Friday, 03 January 2025
A university city and a cultural hotspot in Norway it does not come as a surprise that Trondheim has a number of places to source
organic and eco-conscious products. However,
although the availability of organic products had been increasing
in the years before the covid-19 pandemics, the political will to foster planet-friendly consumation is low. As a consequence it requires a lot of individual effort to plan every-day life in the city if you want to restrict yourself to organic and sustainable food and goods.
Many inhabitants get some of their organic groceries (if omnivore also their meat) from market gardens, community-supported agriculture or farm subscription schemes, but since I do not live here this is beyond the focus of this blog.
Organic groceries and general stores
There's only one all-organic grocery left in town, and a farmer's shop offsite the usual tourist tracks, both crammed and pleasant if you like small owner-run shops, with friendly shop assistants who usually have time for a chat. Both of them have been here for many years, with ups and downs, sometimes at the edge of bankruptcy. You may expect to find all types of dry and a good selection of canned food, all you need to fill your store cupboard, sweets, natural body care and sustainable cleaning products. If available fresh fruits and vegetables are not pre-packaged in plastics.
For fresh food head for the city's organic pioneer, the Helios convenience store in Prinsens gate. At the end of 2016 the shop closed down but was taken over by new owners immediately and is now as reliable as before. You will find all daily necessities – food, toiletry, detergents etc. – in organic quality, including frozen pizza, ice-cream, unhomogenised fresh milk and Norwegian caramelized brown cheese. The frozen "lefser", Norwegian "pancakes" topped with butter, cinnamon and sugar and folded together, are not organic but nevertheless worth trying – simply defrost and enjoy.
Outside the city centre, a few minutes from the Rotvoll trainstation,
you find a small organic farm shop cum general store, the
Rotvoll Landhandel. It's part of the antroposophically driven Camphill village and biodynamic farm, an inclusive project of people with and without disabilities. The shop in a small farm house with light and wooden interior does not only sell products produced on the farm (among others tasty organic juices, cookies, bread and textiles), but also offers all you need of organic dry food, sweets and preserves, both of Nordic, European and international origin as well as detergents and body care. There's a freezer with bread and rolls of the village bakery and a fridge with dairy products, occasionally also meat. During the harvest season there may be fresh organic vegetables, too.
Make sure to have sufficient cash with you as the card reader refuses cards issued by foreign banks (at least none of mine were accepted, an issue often experienced in smaller shops in Norway, probably due to a
restricted service subscription).
Farmers' market
At Trondhjem torv a farmers' market, Bondens marked is being held every second week on Saturday. Local small scale farmers sell their produce, but it takes a little effort to find the organic ones.
Bakeries
None of the above mentioned organic groceries are what you would call economic success stories, some of them were even about to shut down in the past. Likely the biggest economic success in the Norwegian organic sector is Godt Brød, a bakery which started here in town, as of today with three cafes cum bread shops in town. There's also a artisanal bakery, Isaks, attached to Sellanraa bar using organic ingredients.
Organic food at conventional food retailers
In conventional supermarkets you cannot expect to find all you need in organic quality, usually you will have to shop in different supermarkets and see what you are able to buy. Moreover organic vegetables are often wrapped in plastics, to
separate them from conventual produce.
At the beginning of the century
the (now) Meny hypermarket Solsiden offered an impressive range of organically certified food seen with Norwegian eyes. However, there has not been any noteworthy increase for the past years, and there's no effort to guide you towards organic products.
In Coop supermarkets watch out for the Änglamark own brand (see also here), in Rema shops for Kolonihagen, but most supermarkets do not stock more than a very basic selection, with the notable exception of Coop Mega shops like the one in the Sirkus shopping mall at the Strindheim bus hub where I found such exotic products as organic aubergines, cream, not homogenised milk and lime.
To avoid green-washed products and misleading marketing while cherry-picking through supermarkets check for the "økologisk" keyword and organic labelling (mainly Debio, KRAV and the European organic label, but you will also find Soil Association and USDA certificates). Dairy products by Røros meieriet, meat products by Grødstad Gris (though no longer certified organic as this decreased their ability to sell their products), ice-cream and beer from Reins Kloster, "Helios" and "Manna" products as well as "Go green" grains and pulses are all safe. Some of them can also be found in Sunkost or Life healthfood shops.
Permanently closed
Before the covid-19 pandemics there were two cosy special shops offering organic
body care and wool products, but unfortunately none of them survived. Neither did the city's ethical and zero-waste pioneer Etikken, later known as Zana which was run as non-profit association.
2025-01-03 15:35:00
[Trondheim, organic, fair, vegetarian, vegan, grocery, market, supermarkets]
[direct link · table of contents]
Organic supermarkets may introduce a larger audience to sustainable organic produce and thus spare the environment, but do not necessarily help to reduce the amount of one-way packaging, save plastics. As a conscious consumer you will without doubt prefer non-prepackaged fruit and veges, available from all organic groceries, supermarkets and market boothes, and hand your bag over the bakery counter, making it verbally clear that you do not need a paper bag, to avoid paper waste when buying bread and rolls.
