Dresden: Organic supermarkets and groceries

Organic wholesale in the capital of Saxony (which is governed by a red-red-green coalition) used to be dominated by the local economy, but since the oldest organic supermarket in town, Biosphäre, became part of the nation-wide Denn's chain in 2018, the picture has been resembling the one in other German metropolises: The market is devided between two local actors, a regional one and two of the nation-wide operating grocery chains, with a hand-full of smaller corner shops filling niches.

The largest density of organic supermarkets can naturally be found in the vibrant Wilhelminian style quarter of Neustadt north of the river Elbe with its – gentrification aside – still predominantly left-wing population of artists, students, activists, tourists, hipsters and bourgeois green-party voters.

Neustadt

It hasn't been always this way, but walking the old streets of Innere Neustadt with open eyes will present you with an abundance of shops and eateries boosting of vegetarian and vegan products. Many of them use organic produce, but won't advertise it – partially because they blend with conventional products, and use of organic ingredients will vary, partially in fear of being prejudged as expensive. Fortunately it is nowadays easier to find an organic supermarket in this neighbourhood than a conventional one, so if you're tired of asking just walk to the next crossroad, and there you are.

The former Biosphäre markets are located here: the older one on Königsbrücker Landstraße opposite Schauburg theatre, and an even larger one in Alaunstraße a few metres from Albertplatz which replaced a conventional supermarket. Both have a self-service area where you can have coffee, cakes, pastry, sandwiches at any time of the day, and soups for lunch. Students are entitled a 10 percent discount on Wednesdays. Recently the shop in Alaunstraße also took a small effort to support package-free shopping.

Berlin-based organic supermarket chain Bio Company has a branch a little south along the tramway tracks on Königsbrücker Landstraße. Just like the Denn's branches it closes at liberal 9 pm. The Bio Company stores recently introduced fill-yourself stations with dry food and sweets. This shop offers more refill options that the one near Blaues Wunder bridge.

If you despair in face of the piles of plastics and paper wrappings you've been collecting while doing your regular shopping, re-use your glasses, containers and bags and refill them at Lose, a cosy zero-waste corner store in Böhmische Straße.

Altstadt

The Denn's Biomarkt chain not only took over the two former Biosphäre markets in the Neustadt but also opened a new supermarket within the Altmarktgalerie shopping mall.

Near Bahnhof Mitte train station you'll find the main branch of VG Biomarkt, an organic co-operative which not only supports your zero-waste efforts but also sports its own organic fashion store.

Striesen, Blasewitz, Loschwitz, Johannstadt

The neighbourhoods along the river shore on the east side of town sport several branches of the zero-waste friendly VG Biomarkt food co-operative.

South of the Blaues Wunder bridge, local butcher's chain Vorwerk Podemus has one of its pleasant wholesale supermarkets. First address for shortly travelled organic meat of animals which had a decent life. They also have branches in the neighbourhoods of Gruna, Neustadt, Alttolkewitz as well as a farmshop. While the Podemus shops do not offer food in gravity bins, they have been increasing their product range with jogurt, honey and jams in 250 ml deposit glasses lately. Make sure to return them in any organic supermarket.

Another option in the neighbourhood of Blasewitz is the second Bio Company branch in town. Just like in the Neustadt branch the bakery disk caters for the early bird from 7:30 am.

The only branch of a nation-wide operating organic grocery chain so far is Alnatura on tram hub Straßburger Platz which many locals still refer to by its old name from GDR times, "Fucikplatz".

Bühlau, Weißer Hirsch

To find fully organic groceries on top of the hillside North of the Blaues Wunder bridge, in the elegant residential area of Weißer Hirsch and adjacent Bühlau interestingly proves to be more difficult. What I found instead was the shop of a small-scale vegan manufacturer, Vegannett (a pun made of the words "vegan" and "nice", while the second part of the name also refers to the name of the owner-founder, Annett). On the premises of a former partially organic butcher's shop she prepares vegetable spreads which you can buy in many of the aforementioned supermarkets. But if you happen to be there on a Wednesday afternoon, pay a visit, taste and shop. In addition to the spreads you can also buy local honey. And the best: Since 2022 the spreads have been coming in deposit glasses!

Klotzsche

If you fancy a stroll in the woods of Dresdner Heide or are on the way from or to the airport make sure to have sufficient time to visit the beautifully restored historical train station Klotzsche with its Vorwerk Podemus supermarket and the organic station restaurant, both catering for the early bird.

