Organic Bruneck/Brunico

On a long-distance bike tour like the one from Munich to Venice the challenge is not to know when you will arrive where. So upfront research on the net isn't an option unless you really have lots of time to spend on preparing the tour. So when we arrived in Bruneck at lunch time my backlist contained only one item, a small organic supermarket which not only was closed for the traditional Italian lunch break, but had closed for good a few monthes ago, in June 2022.

Luckily we found a branch of the South-Tyrolean delicatessen Pur Südtirol selling regional produce, a majority of certified organic quality. Everything is presented in style, there's an organic bakery till and one for cheese and (not organic) cold cuts. A few gravity bins allow customers to refill dry food (not organic as far as I could see); the fresh fruits and greens were all organic.

There's a nice self-serviced cafe corner offering a daily changing seasonal vegetarian main course. Since we wanted to have our bikes within eye-sight outdoor seating was the only option. Unfortunately all these tables were taken, so we decided to proceed our tour through the Puster valley and take with us rolls, which the friendly service staff filled with cheese and some greens while I was waiting.

Across the main street, Graben, a health-food shop, the Reformhaus Egger can help to complete supplies.

• Pur Südtirol, Herzog-Sigmund-Str./Via Duca Sigismondo 4/a, Mon–Fri(Sat) 7:30–19:15(14)
• Reformhaus Egger, Am Graben/Via Bastioni 26, Mon–Sat 8:45–12:30,Mon–Fri(Sat) 15–19(18)

More to try

• EMbio, Althingstr./Via Althing 41/a, Mon–Fri(Sat) 9–12:30(12),Mon–Fri 15–18

Closed

• Bio-Logisch, St. Lorenzner Str. 6/b

Organic Innsbruck: Eat and sleep

Innsbruck was a Saturday-to-Sunday overnight stop on the München-Venezia bike route, so this guide is far from complete! The only thing I can say for sure is that finding a (partially) organic place open on Sundays isn't easy.

My first impulse for an organic Sunday morning coffee was Cafe Crema in Welsergasse, a few steps from Landhausplatz, but the place turned out to be closed on Sundays. They promise to use a good deal organic produce from Tyrolean farmers. The coffee is only fairly traded, not organic. You may expect home-made cakes and a small range of savoury snacks for lunch or breakfast.

With option number two I was luckier: Although the Moustache looked like a decent (American-style) bar for an evening out and quite closed from its street address in the morning it turned out that the proper entrance was from Domsplatz, with pleasant outdoor seating. On Sunday mornings they do not serve the usual falafel and hummus sandwiches, but offer a generous brunch buffet, including very palatable hummus, pancakes and cake. About 90 percent of the food, so the promise goes, should be organic. Unfortunately I was too busy to try all the good stuff on the buffet that I completely forgot to scrutinise the bottles in the adjacent main room. But since the bar looked very well assorted I am sure the bartender will offer an organic gin or more if you ask.

More to try

I love food markets, and had I been in Innsbruck on a week- or Saturday I would have loved to have breakfast or lunch at the Klein und fein cafe in the Markthalle. Their lunch menu sports a mixture of international classics and Austrian dishes, predominantly vegetarian and made with local, often organic ingredients. They also offer ice-cream made from organic milk. Unfortunately the place is going to close mid of September, 2022. Whether their home-base shop is open to the public I cannot say, but it's certainly not a public restaurant.

As the original plan was to eat out late on Saturday night, I had the sister restaurant to the Salzburg burger grill Ludwig on my list. On Sundays the place is closed.

Next time I'll come to Innsbruck I hope to visit Oscar kocht, the vegetarian restaurant of a chef with Mexican roots promising to cook with predominantly organic ingredients. In summer 2022 Oscar wasn't here, and the female duo of Sloe was serving vegetarian/vegan dinner in this location, though not on Sundays.

When I checked for bicycle-friendly hotels on the München-Venezia bike route I found a hotel that I already had on my shortlist of overnight options offering at least partially organic breakfast: the Hotel Schwarzer Adler. Unfortunately our budget wasn't prepared for the price tag they called for that night (more than 300 EUR for the double room), and so the place remains unreviewed here. (The night was spent in a hostel offering organic tea and plant-based drink – not enough to qualify for this post.)