You're also safe if you restrict your shopping of dairy products, juices and soft drinks to returnable glass bottles. Some organic shops (such as Vollcorner) offer a small selection of wine in deposit bottles. Since 2021 we also have seen the gradual arrival of dry food, preserves and spreads in returnable glasses formerly only used for yogurts.
Starting in 2017 the more dedicated organic supermarket chains have been introducing measures to reduce packaging and allow customers to bring their own containers to fill with selected goods.
Unless stated otherwise all shops mentioned in this post will help you out with clean and empty reusable glass jars or organic cotton bags which you – depending on the shop – can either buy or lend if you forgot to bring your own.
Package-free food and household necessities
Early in 2016 the city's first crowd-funded vegetarian zero-waste supermarket Ohne ("without") opened its doors, followed by a
second branch early in 2019. End of June 2023
this became history: The insolvency, following the closing of other independent
owner-run package-free supermarkets earlier that year, left the Eastern,
Northern and central neighbourhoods without a place to effortlessly replenish
store cupboards without producing package waste.
Gone the days of the pandemic spring and summer of 2020 when zero-waste groceries were blooming in town: Approximately at the same time as the Westend got its (now closed) neighbourhood shop, Servus Resi opened in Obersendling right before the lockdown in March 2020, in a non-descript middle of no-where near the Siemenswerke former industrial area. Don't let you fool by the uninviting environment at a noisy car road – what you'll find here is a busy neighbourhood gem nicely furnished in light wood, with a superb selection of dried herbs and spices aside the usual dry food, and a nicely arranged selection of household items. The greengrocery section is rather limited – local organic apples and potatoes in late autumn 2020 –, and there are no dairy or other food requiring cooling, but the shop offers both, liquid body care products and household chemicals from refill stations. Everything is supervised by the friendly shop-owner, Chrissy (not Resi) herself, and if you wish to get in touch with people from the neighbourhood take the burden to come here even from other parts of town.
In Laim Nebenan unverpackt ("package-free next door") followed in summer 2020. The latter is organised as a co-operative (though the location next to a co-operative bank is purely accidental) and sports a
small neighbourhood coffee place. They offer a very good selection of dry food, fresh fruit and veges, but less dried herbs and spices and no spirits. You can however buy wine and their selction of condiments and preserves in one-way glasses have the effect that you can do all the regular daily shopping here in one place if you don't come with more advanced expectations.
Half a year earlier, in January, 2020 another
co-operative, Deine Alternative ("your alternative") in Zorneding, opened on the premises of the former Raiffeisen co-operative bank, just a few steps from the urban train station.
When you get inside you will however immediately forget about its past as a bank, the shop is carefully and pleasantly decorated, with wooden furniture and equipped with a proper Italian coffee machine for a break in between. Most of the often local produce sold here is organically certified or at minimum sustainably produced, though it would be nice if conventional loose-weight products were clearly marked. In addition to the gravity bins and containers with dry food there's a decent selection of dried herbs and spices, sweets, bread, some confectionery, a small selection of fresh organic greens and veges, cheese and milk from the Nirschlhof organic farm (but interestingly enough no whole-meal flour or oils, vinegars or spirits by the litre). In a separate room you can buy toiletries, household chemicals and items supporting a zero-waste lifestyle. Everyone is welcome, but members of the co-operative pay less.
North of Zorneding, in the municipality of Poing, the co-operative
Bunte Bohne ("coloured/colourful bean") with its zero-waste supermarket cum cafe is facing a hard time as of June, 2023. Visit and support the place while you still can.
The neighbourhood of Trudering (a more than 1200 years old former village and suburb in the Eastern part of Munich) does not have a dedicated zero waste supermarket, but twice a month, on Tuesday afternoons, an indoor farmer's market dubbed Tante Trude ("Auntie Trudie") keeps popping up in the neighborhood associations' offices. Organic farmers offer local produce, and you can donate to the Trudelade project: home-cooked jam made from abandoned fruit trees in the neighbourhood (you'll get a jar as reward).
South-South-West of Munich, the city of Wolfratshausen (the endpoint of the S7 urban train) likewise sports a package-free shop centrally located at the Obermarkt market place: Ohnverpackt, another zero-waste shop opening within the corona lockdown in the spring of 2020,
is even certified organic. The few conventional products of regional origin are clearly marked as an exception. It does not only offer the usual dry food and household chemicals, but also a good selection of cheese and antipasti. What you won't find are fresh fruits and veges, meat and sausages.
There's a small day cafe, unfortunately all closed on Mondays.
