shop Biovita, Sint-Kruis, Bruges

Shop review #6 – Biovita is an organic shop, just outside the city center of Bruges. They actually have two shops, one in Sint-Kruis (Maalsesteenweg) and one in Sint-Andries (Torhoutsesteenweg). They plan to open a third shop at the end of October 2014 in Roeselare (41km from Bruges).

Biovita, Organic Shop, Sint-Kruis, Bruges

This blog is about the shop in Sint-Kruis (Maalsesteenweg). It is the smaller one of the two in Bruges, but as it is the closest one for me, I mostly go to this one. To give you an idea about how far it is from the city center, it is 1,9km (a large mile) from the Kruispoortbrug at the Eastern side of Bruges, which would probably be a 25 minute walk. It is on a busy road, with many shops from larger chains (supermarkets, clothing shops, media shops). There’s easy parking in front of the shop.

shopping @Biovita, Bruges

Biovita in Bruges is not a vegan shop, but sells many vegan products which you won’t find so easily in ‘regular’ shops.
To give you and idea: special cereals, sweeteners (agave, maple syrup, rice syrup, etc), nutrionial yeast, vegan cheeses, bread spreads, fresh fruits and vegetables, vegan milks (almond, rice, so, ..), tofu and seitan, burgers, sausages, soy sauces, raw foods, supplements and herbal oils, body and care products, coffee and tee, pastas, vegan ice cream, nuts, dried berries and fruit, etc. And a selection of vegan wines too (see one of our previous blogposts about vegan wines @Biovita). They also sell freshly made cakes and bread spreads, but most of them are not vegan. And a daily supply of organic breads from De Trog, although Biovita staff doesn’t always know which bread is vegan and which is not (best is to check with De Trog).
Chances are, if you are looking for an obscure ingredient from a recipe in one of your vegan cookbooks, they will have it at Biovita. Or if not, they are certainly willing to look up whether they can get it from their suppliers. For example, they don’t have gluten powder standardly available (to make your own seitan), but you can order it, and a couple of days later it will be available.

Sometimes it is indicated on the price label whether a certain product is vegan (and gluten free). And although this mostly seems to be correct, I still tend to check the ingredients anyway, because sometimes a vegan labelled product turns out not to be vegan (sometimes the ingredients change over time), or many products with no vegan label are in fact vegan (see e.g. the soy whip and rice whip in the gallery below).

Bread spread, vegan label

Fridge with many vegan products, Biovita, Sint Kruis, Bruges

vegan ‘milk’ drinks, Biovita, Bruges

Some more pics from Biovita Sint-Kruis (as it is not a vegan shop, please note that not all items on these photos are necessarily vegan):

syrup and juices

vegan cheese

body and care products

vegan pizza dough

slices

vegan cheese

pasta

bread spreads, burgers, seitan, etc

sweeteners

fresh fruits and vegetables

tofu, bread spreads, burgers etc

bread spreads

soy and rice whip

vegan ice cream

TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein), Falafel

nuts

oils, canned vegetables, etc

fresh vegetables and herbs

Fresh counter

To give you an idea of the prices. This is what I bought on one of my recent visits, and it amounted to 79€.
Twice a year, Biovita holds “open days”, at which time everything is sold at 10% discount. And there are special stalls to taste products or workshops.
It’s ususally in October and in April. The first week is always in the oldest and biggest shop of Biovita (in Sint-Andries, 6-11 October 2014) and the second week in the shop at Sint-Kruis (13-18 October 2014)
So that would be NOW! 🙂 I will surely get some supplies later this week!