• Moustache, Herzog-Otto-Str. 8, Tue–Sat(Mon) 10(16)–2
• Crema, Maria-Theresien-Str. 49a, Tue–Sat 9–15
• Klein und fein inside Markthalle, Herzog-Siegmund-Ufer 1-3, breakfast/brunch: Mon–Fri(Sat) 9–11:30(13), shop/catering service: Maria-Theresien-Str. 42a, likely Mon–Fri 10–17
• Ludwig, Museumsstr. 3, Mon–Sat 11–22
• Oskar kocht/Sloe, Defreggerstr. 21, Tue–Sat 19–22
• Schwarzer Adler, Kaiserjägerstr. 2

Verona: Organic cafes, restaurants and eateries

Meat-lovers, be brave in Verona: All the places I found serving organic food are vegetarian or even vegan.

Piu Gusto Bio offers organic breakfast, health food for lunch as well as coffee and cake. They have outdoor seating on the main street, so unless the corona virus forces you to avoid closed rooms it's nicer to sit inside in the pleasantly decorated air-conditioned cafe. For lunch there are tasty sandwiches and daily changing plates with wholefood preparations inspired by the suggestions of the Havard School of Public Health for a healthy eating plate. Around 2pm choice was limited, but the broiled zucchini and fennel, the aubergine-bean mixture and the falafel-style bean balls were very nice and not as bland as health food often uses to be. All food is vegetarian, most of it vegan. While the coffee was nice (well, it's Italy after all), the chocolate cake was dry and crumbly.

More to try

Satisfied there was no need to proceed to the Ziga bar north of the Adige river, in the neighbourhood of Borgo Trento which promises a little more elaborated vegetarian, though only partially organic lunch and dinner, natural wines and organic beer.

For vegan sweets, coffee, a soup or savoury snack I have Dulcamara bakery cum self-service day cafe on my list, but my time between two trains did not allow for more than one lunch and an ice-cream.

For vegan organic pizza and pasta try La Laterna. Their signature dish is bigoli (thick "spaghetti-like" pasta) alla carbonara, and I'm curious how they interpret this rather un-vegan recipe in a vegan style.

• Piu Gusto Bio, Stradone Porta Palio, 36, Mon–Fri(Sat) 7:30(9)–15 until end of September, Sat closed in August
• Ziga, Via IV Novembre, 1/B, daily 11–15:30, 19–22:30
• Dulcamara, Via Francesco Berni 7, Tue–Sat 9–15
• La Lanterna, Piazzetta Portichetti 6, daily 12:30–15, 19–23

Probably closed

Some years ago I found the following pizzeria in Borgo Trento on the web, but all references to opening hours have been gone, so I suppose that the place shut down:

• Pizza al Tòcco, Via Giuseppe Cesare Abba, 13, formerly Tue–Sat 11–14, Tue–Sun 18–22

Munich: (Partially) organic burger grills

Burger restaurants have been trending for years, and there's still no end in sight. Most of them advertise with buzzwords like hand-made, home-made, regional and vegan, and often the quality is ways better than in the standardized mass production of American chains. But to tell greenwashing from honest interest in healthier and sustainable food the patties are key – are they made from organic meat or vegetables?

The organic burger pioneer in Munich was Cosmo-Grill opposite the Bayrische Staatsoper opera house. Tucked away in the the basement of a backyard you entered a Startrek like spaceship. Unfortunately quality and the percentage of organic ingredients diminished with the years, and the place disappeared in 2019.

In 2022 the second oldest organic burger place is Holy Burger in Haidhausen disappeared which successfully took over a location with a long history of serving organic lunch near Bordeauxplatz. I hope its sucessor won't break with the tradition of serving organic food at this address.

The Holy Burger founders separated around 2018, and the Neuhausen Holy Burger branch changed its name to Goldene Rakete. The "golden rocket" started with three branches, with the flagship decorated with film posters in 70-ies style in Glockenbachviertel: Before corona this place was crowded and almost painfully noisy even on weekday evenings – don't come here if you actually want to converse with friends. The place does not only serve burgers (where it still sticks more or less to the Holy Burger menu), but also bowls, and salads. All meat, the seitan and chickpeas patties as well as the milk for the coffee drinks are organic. Unsurprisingly they also offer fashionable home-made lemonades (not organic). If you are in the mood for wine, gin and tonics you have organic options which are clearly marked "bio" on the menu. In addition the Aqua Monaco soft drinks and the Mondino vermouth are organic, too. On weekends the Glockenbach branch also offers breakfast.

