A Trip To The Coast Unearths An All Vegan Food Store

I was house sitting a couple of months ago when Britain was awash with a welcome hot sun.  I travelled to a little English village beside the 'Butlins infamous' town of Bognor Regis.  A seaside town with pebble beach on the south coast of England.  I was a bit concerned beforehand that it would be a jolly vista of lobster pink bodies, garish teeth chipping candy, and awash with bawdy 'hens' on a night out.  Not so.  Just 1/4 mile from Bognor promenade and you arrive in a calm and peaceful oasis where time has stood still.  It's all precision clipped lawns and friendly doffed caps.  The most rowdy you'll experience in this village of thatched cottages and dogs you can tuck under your armpit, is a swooping opportunist seagull nicking your cucumber sandwiches!

As usual when I am travelling around much research is carried out and the internet chugs out helpful lists of places of interest, and of course Happy Cow lets me know what is in my area in terms of vegan eats.  The vegan eats drew a blank, the closest being Daisy Moo in Worthing.  What I did find was Vegetaria.  A totally vegan shop (curiously combined with an estate agency - the veggie passionate owners wanted to make eating meat free easier for shoppers).  It is small shop floor but well stocked with ready meals, gluten free products, veggie 'meats', vegan cheese, desserts, frozen good, condiments, snacks, drinks, house hold products and pet food!  And, it is a not just a high street store.  Vegetaria have an online store too!  I'm so happy to see more and more vegan stores sprouting up in Europe.

Two of the three pugs that I had the pleasure to look after.  Pugs are hilarious as I had the joy to discover!

Ocado Are Making It Easier For You To Shop Vegan and Gluten Free

A day or so ago I told you all about vegan snacking, in my attempts to make it much easier for you to be healthy and satisfied on a plant-based (and gluten free..should you need) diet.  Today I hope to make it even easier, not just for snacks but for all your food shopping needs.  

When I am staying in a super vegan friendly city like London, Brighton, Berlin, San Francisco, even, to a lesser extent, Mexico and Buenos Aires, I have found it easy to access whole food shops (even totally vegan stores), that cater for mostly all of my whims.  However it is far from the case in most cities in the UK to have a good grocer/produce market where I can find artisan or even generic vegan products.  I'm staying with my mother right now, in between trips.  In a commuter city only 20 mins outside London.  It has not got one healthy food store.  Being here has been frustrating to say the least.  So, when I got an invite from Ocado to come chat about their vegan range, I was sceptical to say the least.
I met with some super nice members of the Ocado team, and some fellow bloggers. Karin Ridgers from Veggie Vision was there..I was so excited to finally get to meet a woman I've long admired for her commitment to bringing fun and entertainment to the veggie world, via her TV shows. Also, Claire, a vegetarian blogger for FoodIFancy.com, to name but two.  We were presented with a feast, dreamed up by the Ocado team and created by the chefs at Tibits.  Whilst we were happily chowing down and getting to know each other, the Ocado team were telling us about how they feel it is so important to cater for all dietary requirements and tastes and how open they are to expanding their range. It was a real eye opener.  What was so surprising is that I never thought of Ocado  as a retailer who could deliver really good vegan fayre.  A search for 'vegan' products currently grabs up 251 products.  

As I was enjoying the company and the food, I was thinking of you and the implications having a well known online-delivery grocery store be so interested in making sure they have a well rounded stock of vegan and gluten free foods.  Yes, independent and co-operative stores will always remain uppermost in my choices, but to know we can all get these foods so easily now filled me with much excitement.  Our dietary choices impact the world and our loved ones in so many ways, we are all now waking up to this. It is all making a difference.  My vision for a vegan world by 2035 is steaming ahead!

I sampled a few of their range of convenience foods and condiments.
Vegan Pesto   so tasty I was eating it straight from the jar!
Holy Cow Spicy Bombay Ketchup oh mama, a slow, sexy burn  
Booja Booja Champagne Truffles  so good. A sure fire vegan seducer.
Granovita Mayola Egg Free Mayonnaise   where would life be without vegan mayo?
Belazu Tomato & Smoked Paprika Sauce   excellent for a speedy mid-week pasta dinner
If you remember, I recently reviewed gluten free wraps.  You can now get those from Ocado too.

They are just a taster of what you can find.  If they don't have something that you'd like to see them stock they told me they welcome your suggestions.

I hope this makes life a little (or a lot) easier for you.
All opinions are my own. No thumbscrews were used. I just want to help.

If you are a vegan newbie, want or need to ditch dairy or gluten, want to eat healthier and need help where to start or where to look to find substitutes, just post a question on my Facebook page and I will try and do what I can help.

A New Vegan Online Store Opens in Germany. Is Germany Set To Overtake The UK In Number of Vegans?

A new online vegan store is now just days away from opening it's doors. The company headquarters are based in Sasbach, Germany.  A country with a fast expanding vegan population. Boutique Vegan is coming and is promised to be epic.  The founder Miriam Brilla formulated the concept whilst she was living in France (a country not known for its vegan diet).  Not only is EVERYTHING in the store vegan, but it is thoroughly researched and tested (what a cushy job!) to ensure it's products are ethical and sustainable.  I decided to have a chat with Miriam to find out more.  

