Post Punk Kitchen Forum

When we went to the AH store during the meetup yesterday, we got the idea to make a thread where people can post interesting Dutch (and Belgian?) vegan foods. That way, no Dutch PPKer needs to live without the vegan pesto from Xenos, to name one random item.

I don't know whether the square is the appropriate place for this thread, but it would probably drown in all the messages at the food forum, so I thought it would be best to put it in the same forum as most of the other Holland/Belgium related stuff.

Some of my faves:
- Basilicum pasta a.k.a vegan pesto found at Xenos (this store has several other tasty vegan spreads)
- Robuuste koeken by LU, found in most supermarkets (these are awesome delicious and BIG chocolate chip cookies. The almond variety is my favorite)
- Ontbijtkoek: many varieties of ontbijtkoek are vegan. Some contain honey or some other random animal ingredient so always check the label.
- Speculoospasta and hagelslag (but everybody knows that, right?)
- Fair trade pure chocolade hagelslag
- Penotti soja chocoladehazelnoot pasta: fair trade, vegan, organic and tasty! (found at Jumbo and health food stores)

If you are looking for a vegan version of a particular food, have a look at the wiki of the Dutch vegan society.

Ooh, thanks for starting this thread, Cornelie.

This isn't really a revelation as there are a bunch of vegan dark chocolates out there, but I have to say that the Albert Heijn puur&eerlijk Biologische fairtrade puur is the yummiest dark chocolate I've ever come across.

And don't forget speculoos itself. Not all brands are vegan, but you can always count on Lotus! (I got a little thrill recently when I went to get a cup of coffee to go at Einstein Coffee in the station at Mechelen, and along with all the free stuff like sugar and creamers they had little Lotus speculoosjes for with your joe-to-go!)

Xenos vegan pesto?! Mind = blown!

Also: there's a brand (the name of which I've conveniently forgotten) that makes chocolate-covered orange gellies. They're sold at Albert H. and Jumbo!

Hema also sells pretzel-shaped dark chocolates that are pretty bitchin'.

I'll check that out. I have been known to eat a whole box of those in one afternoon...

Also cassave kroepoek. Spicy vegan krupuk made from cassava, no shrimp involved. Can be found in any supermarket. Goes great with strong Belgian beer.

My latest vegan delight are the Bon Ice rice milk dark chocolate ice cream on a stick. (Ekoplaza has them.) THE answer to my craving for ice cream, since soy ice cream doesn't really do it for me.

The Plus supermarkets have falafel which is 100 % plant based and delicious. I think the brand is Vivera. I always have a box in the freezer because it's great for popping in the oven while still frozen for a quick meal. (Oh and don't buy the AH falafel, that shiitake is nasty.)

Ah yes, the vegan magnums :-) I heard raving stories about them, but was a little disappointed when I finally got to try one recently. The chocolate tastes good, but the ice-cream is too sweet for me and not creamy enough. Still, they are pretty awesome.

In Belgium, Ijsboerke has vegan magnums too. And cornetto's and vanilla ice cream. They discontinued the mocha and chocolate ice cream though. *extreme sadface* But you have to get that delivered to your house, only a very small selection of Ijsboerke stuff is available in supermarkets.

ETA: it's all soy based.

I should get in on this IJsboerke business.

Yesssss, I had one of those in Utrecht on Thursday and it was so good. Wish we could get them here!

Yes! I found those soy cornettos last summer at the Delhaize, and I could not contain my glee! It had been years since I'd had a cornetto! Will have to get some again soon!

Slightly offtopic, but does any of you know whether the cones they use for those ice creams that you buy in a stand on the street are vegan?

I have no idea, but I think I've seen some in shops that appear to be vegan. Bring Your Own Cone™!

I found this at the Colruyt yesterday:



It's vegan!

Is that cereal or candy or both? I'm getting a sugar high just looking at the picture of the box :-)

Is there a difference? ;-)

Mmmm... crispy golden wheat pockets filled with speculoos pasta-ey goodness....

I tried some at veg.eric's a while ago. They were way, way too sweet for me. (But I'm still happy they exist!)

Oh man! I went into a tiny little Delhaize in a tiny little town today and they had these:



I've never even seen these in the largest Albert Heijn in Amsterdam. Has anyone else seen these in NL? Unfortunately, I was travelling light and couldn't buy them. Next time!

want.

Oo! I think there's an AH here in Breda that carries all the products AH carries in its stores - it's some sort of tester store where they try out all the products. I've never been, but maybe I should check it out if they have that!

Nope, never seen those here either. Our AH does carry Almond Dream and Rice Dream milks and all the flavors of Alpro soy milk, including macchiato, which is like crack to me, so I don't buy it very often.

Have any of you been to Jumbo recently? Today I went for the first time in, er, 8 or more months. So impressed by their vegan products! They have a line of fairtrade goods which includes amazing passionfruit/mango and pineapple juices. Also, a huge collection of fake meats, 3/4 of which are not only vegan BUT also have a giant V = Vegan sticker on them, so you know. They don't have the Alpro almond milk yet, but they do have the soy macchiato, lots of soy creamers, even blueberry and cranberry-flavored syrup (!). And the amazing hummus I know from the US: sabra.

Jumbo also carries 4 or 5 flavors of Reed's homemade ginger ale.

That's great! Last time I was there, they only had a few and they were not marked. Are there sausages too? I would love to be able to buy vegan sausage at the supermarket. There is a Jumbo near my office, so I'll make sure to have a look soon. I also really like the large assortment of fair trade products, like the cocoa powder and bananas.

Seriously? I've never seen Almond Dream or Rice Dream over here! But oh, that macchiato! Holy crepe, it's yummy. I seriously underestimated the amount of caffeine in it, though, and once drank a big old mug of it (heated) after dinner one night. Totally kept me up!

But I've been amazed at how many different Alpro products they've got in the supermarkets in Belgium. In addition to the almond/hazelnut milks, I've seen flavors of pudding and yoghurt I've never seen here, plus whipping cream! And not just in a big supermarket in a city. That picture was taken in a Delhaize the size of a mini-mart in Denderbelle (population 2135).