• Denn's Biomarkt (former Biosphäre), Königsbrücker Str. 76 (entrance Bischofsweg), Mon-Sat 8-21
• Denn's Biomarkt (former Biosphäre), Alaunstr. 8, Mon-Sat 8-21
• Denn's Biomarkt Altmarkgalerie, Webergasse 1, Mon-Sat 9:30-21
• Vorwerk Podemus am Schillerplatz, Hübler Str. 3, Mon-Fri(Sat) 8-20(16)
• Vorwerk Podemus Bahnhof Klotzsche, Zur Neuen Brücke 4a, Mon-Fri(Sat) 7-19(16)
• Bio Company, Königsbrücker Str. 34, Mon-Sat 8-21 (bakery shop open from 7:30)
• Bio Company Blasewitz, Tolkewitzer Str. 8-10, Mon-Sat 8-20 (bakery shop open from 7:30)
• Alnatura, Straßburger Pl. 1, Mon-Sat 8-20
• Vegannett, Bautzner Landstr. 144, Wed 15-18

Closed down

The following (partially) organic supermarkets do no longer exist although you will still find references to them on the web:

• Vorwerk Podemus Hauptbahnhof, Wiener Pl. 4
• Bio Company Postplatz, Postplatz 2b
• We love vegan, Bautzner Str. 24 (Neustadt)
• Bio-top-fit, Martin-Luther-Str.17 (Neustadt)

Bremen: Organic Ice-cream

If you fancy a freshly made organic ice-cream in Bremen be prepared to work out – hope for good weather, rent a bicycle and do as many locals do: Set out on a 15 kilometers ride, first in direction University, and then on the dyke safeguarding the land against the river Wümme to a dairy farm run by friendly family Kaemena in Niederblockland.

On the embankment cars are allowed with a special permit only, but an astonishing number of locals come here by bicycle, foot or skating to enjoy an organic ice-cream (the scoop goes for 2.20 EUR in 2023), coffee or cold organic drink and enjoy the farm and the countryside. The ice-cream is made right here on the farm: from the milking station to the ice-cream factory it's only about 25 metres, and another few metres to the cafe. Don't miss the poppy seed ice-cream and the varieties based on buttermilk and yogurt. And please, avoid ordering your ice-cream in a one-way paper cup: for a little surplus you can have a vegan wafer cup (free for two or more scoops), compostable if you do not eat it. You may also take a free wafer ice-spoon instead of a plastics one.

Opening hours on pleasant summer days may be a little longer than announced, and the ice-cream parlour is closed in winter.

The farm itself is driven according to the seven Bioland principles, with about 80 cows (which all have individual names) and calves who are fed by and kept together with their mothers until they eat grass and hay (which is at an age of about five weeks). The cattle race comes without horns naturally, so no harm is done to the animals in order to remove them. The farm also keeps a few other animals like geese, two pigs, a couple of goats, pheasants and chicken (both hens and cocks) and gives home to a lot of wildlife like a sparrow colony and swallows.

There's a nice playground for children, and if you want to stay longer (minimum one week) the family rents out several pleasant holiday apartments (but make sure to book well in advance for holiday seasons).

In May 2022 the Kaemenas opened a new Sunday-open ice-cream parlour cum farm shop in the Neustadt. If you don't want to have your ice-cream on the go, there's little seating, a few benches outdoor, and some high chairs inside, to have a coffee, milk-shake or a "cold" chocolate with ice-cream. The cafe participates in the Recup scheme, so make sure to have your hot or cold drink to take away in a returnable cup.

Unlike the cafe at the farm this place will keep open around the year and provide you not only with ice-cream but also with cheese, jogurt, and milk.

Starting with the covid-19 summers a stylish mobile coffee bar of the Coffee Bike franchise has been popping up in the very city centre on Ansgarikirchhof during the warm season. In addition to the fully organic coffee drinks there is a separate mobile booth with Kaemena's ice-cream. Unfortunately they do not offer neither eatable ice-cream wafers nor earthenware cups for the coffee, so you are forced to enjoy it in non-compostable one-way cups unless you bring your own.

If you are in the vicinity of the university's refectory around lunch time on a weekday visit the organic ice-cream booth inside the Uni-Mensa: Opposite the refectory's check-out you get the scoop of organic ice-cream produced in Hamburg at an unbeatable price (1.30 EUR in 2023). They offer three dairy and even more vegan flavours (my favourite: the vegan salted peanut butter). You may pay cash or by the Studierendenwerk prepaid card.

