All posts tagged: vegan in France

First vegan market in Lille (France)

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A couple of weeks ago on a Sunday, there was a vegan market in Lille (Rijsel, France). Lille is just across the border with Belgium, and for us that is just an hour’s drive, so we were eager to go check it out! The vegan market was organised by Végétal & Vous, a vegan shop in Lille. We could park not too far from the Community center. A bit of a bummer that the elevator was out of order, although the organisor had mentionned and warned about this the day before on the facebook page, and offered help to anyone needing assistance.  But we managed 🙂 The market was not really that big (certainly not when compared to other vegan fairs or festivals we’ve been to, like Veggieworld, VegfestUK, vegfestNL or Vegan Summerfest). But nonetheless with a nice variety of shops, products and organisations. And since it was in France, also some new brands that we had never heard of. But also some products that I personally don’t really associate with veganism (like dream cathers and …

#146 Vegan fine dining at Gentle Gourmet, Paris

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restaurant review #146 – Gentle Gourmet is a gastronomic vegan restaurant in the center of Paris. It is located on the East side of town, in between de Gare de Lyon and the Bastille. We had made a reservation a couple of weeks before going to Paris, as we surely did not want to miss out on the opportunity of dining at Gentle Gourmet! There’s a small terrace on the pavement in front of the restaurant, but because it was a really hot evening, and there was a lot of traffic passing by (quite a busy raod) we decided to dine inside, in the veranda of the restaurant. We were warmly welcomed and were offered the menus. It was not easy to choose! So many options (and everything vegan), and all the options sounded very promising! We were served a small appetizer: a glass with melon and ccumber juice. Nice! Although some more hearthy nibbles would also have been nice. As a starter, we had the Sea inspiration dish (13€) and the Asparagus in four …

#143 Vegan burgers for lunch at Season Square, Paris

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restaurant review #143 – Season Square is a vegan fast food restaurant in Paris. It’s on the east side of town, just next to the Bibliothèque Nationale (the National Library) and the Seine, on the other side of the Parc de Bercy. As such, it is a bit outside of the touristic center, and there are not many restaurants in the area. As we were in Paris for a concert at the Bercy (now called Accor Arena) and stayed not too far away, Season Square was our first stop, for lunch. Season Square is a bright, modern place, and serves burgers, bowls, soups and some desserts. They also offer take away. It is self-service (one orders at counter, take an alarm device with you to your table which beeps when your order is ready, and you can go pick up your order at the counter). There was no white wine available (they did have small bottles of red wine). There was free tap water avilable in bottles at a seperate counter (where the knives and forkes …

A relaxed holiday at La Maison du Vert, Ticheville, France

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Restaurant review #140  – La Maison du Vert is a vegetarian bed and breakfast in Normandy, France. In the evening, La Maison du Vert also opens as a restaurant to outside guests, so it could also be considered a hotel (although there are only 3 rooms for overnight stay). We spent a couple of days here at the beginning of Summer, after a short stay in Paris (La Maison du Vert is about a 2 and a half hour drive from Paris). We had made our reservation many months before going to Normandy, to be sure to have a room at La Maison du Vert. Vegan options are really scarce in Normandy, so it was comforting to know that we did not have to worry about breakfast or vegan dinner during our holiday. We were warmly welcomed by the hosts, Debbie and Daniel, a British couple who settled here 20 years ago and renovated what became la Maison du Vert and shaped the garden. After settling in in the room, we relaxed in the lovely …

A look inside organic shop Biodésir, Lisieux (Fr)

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Shop review #40 – Biodesir in Lisieux (Normandy, France) is an organic shop at the edge of the city. It is a reasonably sized store, with lots of parking place in front. We were on holiday in Normandy for a couple of days in June, and we stopped here to buy some bread spreads and crackers for our lunch. I wish we could have bought more products (especially from the cooled section), because there were many products that were ‘new’ to us, and not available in Belgian stores. But since it was also extremely hot during our holiday in Normandy (around 38°) we would not have been able to preserve them till we got home. Please note that it is not a vegan shop, so not all the products on the photos are necessarily vegan. The shop does sell a lot of vegan items that are not so easily found in ‘regular’ shops in France (vegan yoghurt, tempeh, plant based drinks, vegan cheeze, …). Here are some more photos from inside Biodésir, and some vegan products: …

#137 Nice lunch in the swamp of Paris: Le Potager du Marais

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Restaurant review #137 – Le Potager du Marais is a vegan restaurant in Paris. It is located – as the name says – in the Marais, which is a lively and cosy (but also quite touristic) neighbourhood. There are plenty of restaurants, cafés and trendy shops in the area. Marais is French for swamp, which refers to the region’s original state, and potager stands for vegetable gardener. So that makes Le Potager du marais the vegetable gardener of the swamp 😉 It’s a rather small place, and tables are closely together, but yet there’s still a cosy atmosphere. There’s also a small terrace in front. We were here for lunch during our city trip in Paris in June. We didn’t have a reservation, and were lucky that there was a table available (we were quite late for lunch, so people already started to leave). Service was very friendly, and we immediately felt welcome! There was tap water on the table (and was refilled), which we appreciated immensly, as it was a very hot couple of …

Cosmetics and body and care products at Vegan Mania, Paris

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Shop review #39 – Vegan Mania is small shop in the city center of Paris, in a little alley just around the corner of Centre Pompidou. Vegan Mania also has a webshop and ships worldwide. I often find it challenging to find vegan cosmetics and body and care products. If they do not carry a vegan label, it is often impossible to know whether the product does or does not contain any animal products (with often a long list of obscure sounding ingredients) and whether it has been tested on animals or not. Or one has to do some serious researching online to know the brands and their specific vegan products. So it was a joy to shop at Vegan Mania: all products are vegan and organic. Easy! We visited the shop when we were in Paris for a couple of days earlier this year, and I bought some products.  Would have loved to buy more, but we were with our tandem bike and couldn’t carry a lot with us. Loved the shop! Wish we …