belgium?

[bulletproof]

i am going to ghent soon.. anyone got any tips on where to find vegan-friendly, sorry, animal-friendly places (if they exist) ?

of course i will search the net a bit too but maybe some people have first hand experience?

[bulletproof]

http://www.use-it.be/gent/eng/veggies.php <------ quite helpful

i didn't expect ghent to be such a vegan haven!

[Blueshark]

Anyone got anymore belgian info?

Actually that link above was useful for Antwerp. They have an Olympic size swimming pool here .

[geysir111]

Hi Comrade!

I live in Belgium but I'm not use to go to Ghent. The link above seems quite helpfull. If you need more vegan information, there is a flemmish loyal vegan organisation and I guess there have at least 1 agent in Ghent. This is Bite Back!

http://www.biteback.be/

If you're mailing them, you can say as a reference that you've been send to them by Christophe, the vegan from Luik (it's me). Marianne and Benjamin are the 2 honourable leaders of this organisation. Their website is in dutch but you could translate it with some systran-based website. http://babelfish.altavista.com would work I suppose.

Have a nice vegan time in Ghent.

Take care,

XXX

[ukahela]

check out www.vegetarisme.be

i was living in belgium for some time. don't remember much of the food situation. they had a lot of nice stuff in my local health food shop - like vegan ravioli etc. some nice 'vegetable terrins' (i think they were called) in the supermarket, the most meat-tasting sausages i ever tried (i later discovered they had egg protein in them), and the BEST ever vegan milk chocolate. it was some sort of cereal and soy containing chocolate, with orange and hazelnuts.
in general there is a LOT of vegan chocolate, in ANY food store, as 'fine' chocolate is fondant (dark choc, 'milk choc' is considered a little vulgar sometimes , for example there was a delicious praliné filled choc bar.

alpro (provamel) is belgian, so there's a lot of those products around.

well, a few tips. maybe not so useful as i don't remember brands and all that...=/

[Blueshark]

Hi Comrade!

I live in Belgium but I'm not use to go to Ghent. The link above seems quite helpfull. If you need more vegan information, there is a flemmish loyal vegan organisation and I guess there have at least 1 agent in Ghent. This is Bite Back!

http://www.biteback.be/

If you're mailing them, you can say as a reference that you've been send to them by Christophe, the vegan from Luik (it's me). Marianne and Benjamin are the 2 honourable leaders of this organisation. Their website is in dutch but you could translate it with some systran-based website. http://babelfish.altavista.com would work I suppose.

Have a nice vegan time in Ghent.

Take care,

XXX

Thanks Chris -
I am actually in Antwerp - but I will get in touch with them - thanks for referral.

Do health food shops stock vegan speciality food here?

[Blueshark]

check out www.vegetarisme.be

i was living in belgium for some time. don't remember much of the food situation. they had a lot of nice stuff in my local health food shop - like vegan ravioli etc. some nice 'vegetable terrins' (i think they were called) in the supermarket, the most meat-tasting sausages i ever tried (i later discovered they had egg protein in them), and the BEST ever vegan milk chocolate. it was some sort of cereal and soy containing chocolate, with orange and hazelnuts.
in general there is a LOT of vegan chocolate, in ANY food store, as 'fine' chocolate is fondant (dark choc, 'milk choc' is considered a little vulgar sometimes , for example there was a delicious praliné filled choc bar.

alpro (provamel) is belgian, so there's a lot of those products around.

well, a few tips. maybe not so useful as i don't remember brands and all that...=/

hey thanks for the link . Looks great with an English discussion forum.

I will have to find some health stores. Already tried some dark praline - was absolutely amazing. One of best chocolates ever.

[ukahela]

oh, and in antwerp it's well worth it going to the jewish district, in kosher shops you can find quite a few vegan things!

[geysir111]

Hi Blueshark!

Would you come by Brussels?

Do health food shops stock vegan speciality food here?

It's worth to try to health food shop and organic food shops, really, I buy most of my things in these shops anyway, it might be the same in Flanders.

it's well worth it going to the jewish district, in kosher shops you can find quite a few vegan things!

