[Luise]

Um... I ended up working in a trip for this coming weekend. All so I could eat my way through vegan Berlin. Okay and I'll do something for my history obsession too.

 

[Quinoa]

@Luise (^^^ lucky you!) - here's my reply to your recent visitor message on my profile:

A new Sattgrün restaurant (open 12-24) opened recently in Flingern, but I haven't been there yet. I've heard though that it has a lunch buffet, and Ã* la carte at night (ÂÂ).

Their "deli" downtown (lunch café) which opened 2+ yrs ago is nothing too spectacular, but it does have more decent vegan options (Â) than other/omni restaurants in town, incl. cake. Unfortunately since the start of the restaurant, the opening hours of the deli were cut even shorter, I think they close at 4 P. M. now. Good for them if they make enough money during lunch time, but it means I won't get there very often, esp. bec. they're also closed on Sundays (that's Germany for you).

However, Sattgrün and a Chinese take-away, Jade Imbiss on Dürerstr., are the only veg*n "restaurants" in town (AFAIK).

Other than that, Libanon Restaurant (ÂÂ) & Express (Â) on Bergerstr. (Altstadt) have the usual vegan options.

Indian restaurants here tend to put paneer in everything vegetarian (not to mention ghee), so I haven't been to Suriya (Â) in a while, but perhaps it's an alternative for l/o-veg*ns.

Sorry I can't think of any "highly recommend" vegan-friendly restaurants here. Düsseldorf is not exactly a vegan diner's paradise, esp. if you have been to Berlin or München before. But stores and markets provide everything a vegan even with special needs (gluten-free etc.) needs.

Some good organic stores with lots (by German standards) of vegan products are Basic (ÂÂ) on Friedrichstr. and Vierlinden (ÂÂ) in Benrath.

The best daily outdoor market (ÂÂÂ) is on Carlsplatz (Altstadt).

Also, you might want to check happycow.com.

 

[Luise]

Thanks, Quinoa! I've also found http://veganguide.org/ really useful for digging around for restaurants, ice cream, and grocery stores.

 

[VeggieFrank]

Will be in Berlin in July -- is anything going on?

 

[paprika27]

as always

 

[Kjesta]

I'm from around Düsseldorf

Anyone from there?

 

[VeggieFrank]

Quote:

Originally Posted by paprika27

as always

Any restaurants you'd recommend? Any Veg* events? Cool parts of town to check out?

 

[Luise]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VeggieFrank

Any restaurants you'd recommend? Any Veg* events? Cool parts of town to check out?

This:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quinoa

The Urban Housewife posted some mouth-watering vegan Berlin reviews on her blog recently:

Back to Berlin, Savory Vegan Tastiness

Sweet Berlin; Ice Cream Galore & a Cupcake Video

and some time ago Berlin; From Sweets to Seitan Döner

If this is your first time, do spent some time just walking down Unter den Linden, maybe the whole stretch between Alexanderplatz, through the Brandenburg Gate and towards the Victory Column, it's definitely worth it to see a whole lot of "spots" in one go. If you don't like to walk so much in one go, you could always take breaks at cafes along the way or at shops.

As for restaurants, see the above; I'm gonna plug Hans Wurst, I loved it so much I went multiple times (great brunch; dinner they had this amazing seitan steak and this delicious broccoli soup, great cakes too, at least the strawberry-poppy seed one I tried). And definitely, definitely hit up the area where Cupcake, Yo Yo Foodworld, and Caramello Eis are located. Friedrichshain, a very student-filled quarter, cobbled streets, colorful shops, pretty little park. Plus, um, Yo Yo is fab if you want some vegan fast food, loved the spinach pizza and the Hawaii burger I tried. I also hit up Cafe V (I had to try the chickpea polenta too and it kind of blew me away, it was amazing), Tanne B Eis, Maja's Deli and Veni Vidi Vegi (all vegan grocery with great shoes, too, gotta buy some next time I go), all of which were fantastic really, though Maja's cookies were a little dry (still good, IMO), but their food-food was healthily delicious.

 

[VeggieFrank]

That's awesome, thanks for the tips!

A close German friend is thinking about becoming a veg* -- I was looking through Amazon.de, and there are a ton of books on the subject. Are there any that stand out? Can someone recommend some German websites I can point him to? Are there any cooking courses being offered in or around Berlin?

Thanks you guys.

 

[insan0r]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VeggieFrank

That's awesome, thanks for the tips!

A close German friend is thinking about becoming a veg* -- I was looking through Amazon.de, and there are a ton of books on the subject. Are there any that stand out? Can someone recommend some German websites I can point him to? Are there any cooking courses being offered in or around Berlin?

Thanks you guys.

"Vegane Ernährung" (Vegan diet) from Dr. Gill Langley http://www.amazon.de/Vegane-Ern%C3%A.../dp/3926914335

I guess most will know this book since it's kind a state of the art reference on vegan diet. It's very factual, with lot's of studies and comparison between omni, o/l vegetarian and vegan diet.

And there's infact a cooking course around berlin hosted by Attila Hildmann (Attila on this board): http://www.kochrausch.de/kochrausch_.../april_09.html

For you're travel to Berlin you HAVE to visit Yellow Sunshine, the best veg* fast food in Berlin (I have to admit I wasn't at yo yo foodworld). And if you come around a bar/restaurant that offers "Fritz Cola" get one (if you like coke), very tasty with loads of caffein (35mg/l).

