Sunday, 12 June 2022
Those with a sweet tooth may feel in heaven when coming to the comparatively ugly urban sprawl which comprises the municipality of Selvazzano Dentro south-west of Padua and north of Abano Terme: In the neighbourhoods of San Domenico and Tencarola, devided by the crossing of the river Bacchiglione you will find a confectioner's shop cum day bar, an ice-cream parlour and finally a supermarket serving customers preferring organic food and delights.
When entering the municipality from the west following Via Euganea your first stop should be at a roundabout with
an Italian day bar cum Viennese-style cafe cum confectioner's shop where the main ingredients are organic.
At Pasticceria Da Angelo you will find organic and vegan options clearly marked, and the friendly staff will proudly and often even unasked point out what's organic. If you don't feel like a delicate ice-cream or a gorgeous pastry along with an organic coffee drink (with organic soy milk if you prefer) have
a tramezzino sandwich or toast together with a freshly made organic smoothie, or an organic soft drink. Vegan sandwich options are readily available, with organic "cold cuts", while the meat items on non-veg versions usually aren't organic. A serving of ice-cream comes at 1.40 EUR, with each additional scoop for 1.10 EUR. Vegan varieties aren't restricted to fruit flavours, you can also choose among a number of flavours made with rice or almond drink. Buy a bag of organic cookies to take home if you like, and if you're lucky there may be an organic lunch, dinner or ice-cream special during your stay. Advanced booking by phone is required for such an event.
Not enough ice-cream or arriving after half past nine in the evening? Well, you can be helped.
Gelateria Soleluna a few meters east opposite Hotel Piroga uses more than 80 percent organic, and predominantly locally sourced ingredients for their granite, gelati, and ice cakes. A delight not to be missed,
one ice-cream scoop goes for 1.40 EUR, each additional one adds approximately 1 EUR to your bill. Personally I prefer the delicate, creamy dairy flavours to the vegan fruit-based ones. The granite are available in two sizes, for 2.80 or 3.50 EUR – the refreshing lime-mint or coffee varieties will get you going in a minute on a warm summer day. Unfortunately the granite are served in one-way plastics cups, each with one-way teaspoon and straw, so you will produce a lot of waste.
On bank holidays the shop keeps open as on Sundays.
Groceries
To buy everything you need organic, from fruit and veges over dairy products and vegan alternatives to dry food, natural cosmetics, the forgotten towel or household detergents follow Via Euganea in eastern direction, cross both, the bridge over the river, and the street side. Here, on Via Padova (the street changes its name in Tencarola) you'll find a well assorted NaturaSi supermarket which also has a small section of self-service zero waste dispensers for grains and a few other dry foods and refill for most household detergents. This would also be the place you had to do most of your organic shopping when living in one of the villages in the vicinity – your next real options being the NaturaSi in Abano Terme or, naturally, the ones in the city of Padua.
Closed
- Come una volta, Montegalda,
Via Roma, 45 (neighbourhood grocery)
2022-06-12 10:00:00
[Padova, Padua, Selvazzano, Montegalda, organic, biologico, zero_waste, vegan, ice-cream, supermarkets, coffee, cafe, grocery, bodycare, household, confectioners]
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Wednesday, 11 May 2022
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.
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.
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.
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]
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Sunday, 03 January 2021
The Bohemian kitchen serves a lot of (conventional) meat, and vegetarian places usually do neither use organic ingredients -- eating out can be quite a challenge in beautiful and historical Prague. My favourite restaurant from many years ago unfortunately does no longer exist, so I had to start almost from scratch, and my time in the city was limited. The good news: You have no longer to be a strict follower of a wholefood diet if you prefer organic food. But compared with capitals of neighbouring countries there's still a gap to close.
Daily necessities
Founded in the 1990-ies the organic grocery Country Life has developed into a small organic supermarket chain since. The shops still look like small health food shops and concentrate on wholefood, but provide you with a sufficient selection of fresh and dry organic food, dairy products as well as vegan alternatives.
Bread, rolls and pastries bought by the piece as well as fruits and veges aren't pre-packaged, and there is a good selection of dry food
available from zero-waste dispensers, so come with your own bags and containers.
Note that, except for the one in the old town, all Country Life shops are closed both, on Saturdays and Sundays, and all of them close as early as between 6 and 7 pm.
