It’s always good to know where your nearest vegetarian restaurant is. So I put together this little map. Click on the ‘knife and fork’ symbols for restaurant details.
For those who don’t believe that vegans can possibly be getting enough protein, one easy answer is hemp, which is 33% protein. Add to that the essential fatty acids and vitamin E and you have a very important food. Hemp seeds are nice eaten by the spoonful, generously sprinkled on salads, added to smoothies or made into hemp milk.
It used to be that Hemp seeds and hemp protein were on my list of items to stock up on when visiting the US or England (no, not Amsterdam)… until recently at an expo where I had the pleasure of meeting Christophe Latouche founder of L Chanvre M. Latouche is a passionate advocate for the benefits of hemp and his company sells a wide range of hemp products such as seeds, oils, skin care, and even chocolate. Their hemp comes from their farm in the village of St. Antoine in Bretagne. The farm is open to the public where you can do a workshop, taste, test, smell and live hemp. You can order from his site or you can buy their products at Anthylide here in Paris on Rue Pont Louis-Philippe in the 4eme.
Here is the recipe for hemp milk:
Ingredients:
1/4 cup shelled hemp seed
1 cup water
Flavoring (vanilla, agave nectar)
Directions: Place seeds in a blender and add a small amount of water (approx. 1 inch above the seeds). Turn the blender on at multiple speeds and agitate the seeds so they become a thick hemp cream. Then add either vanilla, agave nectar or perhaps only a ripe banana, and serve the blended liquid as a thick drink, or add water to taste for a lighter hemp milk. Optional: add berries, peaches, and/or papaya (courtesy of David Wolfe)
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 4ème, Groceries, Organic, Raw, Recipe | Leave a Comment »
A green smoothie is a fruit smoothie with lots of fresh greens added to it. I think they are delicious and are a great way to add even more greens to your diet. There are loads of great recipe combinations available online and whole books written on the subject.
My fave is a recipe my friend Serenity Wood, author of Ginger: Exquisite Vegan Cuisine, taught me. You can easily vary this recipe: the original uses kale but you can’t get that here so I use spinach, mâche, romaine, Swiss chard, or whatever is in season. Mint is just coming back in season or you can use 1/2 tsp mint flavor.
Recipe:
- 1 cup green leaves, packed
- 1/4 cup mint leaves, packed
- 2 tbls raw tahini
- 3 frozen bananas
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1/4 cup hempseeds
- 3 dates, pitted
Blend!
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Raw, Recipe, Sunday | 1 Comment »
A friend invited me to a vegetarian cooking class at her yoga school: Centre Sivananda de Yoga Vedanta. This 3-hour class (held in French) actually began with a one hour lecture on aryurvedic principles. The instructor ‘om’-ed and chanted beautifully and had a saint-like aura. I found her approach really interesting and often inspiring and it felt good to hear someone in Paris say that if we eat an animal we are eating the emotions, the fear of the animal. Ah, compassion!
After the lecture in their big sunny yoga room, we moved to their on-site kitchen where we observed the making of Mung dal, veg Sabji, Upama, coconut chutney, endive salad, and halva. It was hard to wait so long, but once all this was prepared we were served a healthy portion. The menu was not vegan and they use ghee in most of the recipes but I was touched that the instructor very kindly used olive oil instead for me. I had to pass on the chutney and halva as they contained dairy.
I had the feeling this yoga studio took their practice and dedication to health very seriously and unlike any studio I’ve ever visited they prepare and serve vegetarian lunch for their students daily. A full meal is 7.50, just soup for 2.50 and they offer really delicious looking Indian vegan cakes for 2.50. I didn’t try these cakes but they looked so good, I’ll have to go back! Not everything is vegan though so you may want to call ahead before stopping by.
(Check their schedule of ongoing cooking classes.)
Centre Sivananda de Yoga Vedanta
140, rue du fbg Saint Martin, 75010
Métro: Gare de L’Est
01 40 26 77 49
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 10ème, Cooking class, Indian, Organic | Leave a Comment »
Although it is no London, there are plenty of Indian restaurants in Paris. My favorite has to be Krishna Bhavan, located in the Little Jaffna neighborhood between Gare du Nord and La Chapelle which is home to the city’s Tamil population.
It is said that Tamils consider serving food as a service to humanity, and it shows in the warmth of service you get at this 100% vegetarian restaurant. When you tell your server that you need non-dairy food they will try to make anything on their menu vegan for you. Last night our lovely, English-speaking waitress even went out of her way to reemphasize that everything she was serving us was vegan.
And she served us plenty, because the combination of low, low prices and delicious, delicious food is a deadly one. Last night we started with banana pakoras, which were plantain-like and savory. Samosas were next, in a philo-style pastry followed by idlis. I almost never see idlis over here so I had to order them and they were lovely with their curry and chutney accompaniments. The highlight was the finale of masala dosas: massive, deliciously crispy, potato stuffed lentil-flour pancakes. With my cardamom tea, I was very happy.
There is even more good stuff on the menu, although the one on their site is slightly different than the one they are actually serving at the moment. And if you are not in the mood for a restaurant meal, they serve the same food across the street at their take-out branch. Also in Little Jaffna you can explore the various grocery stores, boutiques, veg-friendly restaurants and cd emporiums in the bustling and welcoming community.
Pros: Vegan friendly, cheap and very welcoming
Cons: No beer
Krishna-Bhavan
24, Rue Cail, 75010
Métro: La Chapelle
01 42 05 78 43
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 10ème, Budget, Indian, Restaurant, Review, Tamil | 1 Comment »
Sending vegan children to French school, whether private or public, does present some difficulties. To give you an idea of how complicated it can be, here is a summary of my experiences in the three different schools my children have attended.
