfast and lunch alternatives are located within five-minutes walking distance: For one there's the Zeit für Brot ("time for bread") artisanal show bakery next to a branch of the Denn’s organic supermarket chain in Ottenser Hauptstraße (The chain has a second supermarket nearby which also serves snacks at their self-service cafe.) Through a window you can watch the Zeit-für-Brot bakers at work while buying German bread, fresh from the oven. If stepping by for a coffee or another non-alcoholic drink, a pastry, cake, savoury snack, or a light lunch (all organic) queue with the other customers and place your order at the till. When the pandemic restrictions are over you may again find a place at one of the tables inside and enjoy the gorgeous smell of real bread together with your snack. For the time being you have to be lucky to find a spare seat outside under a sunshade also sheltering from the occasional rain shower.

Zeit für Brot outdoor seating

The place serves El Rojito coffee, and this is always an excuse to come here.

Cafes and lunch restaurants

Another organic breakfast alternative is cosy cafe Lillisu offering 100% organic food and drinks. In addition to breakfast the women owners also serve sandwiches, filled pasta, spaghetti, soup and salads for lunch, both vegetarian and omnivore, prepared in the tiny kitchen in view of their guests. Place your order at the counter and add a home-made cake from the display. You'll be served but are expected to return to the counter for payment. Set breakfast plates are served on weekends only. Decorated in pastel colours this is also the place to buy nostalgic presents and some organic delicatessen (chocolates, olive oil, coffee, ...) as well as "Glück in Gläsern" ("happiness in jars"), (in)famous 100% non-organic nostalgic sweets many Germans will remember from their childhood, sold by the piece. As in the Schanzenstern restaurant a selection of magazines from Hamburg-based publishers are there to be read by the guests.

El Rojito

For a coffee break my tip is the cafe of a local coffee importer specializing in the coffee of South-American co-operatives, El Rojito. Not all of them are organically certified, but the driving force behind is a registered society which has been supporting fair and social working and trading conditions for more than 30 years. While pandemic restrictions apply you can have your coffee outside only: There's outdoor seating in the backyard, though not in the morning and on Sundays, and some space in front of the cafe. Their coffee is also served by the Schanzenstern hostel, and the shop sells the full range of their coffee beans as well as some other items such as organic honey.

Eiscafe Venezia

Ice-cream

For a sweet threat head back to Altona train station (where you by the way will find another organic supermarket, this time an Alnatura branch). Since 1913 there has been an Italian ice-cream parlour in Ottenser Hauptstaße, which, after world war II became Eiscafe Venezia. Today, the owners are no longer of Italian origin, but use organic milk for all of their about 20 flavours. Unfortunately the ice-cream isn't fully organic itself; the scoop goes for 1.40 EUR in 2021. Usually the cafe closes at midnight, but you may find it closing earlier on bad weather.

The place also serves Italian-style coffee drinks with organic milk from a proper Cimbali pressure machine, but I'd rather advise to take the extra meters to Zeit für Brot as their coffee is far better.

Stueckgut Ottensen

Zero waste

Package-free organic self-service supermarkets are also on the rise in Hamburg, and given the subcultural context of the neighbourhood you won't be surprised to find one here as well: Stückgut recently moved from its old address Am Felde 91 to a beautiful corner shop at Alma-Wartenberg-Platz. Apart from the usual product range common to all these groceries this one offers organic tea, fresh fruits and veges, antipasti and cheeses and a colourful range of liquid body care and household chemicals which make the shop a proper full-range retailer. There's a second branch in St. Pauli with a smaller product range, among others missing fresh greens.

More to try

Here's another organic cafe and a bakery I found during my research but did not have time to visit. I'll be happy if you'd share your impressions with me!

Closed during covid-19 pandemic

Closed

The following places do no longer exist although you might find them referenced on the web:

2021-09-07 11:00:00 [Hamburg, Altona, Ottensen, St_Pauli, organic, coffee, ice-cream, zero_waste, unverpackt, supermarkets, grocery, eatery, lunch, breakfast, cafe, hotel, accommodation, bakeries, covid, corona] Link

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This work by trish is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. For commercial use contact the author: E-mail · Mastodon · Vero · Ello.