While fully organic supermarkets haven't taken off so far there's a increasing number of package-free groceries. However, only a smaller part of the products at these "bezobalu" are organic, so even here you have to watch out for the "bio" labels. Since my stay in Prague has been limited to a weekend I don't have reviews to offer, just had a glimpse at the shop windows of Jelen next to the Organic Sushi restaurant in Nusle where you can find dry food, herbs and spices, natural body care and more in a pleasant location. There's also a small chain of zero-waste shops simply dubbed Bezobalu.
As in other parts of Czechia you will also find a number of franchises of the German DM chemist's chain which will provide you with a good selection of organic dry goods and natural bodycare. Their own brands "DM Bio" (food) and "Alverde" (body care) are affordable even if your budget is tight.
In a meat-loving place like this I hoped to find an artisanal butcher's shop offering high-quality organic meat from ethical husbandry. The nearest I came is Naše maso ("Our meat") in Josefov (in the same boring mall like My Raw Cafe) which indeed is an artisanal butchery sourcing the animals from Czech farms keeping traditional breeds and using them from nose to tail -- but whether the animals are kept and slaughtered according to organic and animal-welfare principles I can't say (the shop was closed when I was there).
Eating out
If you found the Country Life grocery in the old town, Stare Mesto, head into the small alleyway to its left, where you find Prague's eldest still existing organic restaurant, the Restaurace Country Life. The interior resembles a typical Czech beer restaurant, and the place serves hearty Bohemian food indeed, however all vegetarian and dairy-free. Note that this self-service place -- just like the grocery -- is closed on Saturdays.
There is also an eatery on the premises of the Country life shop in Dejvice (Mind the quite restricted opening hours), and the convenience store in Jungmannova street will provide you with snacks.
Maybe as a result of the meat-centric Czech cuisine Czechia has a thriving raw-vegan community, with successful producers in this niche sector. In Prague there's a number of raw vegan cafes, one of them My Raw Cafe in Josefov, located in a rather uninviting new mall. Don't be fooled -- despite the deserted feel of this mall on a Sunday it's open every day. While the personnel is kind service was extremely slow: All food is prepared while you wait and this can take a while even when the space isn't filled to the brim. The food was made with quality ingredients, some of them organic, but supporting the health food cliche of vegan raw: my Thai soup wasn't spiced at all tasting like pure coconut milk with curcuma and a few veges. My favourite: the Bohemian-style avocado tartar with raw bread which was exactly as umami-sour as its properly made meat equivalent.
My favourite restaurant is located off the tourist tracks, in the neighbourhood of Nusle, east of the Vyšehrad viewpoint over both, the city and the Vitava river. In a street with nicely restored bourgeois houses and sett pavement you'll find Organic Sushi, run with love for pure, unadulterated food. The comforting sushi comes nicely arranged on granite plates and is of highest quality, perfectly accompanied by the home-made matcha lemonade. The place is located in the basement and pleasantly decorated in lounge-style, perfect for unagitated conversation with friends or a romantic evening out.
Restaurants in the Jewish quarter naturally cater towards the culturally interested touristic clientele, and among the finer dining restaurants I'd expect a certain usage of organic ingredients. Promises for organic meat and pasta I found on the menu of established kosher restaurant King Solomon offering meat-centric traditional Ashkenazi food (which I haven't tried so far) and (for organic meat) at La Veranda. The Italian and French inspired kitchen here uses regional ingredients and serves good-quality, though neither exceptional nor exciting cuisine. The service was satisfiying, the staff nice (though not especially knowledgeable) and since the restaurant was quite empty in the covid-19 summer of 2020 we had a generally pleasant dining experience. Unfortunately there were no organic drinks available.
Coffee and ice-cream
For the hip coffee bar cum ice-cream parlour head for one of the Puro shops in town who decidedly do not sell "zmrzlina" (ice-cream in Czech) but Italian-style "gelato". The one nearest to tourist tracks is located
two street corners from tube stop Staromestska, where you almost cannot miss the red-white checkered window front which hides a pastell-coloured self-service cafe. Queue, order, pay and pick up your certified kosher ice-cream made from organic milk.
A small scoop (one flavour) comes at 50 crowns, a medium one (two flavours) at 90 crowns.
