Monday, 06 January 2020
What would a visit to Paris be without tasting a crêpe? These thin pancakes come in two varieties -- galettes with savoury toppings make a perfect lunch while sweet teeth will prefer a crêpe with sweet toppings. For the real thing head for a crêperie, a specialized small restaurant serving no other food (apart from perhaps a salad), and you should do this for lunch as the better owner-run shops will usually close early in the afternoon.
My favourite place is Crêpe de la Joie, a family-friendly 100 percent organic owner-run crêperie near
tube stop Censier Daubenton.
The buckwheat-based galettes have savoury fillings, often with an egg on top, while the sweet crêpes are made of wheat.
All crêpes and galettes (except the one of the day) are dubbed after mythological figures like elves, gnomes and fairies and all of them are vegetarian or even vegan.
The friendly owner prepared food for us even though we arrived ten minutes before her closing time. This will surely not be the rule but a little broken French and a friendly smile helped us to get a perfect start for our visit.
The shop also sells
Hildegard of Bingen food products.
Hip, professional
Breizh Cafe
within the Marais does not observe the usual French rules for opening hours but serves crepes and galettes all day. The place with its rough wooden interior does
not use organic ingredients as a rule, but the flours for both, the galettes and the crepes are always organic.
More to try
The following organic creperies I found in preparation of my stay but did not have time to visit. If you come there I'd love to hear about your experience.
2020-01-06 16:15:00
[Paris, organic, lunch, creperie, restaurant, coffee, French, vegan, vegetarian]
Link
Thursday, 14 November 2019
Light and spacious instead of small and crammed -- Mannheim's package-free vegetarian supermarket Eddie's with its large shop window front is easy to find between two tram stops of line 6, Werderstraße and Pestalozzischule. Not everything here -- some herb blends to give an example -- is organic, but everything organic (which is the majority of items) is clearly marked "bio" on the shelves. In addition to a small selection of fruit and veges and all you need of dry food the shop's section of plastic-free household items offers alternatives when you need to replace plastic boxes, toothbrushes, drinking straws and the like. The bodycare and household chemicals section is very well assorted and -- unlike other zero waste shops which usually restrict themselves to liquid detergents -- also offers washing powders and soda by the kilogram. Students will get ten percent discount on Wednesdays, and the place has also gotten itself a decent coffee machine -- for a coffee at the spot or into the mug you provide. (If you buy a reusable mug the first shot is free.)
By now all supermarkets of the Basic chain should be equipped with at minimum one dry food refill station, and allow you to take home cheese, antipasti, cured meat and sausages from the meat and dairy counters in your own containers. That's exactly what the Mannheim branch at the tram stop Schloss
offers -- partially supplementing but certainly not replacing the selection at Eddie's.
For coffee or ready-made meals head for the
Kombüse gastro pub in the Jungbusch neighbourhood. Everything on their menu is available to take away, and they kindly ask you to come with your own jars. One-way packaging will be charged with a small surplus.
And last but not least: Naturally the organic bakery Bihn will happily put your purchase in the bags and boxes you provide.
2019-11-14 18:00:00
[Mannheim, organic, zero_waste, unverpackt, grocery, supermarkets, vegetarian, vegan, takeaway, coffee]
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Saturday, 05 October 2019
Small-scale artisanal ice-cream parlours are by far not as omnipresent in Paris as in Italy, or even in Germany, and although organic products are easy to find by chance you have to plan carefully if you want to have an at minimum partially organic ice-cream on the go.
Fortunately you have at least two options near one of the main tourist spots, the Centre Pompidou which itself is located near the tube stop Châtelet-Les Halles: Glace Bachir treats you with fully organic,
Lebanese dairy ice-cream which has a wonderfully light texture. The smallest serving are two flavours at 3.90 EUR:
Define the size of your purchase and pay first at the cash desk at the right-hand side, then move over to the left part of the shop where you present your receipt and order the flavours. My favourite is the delicate rose ice-cream which was so delicious that I did not even try the pistachio coated
Ashta ice-cream when I went there a second time.
If you prefer a (vegan) sorbet head to the nearby branch of the internationally operating French Italian ice-cream franchise Amorino: They serve their all natural ice-cream shaped as a rose in a wafer cone, and while the quite heavy dairy flavours aren't organic, they always have two or three types of certified organic sorbet on offer.
There are many more Amorino branches all over Paris, among others in the 14th district, Montparnasse, where they had
three types of organic sorbet: cassis, lemon and blood orange.
Avoid the so-called gourmet cups as well as the coffee at these places as you will produce easily avoidable extra waste (and it's not promised organic anyway).
More to try
For the sake of completeness: There are also more than a hand-full branches of the rivalling pan-European natural ice-cream chain, Unilever's Grom in town, one of them in the 6th district near Boulevard Saint-Germain, but since they do no longer promise organic ingredients you may as well stay away from it.
You'll better try to find
Ümmy, an organic frozen yogurt stall on the university campus of the
Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris in the 14th district.
A small serving of 100% organic frozen yogurt comes at 3 EUR.