South of Munich, directly located at the S-Bahn station of Neubiberg the owner of the conventional Edeka supermarket opened a side project next door,
Hertscheck Unpacked which hopefully attracts people who usually wouldn't buy off the conventional supermarket tracks.
Although not marked most of the unpackaged dry food is organic – the shop assistant explained that since the shop itself isn't certified but fills the gravity bins and glass jars from bigger packages it isn't allowed to declare the products as "bio". There's also a good selection of loose-weight natural body care (both, in solid and liquid form) and household chemistry from brands I haven't found elsewhere. You can refill organic gin and regional (though not organic) whisky. The highlight of the shop are grow cabinets with special lamps where a good selection of herbs is grown, naturally free from agrochemicals. For city dwellers the place most certainly is worth
a bicycle ride (through the beautiful eco park Umweltgarten Neubiberg where an organic farmer's market is held on Thursday afternoons) or urban train tour even though the place has less liberal opening hours than the conventional supermarket next door.
Fun fact: The former premises of the Edeka supermarket now host a Vollcorner organic supermarket.
In smaller municipalities, (urban) train stations usually are the only public (and sustainable) transport hub and as such a natural place for zero-waste supermarkets. So I was glad to find a new (in 2022) co-operatively organised organic zero-waste supermarket in Unterföhrung, next to the S-Bahn train station. The shop dubbed
UFG (short for "unverpackt, fair, gemeinsam" – "unpacked, fair, together")
is open to everyone, with a 10 percent discount scheme for members.
It does not only offer dry food, condiments and household items, but also bread, rolls, cakes, dairy products and fresh, predominantly local fruits and veges. On Thursday afternoons you also may buy local organic meat and sausages, cheese and other fresh artisanal organic products from a mobile booth of the Tagwerk co-operative.
There's a small lunch cafe offering organic soups, quiches and sandwiches as well as cereal bowls, coffee, smoothies, tea and cake, all vegetarian, often vegan. Unfortunately you have to register with an app service to take your food with you in a returnable bowl or box, and nevertheless may have to come back to the shop to return it. So better bring your own boxes.
Plastic-free household
In March 2019 a tiny neighbourhood shop specializing in natural home cleaning opened in the Glockenbach neighbourhood: At Abgefüllt & unverpackt ("bottled and unpacked") the singer of the Munich-based band "Cat Sun Flower" warmly welcomes customers and passers-by and helps to (re)fill empty bottles with organic liquid household detergents. At the time of writing this shop was the only one in Munich selling washing powder by weight. In addition there are eco-friendly dishwasher tabs, body and hair soaps, fairly traded natural facecream in returnable glasses, towels, as well as upcycled and fairly traded bags and toiletry accessories.
Supermarket chains
In autumn 2016 the local Vollcorner
supermarkets received an official permit by the Munich Department of Public Order (Kreisverwaltungsreferat) to fill customers' jars and boxes with
cheese, antipasti, processed meat products or cake. The Basic supermarket chain followed in summer 2017, while independent convenience stores often had done so anyway. What's missing are customers bringing appropriate containers or at least asking
the staff to fill their orders into returnable glass jars (Vollcorner, Lebascha and others) or stainless steel containers (Basic) provided by the shop itself. So be brave!
To avoid misunderstandings it is advisable to clearly point to your box (or ask for the deposit container) before placing your order at the sales counter and tell the staff to tape the receipt to it. Otherwise you may end up not sparing any waste: In the beginning the staff at the Basic butcher's disk would use the sheet of plastic-covered paper they'd usually wrap the purchase with to hand it over to you, along with the receipt taped onto the paper bag they otherwise would have used as outer packaging. In the mean time they got used to the procedure but were ordered to decline customer requests to buy meat this way. Since they started to provide stainless steel boxes for a deposit of 7 EUR there's however no excuse for one-way packaging here anymore. Artisanal organic butcher's shops will also fill meat into boxes you provide. The Herrmannsdorfer groceries (e.g. the one at Max-Weber-Platz) reward you with a few cents discount per saved packaging.
Until the end of 2022 Basic supermarkets had gravity bin dispensers for pasta, nuts, dried fruit, sweets, grains and more which all disappeared in the course of the company's
insolvency and take-over by the "teGut" chain. Package-free offerings at the remaining "Basic" branches are reduced to fruits and vegetables as well as food from the serviced bakery and butchers' counters.
The shops of the nation-wide operating Alnatura chain never offered refill dispensers. However, it has been increasing the range of products in returnable jars and bottles continously since 2021 – among others fairly traded nut butters, a number of dry products and even ketchup.
A small selection of dried fruits and nuts in refundable glasses as well as package-free toilet paper can be obtained from Vollcorner supermarkets. Their huge flagship store at Theresienwiese (with butcher's counter and lunch cafe) also experimented with a milk vending machine and a dedicated shelf offering all sorts of products in deposit glasses, but both efforts were discontinued due to low customer demand.