Jew District? Do they sell vegan food? Apart from delicious kosher humus, I don't know if you can found something there, but maybe you're right if you've been there... Hummm delicious jewish humus

[ukahela]

yup! i don't remember exactly what i got, but in general in kosher shops, it's common to find biscuits, sweets, spreads etc that are vegan. in a london shop i've found white chocolate for example, and a chocolate spread that's white-brown swirled! often you can find 'normal' vegan things as well - soya ice cream, falafel balls and veg sausages etc.

the thing is that according to kosher laws, you mustn't eat dairy and meat in the same meal. (so as not to eat both mother and teh food for her child in the same meal...) so that's why they avoid dairy in a lot of biscuits etc.

many jelly sweets have kosher gelatine, which sometimes is vegetable (i think it can be fish gelatine sometimes though, so better check twice. or ask someone who knows.)

[Blueshark]

It just occured to me that I should have logged the vegan resources I found, whilst in Belgium.

Doh!

Well, I did find a great supermarket which sold absolutely loads of vegan foods, including my favourite hazelnut milk.

'Het Naturhuis'

29 Otto Veniusstraat
Antwerp
2000

It also had a cafe, which I didnt try out, but looked to be good for veg*n options.

Regular supermarkets:

GB/ Carrefour: The usual one I went to, was pretty damn good.

It supplied: Fresh Tofu, Smoked Tofu.
Seitan steaks (didnt really like them)
Sweetcorn burgers
Tofu Burgers

Alpro is Belgian, and provides a good range of milk, yoghurt, marg, cooking marg and desserts.

And of course chocolate!

The best was Galler, but also Carte D'or produced some very good 'fondants'.

[Blueshark]

Hummous and Falafel were surprisingly difficult to find.

I managed to get hummous at the Carrefour (hypermarket) and falafel only at the veg*n store mentioned above.

There were a few (not many) middle eastern restaurants/fast food joints which sold nice crispy falafel.

The main fast food in Belgium is the Frieten - the French Fries.

These are good, and definitely worth having as a treat.

The 'Bicky' Vegi burger is probably the only veggie option (didnt have it or check if it is vegan though).

There was an 'Asian' store on StatieStraat called Euroasia, which provided some Sri Lankan curries/ rice etc..

[Blueshark]

Belgium, like Germany ( a previous place i lived as veggie) are very hot on their recycling.

I had 4 rubbish bins in my kitchen.

One for Vegetables/fruit general food waste.
One for Cans/tins
One for Cartons/containers
One for General refuse.

They would also collect cardboard boxes every fortnight with the rest of the rubbish.

Cycling is well supported over there, but the cycle lanes leave a lot to be desired. The cyclists share them with moped users, but they have seen better days.

Driving is quite hazardous because, cyclists/mopeds have right of way, and often you share the road with trams.

[nervine]

"Chips or french fries, as they are variously known in the English-speaking world, are actually of Belgian origin, as any Belgian will take great pleasure in telling you ("They weren't invented by the French!")"

We invented them bitches!

If you find any vegan chocolate let me know! I didn't know there were veggie bickey burgers!! If they are vegan they are definately worth trying!! They are the best Belgian junkfood there is!

[Blueshark]

Yeah there were chips (frieten) shops everywhere. Didnt know it was a Belgian invention though

Ut welke land com ji nervine?

[nervine]

Yeah there were chips (frieten) shops everywhere. Didnt know it was a Belgian invention though

Ut welke land com ji nervine?

Where I come from they call a chips shop a "friettekot"

I was born in Roeselare, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. I love my dialect, it's the most outrageous one in the whole of Belgium. Goddamnit talking about frieten made me really want e middelmoatje me curry ketchup en e veggie bickey. *drools*

[aubergine]

If you find any vegan chocolate let me know!

Green and Blacks do Vegan dark chocolate, although they are owned by Cadbury's. You might want to check out Plamil chocolate too.

[nervine]

Green and Blacks do Vegan dark chocolate, although they are owned by Cadbury's. You might want to check out Plamil chocolate too.

I meant belgian chocolate but thanks anyway.

[aubergine]

In that case none that you can buy in this country as far as I know. Sorry

[Blueshark]

oh. Thats contrary to my experience. Lots of dark choc with no milk in them

[piggy]

are you in Luxembourg City right now, Blueshark?