Ciao a tutti!
We are all familiar with supermarkets and going down isle after isle, checking product labels, looking for our favorite non-dairy milk, or trying to find that sweet treat that is made without eggs, butter, lard or something else weird. But, what if you could just walk into a supermarket and grab anything, I mean anything and not actually have to read labels; not actually ask someone if the product is vegan friendly; not actually have to go home and research to find out what is in the food.
You can already. VEGANZ (website in German) is the original 100% ALL-VEGAN supermarket that opened in Berlin, Germany in 2011. It was founded by Jan Bredack who had previously been working for Mercedes-Benz. It is the first of its kind 100% ALL-VEGAN supermarket in Europe.
Here you can find over 6,000 products from 200 different companies from about 30 different countries. In fact, Europe in general is way ahead of the USA when it comes to veganism. Berlin is really the hotspot right now and you will find anything from faux fish, to faux pate’, to sweets, to detergents, to….well, just about anything.
They also have catering, an online shop, workshops and cooking classes! And in the Hamburg location they have vegan film night! There is also talk of a vegan Italian restaurant set to be built atop one of the locations.
But the news is, is very soon one will also be opening in Italy! The founder has started to spread word about a location in Milan, Italy. Although nothing seems to be currently in construction, we can wait and see how it progresses. They have several other locations through Germany, one in Vienna, Austria and one in Prague, Czech Republic and wish to expand into the UK as well.
We heard an anticipated open date of 2015…so we will keep our readers posted! In the meantime, though, you can grab some vegan pesto at your local VEGANZ and enjoy some pasta with pesto! A dopo!
by 