Firstly, they were at the Steiner/Waldorf school just outside Paris. Part of the Steiner/Waldorf philosophy is a focus on agriculture, so the food they serve is not just organic, it’s bio-dynamic! However, at the Steiner/Waldorf school where I sent my little ones, a vegetarian option was available, but not vegan. So what does a vegan do? You are only allowed to bring your own lunch if you can provide written proof and approval from a doctor including much documentation, details of allergy tests or other medical reason, etc. I would need to find a pretty flexible/corrupt doctor to pull off that paper work! In the end the teachers just turned a blind eye to my son bringing his own lunch but the downside was I still had to pay full price for the cantine, which he took no part in.
Next, we were at a Montessori school in the 5th. Here, the children have the option to bring lunch from home vs. eating at the non-organic school canteen. It felt good to be playing by the rules. Strangely though, I had to pay a small monthly cantine fee. For what I wasn’t sure but the school was working very well for us, so I didn’t press the point.
Finally, at the public school in our neighborhood there is a vegetarian option but not vegan. We were told the kids could just eat the vegan stuff on the plate i.e. have a nice plate of plain spaghetti. This I don’t consider a balanced option. Children are strictly forbidden to take food from home without doctor’s approval. In this case, luckily, our children have the choice to go home from noon to 1:30. This works well for us. The school is close, so the kids come home and it’s nice to see them and provide them a nice organic, vegan meal.
There is no snack time at the French schools (except the Waldorf) so that’s not an issue. But there are often birthday celebrations or other fêtes involving food. In these cases my kids pass on the food and may just enjoy some juice. If I am lucky enough to know in advance, I can leave a vegan treat with the teacher for my child or I give them a special treat after school to celebrate the event.
Looking back, it hasn’t been easy for me but it’s just about do-able and the kids have always got nice food and are growing big and strong.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Everyday life | Leave a Comment »
Vegan Paris Dinner Club is for vegans to get together and meet other vegans and have a nice vegan meal.
March 31st at 7 pm, we’ll be holding our first meeting, at Le Potager du Marais. It’s an organic vegetarian restaurant that is very vegan-friendly. It is centrally located at 22, Rue Rambuteau, 75003 Paris, France – 01 42 74 24 66.
If you would like to RSVP, please click the Google Calendar button then click the Save Changes button there (or leave a comment below)
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This Friday through Monday, the Vivre Autrement expo will be taking place in the Parc Floral de Paris. The entrance fee is 7€, which includes access to all of the workshops. The workshops this year include: how to sprout, making “caviar” from sprouted grains, argan oil recipes, gardening, essential oils in cuisine, baby massage, toy making from hemp.
Of course, in addition to the workshops you can look around the 400 exhibitors in the expo. I’d really recommend visiting the stand and restaurant of Meli-Jo, a Belgian distributor of everything sprouting and juicing: at their stand at the recent Vivez Nature salon, I had a wheat grass shot and a huge plate of raw goodness that I still think of fondly to this day.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 12ème, Expo, Raw, Salad | 1 Comment »
If you are thinking about eating more raw veggies, dipping crudités is a great place to start. But of course some of the most popular dipping delights are creamy and cow-milk based. A great alternative for almost any creamy sauce can be made from nuts and seeds: like today’s recipe which is based on cashew nuts, which are a good source of protein and calcium and are packed with huge amounts of minerals not to mention monounsaturated fat (the good kind).
It’s raw ranch. I decided not to call it Rawnch.
Recipe:
- 3/4 cup raw cashews
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp minced onion
- 1 small clove garlic
- 1/2 tsp dill weed
- 1/2 tsp herbs de provence
- 1/2 cup water (add more water to thin, if you like)
- 1/4 cup finely minced fresh parsley or cilantro
Blend everything on high speed until smooth and creamy. Stir in fresh herbs. Serve with crudités, raw crackers such as Biscru or toss in salad.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Raw, Recipe, Sunday | 2 Comments »
Finding truly vegetarian Thai food is something of an art due to their beloved and ubiquitous nam pla fish sauce: I had never eaten Thai in Paris until a couple of nights ago when a tip-off led me to Blue Elephant down by Bastille. It didn’t work out…
You certainly can’t accuse them of underdoing the décor. Even if they just had the indoor rain forest and hadn’t gone for the waterfall, that would have been quite striking, but they had both.
I had heard that they had a dedicated vegetarian menu, and indeed they had a page in their menu that really talked up their commitment to their vegetarian customers. But, you know me, I had to ask… how could they have Thai green curry when it is always made with that pre-made paste that almost always has shrimp paste and nam pla in it? Turns out that it was too good to be true: if the wait staff are to be believed, that item is indeed non-vegetarian.
Of the vegetarian items that we did order, it was a mixed bag. The rolls were good, and the cashew dish was tasty too. Unfortunately it was served inside a pineapple. OK we get it… we’re in a tropical wonderland!!!!!
But the other vegetarian plat was unpleasant and the pad thai was sloppy and may also have been tainted with nam pla. Also, everything is rather pricy here – I suppose someone has to pay for the waterfall – such as the 9€50 coconut drink. By chance, I had just bought some coconuts in Chinatown for a Euro a pop so I really couldn’t justify that luxury.
Oh well, you can’t win them all.
Cons: The food and the prices
Pros: Complementary orchid for ladies on the way out
Blue Elephant
43-45 rue de la Roquette, 75011
Métro: Bastille
01 47 00 42 00
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 11ème, Lies, Restaurant, Review, Thai | 2 Comments »
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