All posts tagged: Biovita

Shopping at organic store Het Natuurhuis, Antwerp

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Shop review #26 – Het Natuurhuis is an organic shop in Antwerp, and exists since the seventies. It translates as ‘Nature home‘. Natuurhuis now has three locations in the Antwerp area: one in the city center (Otto Veniusstraat), one at Zuid (Verlatstraat) and one in Merksem (Eethuisstraat). These photos are from my recent visit to Het Natuurhuis in the city center. It is located close to Antwerps main shopping street the Meir, and about 10 minutes from the central train station. It is a fairly large shop (not as big as the shops from organic chain Bioplanet, but about the same size as Biovita in Bruges and Mordan in Ostend). As my visits to Het Natuurhuis are most often on my way back to the train station, I am mostly pressed for time, or too exhausted after some city dwelling to have a relaxed look around in the shop. I have however spotted several vegan items that I would love to take with me, but the vegan icecream from Professor Grunschnabel or the frozen items from De Vegetarische Slager (The Vegetarian Butcher) would not last …

Looking for gluten powder to make seitan. Visit to Gents Bakkershuis

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Shop review #22 – My search for gluten powder (for homemade seitan) led me to “Het Gents Bakkershuis“, a shop with baking equipment and supplies in Ghent. (NOTE see edit below) The shop is more aimed at wholesale trade and opening hours for retail is limited. Gluten powder or vital wheat gluten is not so easy to find in Belgian shops.  I had previously bought organic vital wheat gluten in organic shop Biovita in Bruges (only available on special demand), but that was very expensive (+/- 50€ for 5kg, being organic). Last year, I paid a visit to Flourpower in Pouke, a small shop inside the Artemeersmill at Poeke to buy gluten powder (13,70€ for 5 kg). I inquired beforehand to Het Gents Bakkershuis to be sure they had gluten powder in stock.  And they did. So I paid them a visit at the end of 2015. I found the wheat gluten powder, 21,62 for 5 kg. Het Gents Bakkershuis is packed with baking supplies, from pie decorations to rolling pins, packages for chocolates, cakes and other baking or pastry things. I arrived …

Tofu croquettes with pearl couscous, beans and kuri pumpkin

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These tofu croquettes are from Abinda, a company making organic vegetarian products, located no so far from Bruges in Oostkamp. I visited their factory in 2011, you can see a review from that visit on my Dutch blog here. Many of Abinda’s products are vegan. Their products are commonly sold in organic shops across Belgium. You can see the ingredients of the tofu croquettes here. Preparation of the tofucroquetes is very easy, just fry them for a couple of minutes and they are ready. These tofu croquettes are nice and crunchy, but I would like them to be a bit more creamy on the inside to make them even better. This time I served them with pearl couscous, azuki beans and uchiki kuri pumpkin from my garden topped with Mediterranean spices! Abinda tofu croquettes, 1 pack with 9 croquettes (=225g), fridge bought at Biovita Bruges, March 2015 5,54€

A visit to organic shop Biovita in Roeselare

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Shop review #9 – Biovita is a new organic shop in Roeselare (41km from Bruges). It opened at the end of 2014. Biovita now has three shops: two in Bruges, and this one in Roeselare. Biovita is not an all-vegan shop, but they do have many vegan products available that you will not find so easily in other ‘regular’ shops. For example vegan cheeses, icecream or non dairy milkdrinks, tempeh, silk tofu, nuts, seaweeds, etc. They also clearly label the products as being vegan, lactose free or gluten free (but as you know, it’ always best to check and double check). Roeselare is too far for us to go shopping on a regular basis (the two shops in Bruges are of course closer to us). But we were in the neighbourhood a couple of weeks ago and paid them a visit! Here are some more impressions from the new shop in Roeselare. There’s plenty of parking next to the shop. Style is similiar to the shops in Bruges, and they also have a selection of toys (not so much available …

shop Biovita, Sint-Kruis, Bruges

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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). 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. 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 organic wines at Biovita, Bruges

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Shop review #2 – Wine possibly not vegan, you may ask? Indeed, not all wines are vegan. For ‘clearing’ or ‘fining’ the wine, animal-derived products may be used: isinglass (gelatin from fish bladder membranes), casein (milk protein), chitin (fiber from crustacean shells), egg albumen (derived from egg whites), fish oil or gelatin. So although there is no animal product in the wine itself, it may be used during the winemaking process. Vegan wines don’t use these animal derived products, but alternatives suchs as carbon, bentonite clay or limestone. We haven’t encountered any clearly labelled vegan wines in regular shops in Belgium yet. Common available wines in Belgian shops have no label identifying them as vegan friendly or not. That doesn’t mean they don’t have any vegan wines on offer though. You can look up a brand at Barnivore, which has an extensive list of wines, beers and liquors, too check whether the brand is vegan friendly. We have encountered some brands in the organics shops, which are clearly marked as ‘vegan friendly’ or ‘suitable for vegans’. …