• Kaemena, Niederblockland 6, daily 12–18
• Kaemena Neustadt, Langemarckstr. 178, summer(winter): Mon–Fri(Sat–Sun) 13(12)–18
• Coffee Bike, Ansgarikirchhof, Mon–Sat 11–18 (warm season only)
• Uni-Mensa, Universitäts-Boulevard 3,, Mon–Fri 11:30–14:15

Closed

• Lütt Köök Huus, Markthalle Acht, Domshof 8–12 (sold Kaemena ice-cream on the go)
• Eisdiele bey Kaemena, Delmestr. 22

Germany: Bremen, Worpswede and Lilienthal

The hanseatic city of Bremen is one of Germany's most bicycle-friendly cities and a destination of several short and long distance well-kept bicycle routes, among others the Weser bicycle route. Given the shortage of bicycle space in rapid long distance Deutsche Bahn trains it may however be challenging to get here by train with bikes, especially on short notice and during high traffic periods on summer weekends or school and public holidays.

The city has been climate- and environmentally (as well as socially) conscious for a much longer time than most other major German cities, and so you'll find probably many more interesting places than I am able to list here.

• Coffee and tea houses in Bremen and Worpswede
• Restaurants and fast food eateries
• (American) bars
• Ice-cream
• Package-free and zero-waste shopping in Bremen and adjacent Lilienthal
• Convenience stores open on Sun- and holidays

Public transport and bike rental

Bremen has a generally well working tram and bus system for which tickets are easily available from ticket machines inside the vehicles. As these ticket machines accept cash you can travel without additional carbon dioxide emissions generated by data tracking apps.

People in Bremen use the bike a lot: With many bicycle lanes, bicycle-first streets paved in red and virtually no hills it's convenient to ride a bike even with a Dutch bike and when it's raining. Compared with other major (German) cities most car drivers are used to bike trafffic and behave respectfully.

To rent a bike there are several app-based schemes. I prefer the friendly service of local bike shops which not only spares the climate for extra carbon dioxide emissions by privacy-invading data tracking, but allows for chats with interesting local people.

Unfortunately, the most convenient of them, the ADFC-Radstation at the main train station closed in 2021 in consequence of the covid-19 pandemics. So you have to invest half an hour or so to find one of the reliable bike shops with rental service during their opening hours. You may prefer to ring in upfront to make sure a bike is waiting for you (especially for the weekend). Prices in 2022/23 were about 12 EUR per day for a 3 to 6 gears city bike.

Most of the shops I am aware of are in the bicycle-friendly neighbourhood of Neustadt: The Fahrradstation Neustadt (which I have not used yet) and Fahrrad Witt a few steps from the tram stop "Pappelstraße" are both located south-west of the river Weser. The Witt bike shop is very convenient as you can return the bike out of their opening hours: Lock it to a chain in front of the shop, put the key into the letter box and send a text to the shop. The number also works as a help line in case the bike is broken, even outside the opening hours.

While the Witt bike only has three gears, the third Neustadt-based bicycle rental, 1-2-3 Rad at Buntentorsteinweg, rents out six-gear bikes with a hub dynamo at the same price plus a 30 EUR deposit which you'll get back when you return the bike. They also offer bikes for kids and youth (as well as tandems) and run a rikshaw service.

From the main train station tram no. 6 to Arsten will take you there. A little German is helpful in order to communicate with the friendly (but nerdy) mechanics. Do not hesitate to return with the bike when you find it misbehaving after the first few hundred meters. As long as you stay polite they will see whether they immediately can fix the problem or hand you a new bike. I also love the place for their hand-written (and stamped) receipts.

Renting bicycles for kids isn't easy, but with the Bartels bike shop in Oberneuland there's a second bike shop which is happy to help you if you let them know in advance. They also rent out child carriages (your kid should be able to sit, though). The downside is that this shop is quite a way from the city.

• Witt, Langemarckstr. 232, Tue–Sat 10–13,Tue–Fri 15–18 (summer-closed until Sep 4th, 2023)
• Fahrradstation Neustadt, Lahnstr. 33, Tue–Sat 10–13,Tue–Fri 14:30–18
• 1-2-3 Rad, Buntentorsteinweg 270, Mon,Tue,Thu,Fri(Wed,Sat) 10–18(13)
• Bartels, Oberneulander Landstr. 39, Tue–Sat 10–13,Tue–Fri 15–18

Closed

• ADFC-Radstation, Bahnhofspl. 14a