Or you are lucky enough to pass by one of the two yellow
Marguerite du Pré
Citroën HY vintage food trucks which not only offer natural artisanal yogurt ice-cream made from organic milk, but also organic soft drinks, juices, smoothies, iced teas and coffee. The smallest ice-cream serving comes at 2 EUR.
2019-10-05 16:30:00
[Paris, Parigi, organic, biologique, vegan, ice-cream, frozen_yogurt, Lebanese]
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Thursday, 13 June 2019
Uneasiness with industrial agriculture often starts with the brutal reality of how we treat animals, and consequently eggs and meat often are the first ingredients restaurants use from organic farming. In many cities this means that conscious omnivores have a better chance to find a place to eat than vegetarians or vegans. With Padua this is different: All organic or partially organic restaurants I found within the city boundaries focus on vegetarian courses, and all of them are vegan-friendly.
Unfortunately my time in Padua has always been very limited, so all I could find out this time was that my favourite bar in the city centre ceased to exist. So here's a number of places I'd like to try but haven't had the opportunity yet:
Fully organic and vegetarian (needless to say these days: vegan-friendly) restaurant Vegetariamoci a little North-West and over the bridge from the Giardini dell' Arena park is the brainchild of organic pioneers in the region. Unfortunately closed Mondays through Wednesdays.
Also in the neighbourhood of Arcella, north of the main train station, the Osteria di Fuori Porta offers uncomplicated organic dinner, and, on weekdays, lunch, the latter also at a fixed price for 12 EUR including a beverage and coffee.
If you take the tram leave at stop "Borgomagno".
Food, art, and concerts -- that's the concept of the Ca'Sana cultural space offering organic brunch on Sundays, and apart from Mondays, late night food. The place is situated a little out of town, near the airport.
If you fancy a pizza Daltrocanto seems to be the place to go. There's more on the menu, all vegetarian and vegan-friendly.
Closed
2019-06-13 19:00:00
[Padua, Padova, biologico, organic, vegetarian, vegan, eatery, restaurant, breakfast, lunch, dinner, coffee]
Link
Monday, 10 June 2019
Its lively main street, the Corso Palladio dates back to imperial Rome and, still today, is framed by buildings of the arguably most influential medieval architect, Andrea Palladio.
When feeling hungry while you stroll through the Unesco World Heritage head for spacious, wholesale organic supermarket Silene in a quiet side way a few meters North off Corso Palladio. As you enter you will notice the self-service coffee bar immediately, open for a coffee, healthy drink or snack even before the supermarket opens itself. But there's a real restaurant when you proceed into the building: At the left hand side you'll pass the open kitchen, and arrive at a water tap where you can refill your drinking bottle with both, plain and sparkling water. There you are: more tables to sit down, you will be served.
The small menu offers vegan and vegetarian Italian wholefood, tasty pasta and risotti of course, but also surprising twists as the hearty risotto-style oat porridge with spring vegetables I had, or carrot-based falafel (which I liked less). A refreshing surprise was the alcohol-free "sangria". Unlikely you can have the same, though, as the menu changes according to season and daily availability of fresh ingredients. Needless to say that the coffee was a delight, too, and the staff helpful and friendly. If you're looking for the toilets: They are hidden at the opposite, right wall of the supermarket, and open for guests.
The supermarket itself will provide you with all daily necessities, all types of fresh and dry food as well as organic household chemicals and a superb choice of organic body care. Unlike other groceries it keeps open throughout the day without an afternoon break. There's a second Silene supermarket a little further west, without a day restaurant though.
All days including Sundays (though not on public holidays) the Vicenza branch of Germany's DM chemist's chain will provide you with a great selection of organic food, drinks, natural body care and sustainable cleaning detergents. The spacious supermarket in Corso Andrea Palladio opened in 2018 and is a great source of eco- and climate conscious products at budget prices, but since the majority of the items still are conventionally produced be careful to check eco and organic labels.
For a treat of ice-cream follow Corso Andrea Palladio to its Western end and proceed straight ahead, past the Giardini Salvi park to the right. The less shiny neighbourhood San Felice hides a gem: Gocce di Bio ("gocce" meaning "drops"), a vegan-friendly fully organic ice-cream parlour. With its modest window front the spot-free place with its fresh-green painted walls is easy to oversee, but unlike other shops it sports a clearly visible organic logo over the entrance. On the premises of a traditional neighbourhood gelateria it's one of the ice-cream and no frills (not even coffee) places you'll rarely find outside Italy serving a mouth-wateringly creamy all-organic delight. Unless you avoid alcohol try the Malaga variety, and you will be cured for all time from that fake yellowy sweet and flavoured stuff with raisins and perhaps low quality alcohol going under this name elsewhere: The Malaga ice-cream here has distinct, melting flavours -- cream, grappa and raisins of highest organic quality, delightfully combined.
Unfortunately the place is closed on public holidays.
Ceased to exist
A few years ago the following gelateria served very nice organic ice-cream but unfortunately did not survive:
2019-06-10 11:30:02
[Vicenza, biologico, organic, vegan, ice-cream, coffee, supermarkets, grocery, eatery, restaurant, breakfast, lunch, bodycare, household]
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