All posts tagged: label

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, …

Vegetable crisps, with a vegan label

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We got these vegetable crisps when we were at a friend’s house for drinks. Crisps of carrot, beetroot, parsnip and sweet potato, with some sea salt. And yes they are curiously crunchy, and yummie! And to our surprise, they even carry a label ‘suitable for vegans’, which is quite uncommon for products sold in Belgian stores (Glennans is an English brand). We went looking for them and found them in our local grocery store!

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’. …