By the end of 2020 a number of conventional supermarket chains had introduced refill stations for dry food, too, but since you still have to do a lot of careful reading in front of the shelves to shop climate-friendly products, I won't mention them here, with one exception: the huge Tegut branch that opened in the Elisenhof shopping centre next to the main train station
in December 2020. This supermarket chain gives their customers a choice – all organic products are easily to recognise thanks to a light-green label on the shelves, and there's a great number of them in all product categories. Given the sheer number of products on sale the impressive refill rack at the left-hand side of the entrance aisle comprises only a negligible fraction of total sales, but it's a good start, and the best: All products in the gravity bins are organic. Come here for the biggest selection of package-free organic chocolate-covered sweets I've come across so far. There are grains, cereals, nuts, dried fruit, legumes and sweets, but no flour and surprisingly almost no pasta.
Although the supermarket has its entrance next to the Sunday-open (and if you ask me generally more pleasant) organic supermarket Biokultur in the Hauptbahnhof basement Tegut is closed on Sundays and public holidays as well as in the evening. When you have at minimum half an hour to change trains you will however reach to refill some of your dry food containers as long as you know how it works: Put your box onto the scales and choose "Tara-Bon". This will print a label. Fill the box and remember the product id on the lower end of the gravity bin. Put the filled box back on the scales and press the second "Bon" button beneath the "Tara-Bon" button. Now you will be asked to type in the product id. Scan the bar code on the previously printed label with the hand scanner, and there you go: A receipt with a price tag will be printed for you. Seal your box with this second label and hurry up to the cash counter.
Neighbourhood groceries
In Haidhausen the Lebascha neighbourhood grocery has been offering to fill all loose-weight products (cakes and bread, eggs, cheeses, olives, jelly gums and liquorice – note that the latter is not organic) in bottles, jars and boxes customers brought along. When the shop was taken over by the Ökoesel co-operative dispensers for grains, nuts and the like as well as household chemicals were added, and you can
buy all types of dried herbs and spices by the gram.
Ask for a deposit box in case you forgot to bring your own.
For home-made dried fruit stroll a few more steps down the street and see whether the Haidhauser Oase is open.
Household chemicals can be refilled at the Echt Bio Markt in Neuschwabing and at the Biochicco supermarket in the Au near Mariahilf-Platz. At the latter you can only refill original bottles of the Sonett label.
In Harlaching, the
independent Biowelt supermarket has a small zero-waste corner with dispensers for dry food, a good selection of loose-weight dried fruit and a dairy and butchers' counter where you can hand over your containers.
Farmers' markets
Once, sometimes twice a week farmers' markets are installed in many Munich neighbourhoods. Loose fruits and veges prevail here, and boothes selling organic produce (watch carefully for "bio" and "demeter" logos) will usually fill bread, cakes and pastries, antipasti, meat and dairy products into the containers you present. Notably at the boothes of the Tagwerk co-operative and the Hofbäckerei Steingraber you may be surprised to see that you're not the only one coming with her own boxes and jars.
On Saturday mornings you can find them next to the West-facing entry of Mariahilf church, in the neighbourhood of Au. Before the covid-19 pandemics all boothes (except the French fish monger) in the market block next to the church, right below the carillon, were organic,
but now it's no longer that easy. Therefore a comprehensive list: There are three organic market gardens (Biogärtnerei an der Isen alias Avanti Andi, Demeterhof Fahrenzhausen alias O'is bio and a third one also selling flowers and seedlings which you will immediately recognise when greeted with a friendly French accent). Put differently: Simply avoid the biggest greengrocery booth, "Helminger".
For meat, sausages, cheese and other dairy products there are the aforementioned two producers, and in addition the farm sale of Bergwinklhof Monigottsöd. The latter also offers a small selection of wine, but for good and knowledgeable advise on wines or non-alcoholic drinks to accompany a meal you'll better pay a visit to Uli Scheffler's organic wine trader's booth. While the juices are readly available in deposit bottles, returnable wine bottles are still very rare, and not used for high-quality wines.
If you feel adventurous on Thursday afternoons take the urban train S7 in direction Aying/Höhenkirchen-Siegertsbrunn/Kreuzstraße (or a bike ride) to the suburb of Neubiberg and pay a visit to the communal organic market on the pleasant premises of the Umweltgarten eco park, a true oasis within ugly suburbanity, with a small zoo, popular not only among kids. On Thursdays there's also an all-day market at Rotkreuzplatz. As on Mariahilfsplatz about half the boothes here are organic, though scattered all over the market area, with a cluster in direction Nymphenburger Straße.