Pretty and slight, Miriam is the epitome of health.  She is sunny, open and compassionate.  I almost imagined blue birds flying around her pretty, mousy hair, and woodland creatures sitting lovingly at her feet. She's forgiving too. When my foggy, jet lagged brain calculated the time difference between the UK and Germany..wrongly, in reverse and I was late for our chat.  
Her passion and motivation is clear, she wants everyone to live well, by providing the best vegan products - she wants the care to be extended from the growers, to the manufactures, to the store, and finally, to the consumer.  


The store is to provide detailed product descriptions, recipe ideas, transparent information on the ingredients, manufacturing companies and our company policies. All products, hand picked to be in the store are;


Natural and organic
Quality ingredients
Innovative
Ethical standards
Supporting social causes

Customers and community are important to Boutique Vegan, and they attend events throughout the year so customers can say hello, try the products and discover how a vegan lifestyle doesn't mean compromising on the factors of our buying choices that are important to us all - great flavour, variety, modern looks without a whiff of missing out, which ten years ago was the accepted part of being vegan.  But no more!



Boutique Vegan is translated in German, French & English.

'Boutique vegan was created to provide a one-stop vegan lifestyle shop that simply celebrates a modern compassionate lifestyle with a full range of high quality products for everyone to enjoy'.

I'm not sure how a background in real estate leads itself to an online store owner but during her financial studies, Miriam was involved in SRI (socially responsible investment) topics and focused on the issue of GMOs and our food supply. This is where she made the link between the environmental situation, animal, human and social welfare. It all came together, the influence of biotech and pharma corporations, meat and dairy industry, public media influence, that prompted the adoption of a vegetarian and then eventually a vegan diet. Also,  perhaps travelling a lot with her family as a child, living amongst totally different cultures, meeting inspiring people helped her to be emphatic and strong and develop a strong bond with her family.  In the course of my conversation with Miriam, she mentioned many times the tremendous support of her family, in her new venture. 

The concept hatched at the beginning of 2012, after Miriam was living in France for a while and not finding them particularly vegan friendly.  Germany, in contrast has a wide vegan interest. It is where Miriams family hails so there she returned to build her dream.  She told me German public television regulary hosts vegan chefs and it is part of mainstream media.  Plant-baed cookbooks are translated from English. Germany is surging forward.  Is it set to overtake the UK? According to a report by Institut Produkt und Markt   9% vegetarian.  3-4% Vegan.  In France it isn't so sweet, from 2011, a bonkers law (which the French Gvt. is try to expand to other institutions) was passed to forbid the serving of vegan meals at any public or private school in France!  Nuts! 

She also found it exhausting to be constantly having to make time reading labels, researching on companies, manufacturing methods, etc.  Miriam said, 

'Modern life does not necessarily mean we've got a bunch of extra time to invest on constantly staying up to date on labelling issues, chemical food ingredients, analysing the many different certifications for foodstuff and so on. In addition to not finding the range of products in France, I did not find a shop in Europe that truly met my expectations of being able to purchase a large range of great vegan products, receiving the information I need to make an informed decision and all that in a modern package with the quality service one expects of online shops nowadays. So, I started researching on products and companies and discovered many many great products and projects. As the planning advanced, I realised it is essentially important to address veganism as what it truly is - a modern, compassionate and fun lifestyle! This is what boutique vegan is all about. It is a friendly lifestyle, which can be so easy and at the same time means actively investing in a sustainable, healthy and peaceful future'.

The store, offering fresh foods, products, supplements and toiletries,  is not only designed for vegans and vegetarians, who are already aware of making informed product choices, but also for non-vegans, people with allergies (they have a simple quick filter for that), people interested in vegan lifestyle, natural and organic food and cosmetics, who care for their health, who are into sports - all age groups.  Sustainable focus.  Local where possible but not possible to offer a full range of products so they import from United States, South America & Europe.

'Every choice, every day makes a difference. The choice of buying chocolate, which is vegan, ethically sourced and handmade by a small manufacturer may seem like a small thing to do, but in fact the outcome is huge - for the animals, humans and nature who are not exploited, and not to forget your own health and wellbeing'.

Miriam is bursting with enthusiasm and a wisdom that reaches beyond her years.  Boutique Vegan is set to make being vegan, plant-based even easier than before.  Prices are set to be competitive, and reflect their quality. I am yet to conduct a price comparison with other vegan stores but what they are offering seems to be saving you time and offering products you can trust right off the bat.  A priceless commodity. 

Our time was up, Miriam was busy putting together the finishing touches to the website with her team and getting ready for the exciting launch events. On the 26th Boutique Vegan is hosting a big open day event at their warehouse.  Planned is a warehouse sale, vegan bake sale with our local animal shelter team, as well as a vegan cooking show with info on lactose intolerance and chance to fill up on a tasty vegan BBQ.  But firstly they will be hitting the streets of Stuttgart for the annual Veggie Street Day on 19th May, 2013.

For more information about Vegans is Germany, visit Vegetarian Deutschland

I am planning a research trip to Germany & France in the coming months.  If you have suggestions of places to check out, people I should meet and places to stay, please contact me at info@aveganobsession.com, or click on the 'comments' tab below and leave a comment.