 

[Luise]

Quote:

Originally Posted by insan0r

For you're travel to Berlin you HAVE to visit Yellow Sunshine, the best veg* fast food in Berlin (I have to admit I wasn't at yo yo foodworld). And if you come around a bar/restaurant that offers "Fritz Cola" get one (if you like coke), very tasty with loads of caffein (35mg/l).

Okay, so I have to admit I wasn't at Yellow Sunshine, though I did try their tiramisu cake, which was tasty aside from being a little dry. But seriously next time you go, hit up Yo Yo too (and I'll go to Yellow Sunshine) -- what I love about Yo Yo is that it's 100% vegan and mighty tasty, IMO. Is Yellow now 100% vegan too, or not?

 

[Luise]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VeggieFrank

That's awesome, thanks for the tips!

A close German friend is thinking about becoming a veg* -- I was looking through Amazon.de, and there are a ton of books on the subject. Are there any that stand out? Can someone recommend some German websites I can point him to? Are there any cooking courses being offered in or around Berlin?

Thanks you guys.

Also, here are some sites that could be very useful to your friend:

Restaurant guide to Europe, especially Germany: http://veganguide.org/

Vegan guide to Berlin: http://www.berlin-vegan.de/berlin (They also organize events and have a Stammtisch every now and again: meet, eat, talk; I joined them for one at Yo Yo last weekend and found everyone was incredibly nice, very diverse group and a great way to get some tips from "real life" vegans, social networking, etc.)

Some info on B12, I haven't read through all of this but it looks good glanced over: http://vebu.de/alt/nv/dv/dv_1982_3__...era_Gottke.htm

And this, really, a great source for book tips, nutrition tips, traveling as a vegan, everything really, also has forums: http://vegan.de/index.shtml

 

[VeggieFrank]

Thanks a ton you two, that's a great help.

 

[Quinoa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VeggieFrank

Can someone recommend some German websites I can point him to?

In addition to the great advice already given by Luise and Insan0r, I'd like to point to this site http://www.veganwelt.de/ mainly for the huge recipe database (see "Kochen") and to http://www.v-heft.de/ which offers good basic outreach/info in German, comparable to "Why Veg*n?" etc.

Roots of Compassion recently published a recommendable cook book called Vegan lecker lecker! Not really "vegan cuisine", rather basic vegan recipes (but lots of them, incl. numerous baking recipes) that veg*n-interested omnis and newbie veg*ns are often clueless about. At EUR 5,90 it's a real bargain (available via amazon.de marketplace too IIRC), also to give a copy to omni family/friends.

 

[Luise]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quinoa

Roots of Compassion recently published a recommendable cook book called Vegan lecker lecker! Not really "vegan cuisine", rather basic vegan recipes (but lots of them, incl. numerous baking recipes) that veg*n-interested omnis and newbie veg*ns are often clueless about. At EUR 5,90 it's a real bargain (available via amazon.de marketplace too IIRC), also to give a copy to omni family/friends.

Is there anywhere that you know of that I could find that book in person to buy? (It can be an excuse to pick a place to travel to.)

 

[insan0r]

@Luise: Yellow sunshine isn't 100% vegan, there are also some vegetarian dishes on their menu.

@Vegan lecker, lecker: I ordered the book but was a little disappointed... I expected some more creative recipes - so the book is really only for newbies, and the pictures don't look tasty at all. So if you're looking for a inexpensive starter cookbook it's cool otherwise you might be disappointed.

 

[Quinoa]

^^^ yeah, I definitely wouldn't have needed it in my collection of vegan cookbooks, and wouldn't recommend it to someone who's already into vegan cooking. They will probably not find anything new in there, if you consider the plethora of English language vegan cookbooks that are available. But for the German market (How many "everyday" vegan cookbooks in German are there exactly? Right...), I thought it was a nice surprise. I agree about the pictures, a few would have been okay, but not one for every recipe at the price of including some really pale images. I do like the horizontal spiral bound format and kind of paper though, I think such details are often underestimated by other cookbook authors/editors, and are important if you want people to actually use the book. But of course the recipes are most important. Assuming that most vegan newbies (in Germany anyway) are in their mid-teens to early twenties, I guess a lot of them are cooking/baking newbies too, so Vegan lecker lecker! might target the main audience well enough.

 

[Quinoa]

Just thought Id post this here for anyone interested.

Theres a new initiative called Vegane Mensa (vegan university cafeteria) where students campaign for vegan options, already with some success.

Anyone can download info on why and how to convince their own school to implement this too.

(I still remember the times 15-20 years ago when uni cafeterias in Germany that offered a l/o-veg option twice a week were considered progressive, so the introduction of daily vegan options is a big step forward IMO.)

Similar (more detailed) information in English for the same use can be found in the Vegan Societys Caterpack.

 

[Indian Summer]

I'm going to Hamburg tonight! It's only for a meeting, so will only be staying for a couple of days though.

Just wanted to be sure: Is it true that all German beer is vegan?

 

[Quinoa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Indian Summer

I'm going to Hamburg tonight! It's only for a meeting, so will only be staying for a couple of days though.

Just wanted to be sure: Is it true that all German beer is vegan?

Yes.

Quote:

http://www.vegan.de/guide/lebensmittel/bier.shtml

Uns ist nicht bekannt, dass bei der Bierherstellung tierische Produkte verwendet werden. Das gilt sowohl für die bei der Bierherstellung verwendeten Zutaten als auch für die im Rahmen der Produktion verwendeten Klärmittel..« erklärt Thomas Winzek vom Deutschen Brauer-Bund.