Needless to say that the organic boothes on the famous Viktualienmarkt in the Munich city will happily support you when you make it clear that you want to use your own bags and containers. And the spring of 2021 did not only see the opening of an organic bakery in one of the solid market stalls in the northern part of the market, but also a tiny organic food shop for organic dry food grown and produced in the nearby Chiemgau region:
Satt und gut ("full and good") sells staple foods like grains, flour, eggs, honey and oil but also cookies, both pre-packaged and loose weight, partially from the smallest gravity bins I've seen so far. Note that this shop, unlike the market itself, is closed on Mondays
In Zorneding a small farmers' market is being held every Friday on the premises of the Biohof Lenz organic farm. Here you can buy local organic meat and meat products, cheese, bread, veges, and occasionally honey and bee products, wines and spirits. Although most stalls are organic there are a few exceptions offering conventionally produced specialities. The Lenz family's own farm shop keeps open at the same time and on Saturdays, but for buying their exceptionally good meat you should subscribe to their newsletter and order beforehand according to availability (you should be fast to answer). Unfortunately all the Lenz meat and sausages are vacuumized in plastic.
At the Western edge of town, in Pasing the organic market garden of Bio-Gärtnerei Kamlah has a farm shop open on Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons. You can not only buy salads and vegetables grown here but also organic seedlings for your balcony or garden patch. The farm has also a market stall at the Pasinger Viktualienmarkt which keeps open all days except Sunday offering a huge selections of organic fruit and veges, but no seedlings.
Tea shops
While coffee is readily available from
loose weight convenience stores, tea drinkers aren't well catered for: Usually you will find some tisanes and one or two types of black tea. Fortunately specialist tea shops still exist, and as they sell loose weight teas by the gram don't be shy and ask them to fill your tea box.
In the
Tee Gschwendner shop in the Asamhof backyard a few meters from the new pedestrian street of Sendlinger Straße this will work as long as the opening of your jar or box is wide enough for the shop assistant to fill it without touching it with her shovel. The franchise also sells conventional fare, so make sure to insist on organic quality – "Bio-Qualität" is the keyword. You'll find a decent selection of both, green, black and herbal teas, with and without aromatics. Bring a little time to stroll through the light and pleasant shop that has been at this place since the 1980ies, ask the assistant to show and suggest teas according to your taste and tell a little detail. When all your teas are filled into your jars you will be asked whether you fancy a tea sample, so it is smart to bring an additional small glass or jar.
Mind you that green tea doesn't store well in classic metal tea boxes as this material supports further oxidation processes.
In spring 2022 it turned out to be difficult to buy loose-weight organic flavoured tea as compliance to the EU regulation 2018/848 on organic products had not been established in time.
Coffee and food to take away
An increasing number of coffee places you may lend a Recup coffee cup for a deposit which you can return at any other shop participating in the retour scheme.
Some like the Neulinger bakeries will even give you a small discount for sparing the environment.
Most of the eateries reviewed here will fill your food into the boxes you provide for take-away as long as you make this clear before they start their usual routine which still means one-way packaging. Sushi to take away is available from Sushiya, and they will happily accept your bento boxes with your order.
Closed
- Beauty & Nature, Westenrieder Str. 35 (organic fashion, household items and body care, with a range of refill and minimally packaged products; there's a branch left in Leipzig)
- Der plastikfreie Laden, Schlossstr. 7 (Munich's first zero-waste shop, also known as "Plastikfreie Zone", now online only)
- Mutternaturladen, Grünwalder Str. 244
- Mutternaturladen, Tumblinger Str. 45 (inside the Bahnwärter Thiel area
- Ohne, Schellingstr. 42
- Ohne Haidhausen, Rosenheimer Str. 85
- Naturverpacktes Westend Pur, Heimeranstr. 51a
- Evis – ab ins Glas, Pollinger Str. 11, Gilching
- Lela Lose, Freisinger Str. 3, Erding
2025-01-03 12:30:00
[Munich, Neubiberg, Erding, Gilching, Poing, Trudering, Unterfoehring, Wolfratshausen, Zorneding, Leipzig, Au, Haidhausen, Harlaching, Laim, Maxvorstadt, Pasing, Westend, organic, vegetarian, zero_waste, unverpackt, cafe, grocery, market, supermarkets, lunch, bakeries, butcher, tea, bodycare, household, sushi, wine]
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Friday, 27 September 2024
As almost all West-German small towns with an intact historic centre Witzenhausen has both, a health food shop in the tradition of the Lebensreform movement at the beginning of the 20th century (the
Reformhaus "Schön und gesund"), and
a Weltladen fair-trade shop driven by volunteers.
But there's also a traditional organic corner shop offering all you need for food, household, hygiene and recreational treats: the
Schachtelhalm (German for "horsetail", the plant). Unfortunately I arrived too late a Saturday to catch more than a glimpse from the outside.
The local brewery, Schinkel, a start-up of the university milieu, was Hesse's first organic brewery, but to date only a few of their beers are certified organic. You can get (and taste) them at the brewery's own salespoint,
Schinkels Biershop.