• Goldene Rakete, Fraunhofer Str. 39, Sun–Thu(Fri–Sat) 11:30–24(2), Sat–Sun 9:30–15, during covid-19 daily 12–14:30,17–21
• Goldene Rakete, Ursulastr. 3, Mon–Thu(Fri–Sat) 12–23(24), Sun 15–22, during covid-19 daily 12–14:30,17–21
• Goldene Rakete, Schulstr. 2, Sun–Thu(Fri–Sat) 11:30–23(24), during covid-19 daily 12–14:30,17–21

Closed

• Cosmogrill, Maximilianstr. 10 (entrance via Falkenturmstr.
• Holy Burger, Wörthstr. 7

Organic Esslingen: Eat & sleep

Ever wanted to stay in a bicycle-friendly hotel that produces its electricity itself with its own water power plant? Surrounded by the Esslingen university campus on the entrance side and the Hammerkanal, a side channel of the Neckar river, at the back the EcoInn makes a perfect over-night stop for cyclists on the Neckar valley bicycle route running from Mannheim to Villingen-Schwenningen. It is not only a sustainably driven hotel (with many certificates and memberships in organisations for the common good), but, for groups and families, also offers its services as a eco hostel at special conditions on request.

For my stay I got a basic, easy to (steam-)clean room in the part of the house which probably is given to hostel guests, painted with organic colours and decorated with a climate-neutral photo wallpaper. Despite its austerity the room, among others due to the absence of synthetic carpets and cushions and the use of healthy, sustainable materials felt comfy and welcoming. The towels are made from organic cotton.

Unfortunately the breakfast is not fully organic: You can have organic eggs, tea (though no green variety), chocolate and fruit spread, bread, milk and soy yoghurt, inside or on an outdoor terrace over the Neckar channel.

The hotel does not have a regular restaurant but welcomes external guests for breakfast and opens a pop-up buffet restaurant every third Friday of a month: The vegetarian Delicantina partially uses organic ingredients, though the overall focus is on regional produce.

In general city life seems to begin on Wednesdays in Esslingen: When I came hereMonday through Tuesday with a small itinerary of partially organic (day) cafes, I found most of them closed, so unfortunately all descriptions below (except for one) are based on upfront research and a view from the outside, confirming the existance and general appearance of the place.

Prior to arrival, I was especially looking forward to have organic coffee and cake or tart at Fräulein Margot, and indeed, on another day of the week it would probably have been fun to watch passers-by in the pedestrian area.

Second on my list was the day cafe Entenmanns on Rathausplatz, an organically certified place offering salads, bowls, and Swabian Maultaschen. This filled local pasta originally is a vegetarian dish, at times using left-overs of Sunday meat. Locals lovingly refer to it as "Herrgottsb'scheißerle" ("little Lord God's fuck over"). The name refers to when the meat-containing version was eaten during the meat-prohibit of lent. I would have loved to have this dish here, simply to do justice to it as its inferior (and throughout Germany omnipresent) industrial version comes with highly processed usually industry-meat based fillings. Much of the ingredients they use at Entenmanns are produce of their own market garden which currently is in the conversion period to certified organic agriculture.

To the rescue on Mondays and Tuesdays comes Brot & Cafe. However, don't expect gourmet coffee from this self-service eatery to the right of the Naturgut: Despite the separate entrance it also serves as the supermarket's bakery till. Given the vicinity to the university campus I expected to see a lot of students, but as the campus itself seemed deserted (probably due to pandemic online courses) the cafe was, too.

Since the reason of my stay didn't leave me with the opportunity to eat out on my own I did not have time to try one of the first organically certified restaurants in the greater Stuttgart region, simply dubbed Kitchen. Wholeheartedly catering to both, omnivores, vegetarians, and vegans using predominantly regional produce according to the season, they also describe themselves as zero-waste supporters. So I really would have loved to eat out here (or in their sister restaurant in Böblingen) – if you have the chance let me know about what you think.

• EcoInn, Kanalstr. 14–16
• Delicantina inside EcoInn, Kanalstr. 14–16 , every 3rd Fri of a month 17:30–20:30
• Fräulein Margot, Unterer Metzgerbach 14 , Wed–Sat(Sun) 9–18(17)
• Brot & Cafe , Adlerstr. 6 (inside Alte Feuerwache), Mon–Fri(Sat) 8–20(18)
• Entenmanns, Rathausplatz 6 , Wed–Sun 9:30–18
• Kitchen, Neckarstr. 7 , Mon–Thu(Fri–Sat) 17–22(23)