Vegasme and Greenway

In addition to products, I’ll be occasionally highlighting vegan or vegan-friendly places, and as I had to be in Brussels today, I thought I’d highlight two great additions to the scene there.

Brussels has, until recently, been one of the least vegan-friendly cities in Belgium, but recently, things seem to be shifting. For one thing, two new vegan groceries have opened: VegAnne in Schaarbeek and Vegasme in Elsene. I haven’t been to VegAnne, but I have now been to Vegasme twice, and even though it’s a little out of the way for me (I work in the center of town), it’s absolutely worth the detour!

Not only are the staff there incredibly friendly, but along the walls of the warmly decorated interior, you’ll find racks and racks (and fridges) filled with fantastic vegan products – everything from toiletries to tofu. They’ve got a small selection of organic produce downstairs, but for me, upstairs is really where the action is. Their five fridges  (I could only get four of the fridges on the picture) are jam packed with products that have, until now, not always been easy to find in Belgium (Sheese, Vegusto, Violife, to name just a few!) and their freezer makes me wish I lived in Brussels so I could buy all the ice cream without it melting before I got home. Oh, and they’ve got a deli case next to the register with prepared food like pizza and quiche. I had a couple of slices of the pizza the last time I was there, and if it was closer to work, I’d definitely be stopping by there for lunch on a regular basis.

My pictures really don’t do this place justice, but take a look at my impressive haul from today’s visit and you may get an inkling of some of the fantastic products on offer. (I’ll be discussing all of these individual products in later posts.)

Vegasme is located on the Waterloosteenweg/Chaussée de Waterloo 367 and is open Monday-Friday from 10:00 to 20:00, Saturday from 10:00 to 19:00, and Sunday from 12:00 to 17:00.

Greenway is a chain of vegetarian restaurants with three locations in Flanders and now a Greenway Express in Brussels, located in Brussel-Zuid train station. Not all of their items are vegan, but a good number are, and they are marked clearly on the menu. The Express doesn’t offer as many items as the full restaurants in Gent, Leuven, and Antwerp, but they offer three burgers, at least one of which is vegan, and three wraps, all of which are vegan. They also offer a vegan brownie and vegan carrot cake, a breakfast of soy yoghurt with your choice of toppings, and they only use soy milk in their coffee drinks. For me, the stand-out items are the Vegan Kebab Wrap (pictured here with appetizing bite marks… I couldn’t wait) and the rich and moist vegan brownie.

If you find yourself in Brussels, anywhere near South Station, it’s a great place for lunch or even a casual dinner! They’re located at Fonsnylaan 46 (the hallway parallel to the Hortaplein) are open weekdays from 6:30 to 20:00 and weekends from 8:00 to 20:00.

Lotus Speculoos cookies and spread

I couldn’t start a blog about vegan food in Belgium without mentioning the most quintessentially Belgian of products, speculoos. Somewhat reminiscent of gingerbread, the cookies are crunchy and perfect with a cup of coffee, but where speculoos really comes into its own is in spread form. Looking like peanut butter, but tasting like cookies, it’s like fairy dust in a jar. It’s available as both smooth and crunchy. There are other brands of speculoos cookies and spread out there, but they’re not all vegan, so check the ingredients. Lotus brand speculoos is, as far as I know, consistently vegan. (Although not all of their products are.)

It’s available at most every supermarket where name brand products are sold. Oh, and if you get coffee at the Panos, they’ll often give you a little Lotus speculoos cookie to go!