Unterrieden
If you come to Witzenhausen on the Werratalradweg from Bad Sooden-Allendorf the bicycle route is running through the village Unterrieden, a part of Witzenhausen on the Eastern side of the river Werra right before the river turns to the West. On the main road through Unterrieden, the Ludwigsteinstraße, you'll find no less than three farm shops, described here from South to North.
The farm shop of the
Absatzgenossenschaft Unterrieden (AGU), a co-operative of both, organic and conventional farms in the village famous for its cherries, offers a wide range of locally produced food and beverages: fresh greens, sausages, cheese, bread, honey, preserves, fruit juices, wines and spirits. Only a fraction of it is organically certified, and unfortunately you cannot tell how much inorganic fertilisers and poisonous pest control has been used to produce products missing a certificate. When I asked about bread and rolls the shop keeper told me that the bakery had been organic in the past, but since the baker retired the products have been coming from the only remaining artisanal bakery in town. Some of the (fruit) wines and honey definitely sport the European organic label.
The AGU shop also stocks organic jams and spreads of
Knofi & so ("garlic and such") in very small glasses, perfect as a small gift. The label belongs to a community of passionate market gardeners with a focus on direct trade. They are operating a small manufactory and market boothes. The one in Ludwigsteinstraße is unmanned, with an honesty box to put your money in. When I was there in August there were lovely tomatoes, but when I returned in September the booth was temporarily put down, so I suspect it is there only when excess greens are available. The "Knofis" also offer basic guest rooms for cyclists and backpackers.
Poultry lovers must not miss the poultry butcher's shop
Frischgeflügel Roth. Unfortunately the shop is open only two days a week and was on vacation when I was there, so the vending machine in front of the shop was empty, too. The butcher co-operates with almost all organic poultry farms in the region.
2024-09-27 16:00:00
[Witzenhausen, Werratalradweg, organic, fair, coffee, supermarkets, grocery, accommodation, breweries, butcher, farms]
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Thursday, 26 September 2024
While thriving during the covid-19 pandemics, package-free supermarkets have been facing hard times thereafter, and in big cities with high rents we've seen a wave of shop closings.
Even the beautiful grocery Wunderbar unverpackt ("Wonderfully devoid of packaging") which opened in May 2018 wasn't able to survive and closed for good in 2023.
To refill dry food supplies from gravity bins pay a visit to the Naturalia grocery at Wöhlerplatz, a traditional crammed organic corner shop which offers a small assortment of dry food (pasta, cereals, nuts, rice and the like) in self-service dispensers. Apart from this eggs, bakery items, fruits, veges and cheese can be taken home in your own jars and bags. In addition the place is also a tea shop – so bring your tea boxes for refill. If you stay in town for a longer period of time consider to collect stamps on the Göttingen Climate Card ("Klima-Karte") here each time you use your own bag or box. When you collect 16 stamps from a number of (not necessarily organic) shops, market boothes and restaurants in town you will be rewarded with a climate-positive goodie bag and earn support for climate projects in town.
The shop-keeper seems to run a small farm herself as she asks for apologies in case she'd appear in the shop past 10 am, to help sheep giving birth.
The second organic grocery to collect Climate Card stamps from is the Bioladen an der Burgstraße, a dedicated anti-fascist neighbourhood grocery next to Cafe Inti. A few years ago this cosy full-retailer replaced a
branch of an organic bakery based in Klein Lengden with shops both there and in Göttingen, delivering to many organic markets in the greater region. The Sunday-open place has the air of a traditional organic corner shop and makes an extra effort to offer products packaged in returnable glasses, among others wine gums. More liquorice and jellies can be bought by the piece, and together with the cheese and bakery counter (which fills about half of the entire location), the racks with fruit and veges and the dairy products and drinks in deposit glasses and bottles my estimate is that more than half of the goods can be bought without disposable packaging. You can fetch a coffee in your own mug or a deposit cup.
The shop also has an innovative approach to keep away wasps from ripe fruits: small trays filled with over-ripe fruit juice on a window sill a little apart from the entrance attract the insects which are occupied there as long as you don't disturb them.
The second and much larger organic supermarket in the inner city belongs to the
Alnatura chain. Although it doesn't have an explicit focus on zero waste the staff at the bakery cum cheese counter is happy when you come with your own boxes and bags, and there's a good selection of products in deposit glasses and bottles. There are no cafe tables and chairs, but you can take out coffee drinks and tea (in deposit mugs) and choose from a great selection of sandwiches. Even in the evening hours you will usually still find a sandwich.
Geismar and Diemarden
The Gemüseladen in the Western suburb of Geismar, near the church of St. Martin, is not participating in the Klima-Karte scheme. However, this organic greengrocery is offering an abundance of regional produce which you can take home in your own bags.
On the other side of the street you'll find
Le Bol, a bio-dynamic organic French-German artisanal sourdough bakery – according to locals making the best bread in town. Needless to say that you can come with your own bag and that the bread keeps fresh much longer than ordinary fare. Given that the baker has to rise early so you can have fresh bread in the morning, opening hours are restricted to the morning ihours except on Thursdays.