If you ordered coffee drinks, milk shakes made with organic milk or cakes they will be served later on the seat you choose.
Coffee and chocolate unfortunately aren't organic, only certified by the Rainforest alliance, and it is not quite clear whether the shop also uses the
organic brown sugar which is on sale as the sugar served with the coffee is not organic.
Fair&Bio obchod in Florenc for a fairly traded, organic coffee drink. The place is a classical fair-trace shop offering dry food, sweets, coffee, tea and spices as well as handicraft made by co-operatives.
A small selection of organic ice-cream flavours can also be had from a franchise of the upmarket French ice-cream company Amorino in Malá Strana, e.g. after you decent from the castle.
More to try
During my research I found the following places that seemed likely to sell or serve at least partially organic food and drinks, but I did not have the time to check them out myself. If you do I'd appreciate if you let me know whether they actually do so!
Where to stay
Want to stay in an eco-conscious place and wake up to an organic breakfast? I have to disappoint you -- so far I haven't been able to spot a hotel or hostel that I full-heatedly can recommend. However, here are my learnings:
On their website the design hotel Josef in the city centre announces partially organic breakfast, but since I stayed there while covid-19 hygienic restrictions were in place I cannot report whether the regular breakfast buffet in the impersonal business breakfast room usually contains organic items. Breakfast was served instead at their newly renovated sister hotel Maximilian. Here nothing was organic, not even the eggs. When I asked for my cappucchino with organic milk I got one probably made with oat drink, but since I wasn't able to spot the package I cannot say for sure whether it actually was an organic variety -- for most people in Czechia the word "organic" seems to include conventional vegan. At the Josef hotel bar The Duke organic dry gin was the only organic option.
If you prefer to stay a little out of town Hotel Adalbert located in a former baroque monastery claims to be an eco hotel but confirmed not to serve any organic breakfast items.
Ask for it in the hope that customer demand may have the power for change.
Ceased to exist
The following places are temporarily closed, shut down or were replaced by other, not organic ones, and are listed here as you still find them on the web:
2021-01-03 13:00:02
[Prague, Praha, Prag, organic, vegetarian, vegan, kosher, zero_waste, cafe, grocery, supermarkets, coffee, ice-cream, snacks, lunch, bodycare, household, hotel, accommodation, eatery, covid, corona]
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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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Friday, 01 June 2018
Half an hour by local train from Abano Terme or about 40 minutes South of Padua the City of Rovigo (first mentioned about 800 ad) invites for a self-guided stroll or at least a visit to its main sight, the octagonal Church of the Rotonda. City life starts at 15:30 pm, and this is exactly the time when the church opens its door to visitors.
Ice-cream parlours
If you arrive earlier Gelateria
Fantasy Accademia comes to the rescue, a 100 percent organic ice-cream parlour.
A serving of ice-cream consists of two flavours, beautifully shaped into a heart, and comes at 2.50 EUR, but you can also have a single flavour on demand at 1.80 EUR. You can also mix a scoop of traditional ice-cream with a scoop of ice-cream mousse (the ricotta mousse -- contrary to the tiramisu one -- is a mouth-watering delight). Another original twist are the vegan ice-cream flavours made with olive oil. The gelateria also sells home-made iced lollies (ghiaccioli), brioches and crepes filled with ice-cream, granite (slushes), and, of course ice-cream cakes.
Fantasy Accademia in fact is the second branch of Fantasy Bio which opened in lieu of a gelateria with a longer history in town but currently is closed due to refurbishment.
Daily necessities
For food, fresh and dried, and other daily necessities head for the local branch of the fully organic NaturaSi supermarket chain.
For more organic body care, cosmetics, detergents and other bathroom items there's a small and well-assorted specialist shop in town, EcoSmile on the way from the train station to the city centre.
Eating out
I could not find any organic bar or eatery open during the day, but in the evening you may try
Pizzeria Mucho Gusto. They use organic flour for the pizza dough, and you can choose between four types: wheat, kamut, spelt and multi-grain. They also sell dry organic pasta for your home cooking. Instead of eating out you may phone in for pizza delivery, either here or at their second branch a little out of town which is delivery and take away only.
2018-06-01 05:30:04
[Rovigo, biologico, organic, vegan, ice-cream, supermarkets, grocery, bodycare, household, pizza]
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