If you are on a bike tour or stay in town a little longer consider a visit to the
Naturmilchhof Gartetal organic dairy farm. To get their continue from Geismar to the village of Diemarden about four to five kilometres away. Buying fresh milk, oat drink, yogurt, kefir or cheeses from the farm's own dairy is unfortunately somewhat inconvenient as you must register at the farm's web shop to use their self-service farmshop guarded by surveillance cameras. Then you would use the computer inside the shop to register your purchase, and your debt will be detracted from your bank account. I haven't checked whether this works with any European bank account. All liquid and semi-liquid products come in returnable plastic bottles and jars with a deposit. The shop is closed on Sundays and public holidays.
Non-food
Household items supporting a package-free lifestyle can be found at the factory outlet of the eco postal order shop Waschbär near Geismartor. Here you may also refill cleaning agents, liquid soap and detergents to get a stamp on your Climate Card. Unfortunately the shop is going to close for good by the end of October, 2024.
Tea
In the 1990ies owner-driven tea shops offering a great selection of loose-weight teas, herbal and fruit blends were quite a thing, and fortunately they have been surviving in Göttingen so far. With the years, their assortment of organic teas has increased, and I haven't found one who refused to fill my tea boxes (even though you may ask for it verbosely).
The
Teehaus Kluntje isn't just a nice shop for teas and everything you need for tea ceremonies or small recreational everyday tea breaks, it also serves you a good cup of tea. However, it's a bit too focused on being a gift shop if you prefer tea shops with a reduced atmosphere.
Personally I prefer the wooden interior
of Teehaus Schmidt
which nicely brings out the timber frames of the old house. Here the focus is clearly on tea and spices. An interesting fact: The place was a students' start-up in the 1970ies.
In a city with as many tea lovers you won't be surprised to find a branch of the
Tee Gschwendner franchise. Just like other franchises of this brand they sell more conventional than organic teas, but the shop assistants will show the right types when you ask for "bee-o" (bio) teas and place your tea box on the till.
Fortunately Göttingen still has many cosy carefully curated owner-driven shops. When I tried to visit the traditional confectioners' shop cum delicatessen
Alfred Ewert on recommendation by locals it was too late to find it open, and the products on display in the shop's windows weren't organic. So I decided not to list it here. However, pink@norden.social recommended it as a veritable loose tea shop, so I suggest that you pay a visit and check for organic labels and the "bio" keyword.
Closed
2024-09-26 13:30:00
[Goettingen, Geismar, organic, vegetarian, zero_waste, unverpackt, grocery, supermarkets, bodycare, household, tea, bakeries, sunday_open, farms]
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Monday, 23 September 2024
Both touristically attractive historic towns have direct hourly local train connections with each other and to Göttingen. You can also
continue your bike tour along the
Werratal bike route from Eschwege via the spa town of Bad Sooden-Allendorf to Hannoversch Münden (partially on the iron curtain corridor), and from there on to Göttingen.
Eschwege
Although Eschwege provides medical and cultural facilities for many smaller (and in the past often more important) small towns around and moreover is one of the few (West-)German towns where people transport by railway was discontinued in the 1980-ies and re-opened (with a new railway station) by the end of 2009, I couldn't find any cafe, restaurant or eatery serving at least a few organic items.
Even the organic convenience store
Biotop
on the premises of the former mutual savings bank ("Sparkasse")
does not have a cafe corner. But you can order a roll with cheese of your choice to take with you from their bakery and cheese bar. The friendly and well-assorted shop with its archetypal wooden interior offers all you need of organic food and household necessities, and, as delivery service "The rolling organic shop" ("Der rollende Bioladen") also serves the neighbouring municipality of Bad Sooden-Allendorf.
If you cannot find all you want here, the town's
Reformhaus (health food shop) and the Tegut supermarket offer a good selection of organic products alongside with their conventional fare.
For organic eggs you may also take a bike tour to the "Regiomat" vending machine of the nearby organic
Werragut farm. There you can also order and collect bread and rolls from the farm's bakery; their
hens are butchered and sold by Frischgeflügel Roth in Witzenhausen.
Bad Sooden
The medieval spa twin-town with its beautiful half-timbered houses does no longer have an organic corner store, but it sports a Sunday-open shop selling herbal teas, organic skincare, natural perfumes and incense, books on wellbeing, a selection of fairly traded sweets and more:
Eden – gesund & mehr in Sooden.
For organic food on the Sooden side of the Werra river (including unpackaged organic bread and rolls) head to the (conventional) Tegut supermarket in the Sooden industrial area (more or less a lifeless parking lot). A branch of the drugstore chain DM a five minutes walk from the train station is offering a huge range of pre-packaged organic dry food and preserves as well as certified natural bodycare.
Spa guests and patients of the various rehab clinics in the medieval salter town are the main target audience of
Café Feldmann, the spa town's grand cafe and confectioners' shop by the spa gardens (Kurpark).
The cafe used to be a customer of the no longer existing organic Bäckerei Schill, but the breakfast rolls you get when staying overnight in the attached bike-friendly bed & breakfast place or have breakfast at the cafe are no longer organic in 2024. The milk used for coffee drinks and tea are organic, and eggs served for breakfast or lunch, too. The waitress had to find out herself when I inquired, so there's still a chance that more organic ingredients are (occasionally) being used in the kitchen, but I can't tell.
Allendorf
On the other side of the train line and the Werra river, in the older town of Allendorf (in the medievals Sooden was the "industrial area" while everyone, from the salters to the owners of the salt pans lived in Allendorf) you'll find a fully organic wine shop cum cafe, the
Laden 41. In addition to the
wine, you'll find honey, greek olive oil and preserves, local cheese, and bread and rolls from the Werragut farm. The latter you have to order upfront, but since the shop keeper always orders a little more you may buy a bread spontaneously.
Unfortunately it's open only three half days of the week. Whether you are interested in having an organic coffee, beer, lemonade or a glass of wine, or are in the mood for a chat with locals, mark them in your calendar.
Thursday in general is the weekday when many smaller shops in the region open for the first time, and so does
Café Clown, a cosy small cafe directly located at the Werratal bicycle route, with a beautiful view at a branch of the Werra river with the picturesque "Tiny Venice" ("Klein-Venedig") neighbourhood (in the past the houses of the local fishermen). Here you can have comforting home-made cake (including the filling Westphalian Pickert, a sweet potato cake), coffee, and frozen yoghurt
often made from regional, sometimes organic ingredients. Tea, milk and eple juice are generally organic, and if not asked specify that you want the organic variety of sugar beet syrup on your Pickert.
The cafe's name derives from the owner's charity work as a clowndoctor. Her partner is an architect and urban planner who has been planning and conducting social house and neighbourhood building projects with natural materials for decades. The two also offer accommodation in their adjacent tiny house, carefully restored with natural materials and equipped with a rain shower. Ring them for booking even though you find the place on AirBnB.
How can a bookstore survive in a once important medieval smalltown? The
Buchhandlung Frühauf in Allendorf has found a way by offering more than books and stationery: The bookseller added regional products to his assortment, both, books with a regional context, and a shelf with drinks and preserves from the region (some of them organic) and a few organic wines to go with your book. Until autumn 2023 they also sold organic bread and rolls by the organic bakery Bäckerei Schill until the baker retired without finding a successor to take over the workshop.
Oberrieden
However, there's still an organic bread bakery in Bad Sooden-Allenberg: The organically certified community-supported agricultural (CSA) collective
Höhberg-Kollektiv in the village of Oberrieden (which is a part of the municipality) runs both, a dairy and a bakery in addition to a market garden and a school farm. First of all they distribute their products to their subscribers, but from Monday afternoon to Wednesday evening you can buy excess produce by leaving cash in an honesty box. How frequent you can find bread or dairy products there I cannot say.
Dietzenrode
The vicinity to the Witzenhausen department of Ecological Agricultural Sciences certainly plays a role in the comparably high density of CSAs and organic market gardens in the region. Just across the border between Hesse and Thuringia, the
Gemüseinsel ("vegetable island") in Dietzenrode is the one closest to Allendorf, about half an hour by bicycle. This CSA market garden has a booth cum fridge where you can buy freshly harvested vegetables 24x7 without being a member. You pay by putting your money in an honesty box, so come with sufficient cash.
The Gemüseinsel is located on grounds formerly used by the
Inselhof, a more than 30 years old organic farm, established by Witzenhausen graduates after the reunification of Germany.
The farmers couple is gradually about to retire: They gave up mixed farming recently, but are continuing with a vegetable garden and fruit
orchards. The latter provide ingredients for the farm's distillery. You can order their special small-scale spirits on-line or buy them from the farm shop which in summer 2024 still offered frozen and preserved meat and sausages from the last flock of animals, vegetables from the garden and apple juice from the orchard, cheeses from farmer friends and a small selection of organic bodycare.
Their products are all organic, but no longer certified.
Closed or no longer organic
When the artisanal baker Schill closed his workshop in October 2023 the region lost its only organic baker. He also delivered to Café Himmelspforte, the parish café of Allendorf's Lutherian St. Crucis church, with its beautiful outdoor seating next to the "bible garden" with a display of plants mentioned in the bible. Nowadays the only organic item the café offers is one type of organic tea bags.
2024-09-23 13:00:01
[Eschwege, Bad_Sooden, Allendorf, Dietzenrode, Werratalradweg, organic, coffee, lunch, cafe, supermarkets, grocery, accommodation, sunday_open, Regiomat]
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