Bamboo socks

If you don’t know it yet bamboo absorbes and evaporates sweat in a matter of seconds, it’s breatheable and doesn’t stick to the skin. It is also antistatic and antifungal, perfect for sensitive skins as the fibres are round and smooth and it’s not treated chemically (unlike rayon, the chemical processed version of bamboo massively available on the market). Bamboo is also fully biodegradable and requires a minute amount of water to grow compared to cotton. The wonderfiber is here to stay.

Bleed is such an example: a new German company of young imaginative people committed to eco-friendly street and sportswear using fabrics as organic cotton, recycled polyester, hemp, kapok (a fiber obtained from a tropical plant also known as Java cotton), recycled silver and sympatex (the evolution of goretex: a new material sporting optimal breathability, waterproofed and windproof qualities). As they say:

“We all love extreme sports like skateboarding, surfing, mountainbikig and snowboarding.
All of these awesome activities are depending on our beautiful nature. It´s just not the same feeling to spend your time in dull leisure facilities.  That´s why it is so important for us to save the environment.
Our name “bleed” stands for the “bleeding” nature which is exploited by the human race for decades.
We want to prove that eco-friendly Street- and Sportswear doesn’t have to be boring at all”.

You can read about their story here. They design very cool outfit and although they do not define themselves as vegan, all their clothing are, so far. Bleed also offers 100% money back guarantee: they must be pretty sure of the quality of their clothes.

• The jeans are 98% organic cotton and 2% elastane, men’s straight cut with soft touch diagonal stripes on back pocket. Vegan and recycled polyurethane application with bleed logo. They come in blue and a dark denim.
  

  Bleed jeans

• Indigo hemp shirt: 55% hemp, 45% organic cotton. Buttons in vegan coloured ivory (vegetable based).
  

  indigo hemp shirt

• Striped sweater in 100% organic cotton

striped sweater

They also offer a sheep sponsorship on their website: for a committment of €100 a year you can make a significant contribution to support volunteer project. Pretty cool if you ask me, a clear sign to trust them.

• Online vegan shops (Europe and USA): the site is a directory of all things vegan, the link refears specifically to online food shops but you’ll find a comprehensive directory of art, music, blogs, animal rights organizations, animal sanctuaries and a chatroom to connect with other vegans around the world. Very useful: I found some online vegan shops that I didn’t know yet.

• Iphone applications to help you make the right choice when you are out shopping:
  • Vegman: a work in progress database of vegan and vegetarian restaurant around the world. It uses geodata location so you always know what restaurants are closest. Very useful when travelling. Free app.
    

    Vegman

     

• •  Animal-Free: a list of animal derived ingredients. Helpful when shopping and you’re not too sure if that weird ingredient is ok or not. Free app.

  

  Animal-Free

  • Cruelty Free: the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics (CCIC) helps you to identify cruelty free brands. It doesn’t specify if the brand is vegan though. Free app.
  

  Cruelty Free

  • iVegan: spot those non vegan ingredients in food or cosmetics. It also provides a list of vegan friendly companies. Probably the most comprehensive database available (I find if useful for those E evils).  iVegan is also linked to a very useful website listing vegan and non vegan ingredients in food and a database of companies that test or do not test.
  

  VeganFM

  • HappyCow: the most comprehensive list of veggie restaurants around the world. € 2.39.
  

  HappyCow

  • Cosmetic Ingredient Maze: database of cosmetic ingredients with filters according to diet (vegetarian, vegan, gluten intolerance, salicylates) and possible symptoms reactions (acne, aggressive behaviour, asthma, depression, confusion, hay-fever, etc…). €2.99. There is also a comprehensive app for food and cosmetics called Chemical Maze @ 5.5.49, you first download the free version with only 25 ingredients and than upgrade to the full functionalities.
  

  Cosmetic Ingredients Maze

• Nella Bella: state of the arts vegan fabrics for the bags lover. Vegan line and designer from Canada, available in Europe through Feelgood Handbag. Lots of girl’s bags too.

Cabo Black

Stockholm NU Nappa Bag

• Ekobo: sleek bamboo design for your home. Bamboo is an ecological material as it is able to recycle carbon dioxide while it grows and produces 30% more oxygen than other trees. Ekobo takes care of the whole production chain minimizing the energy cost of production, shipping and takes care in ensuring artisanal communities in Vietnam higher and fairer wages.
  

  Ekobo

   

• Studio Jux: minimalistic design from Holland, where hemp seems to be high on the fashion agenda. Outerwear jacket in 55% hemp and 45% recycled polyester.
  

  Studio Jux - hemp and recycled polyester jacket

  Or maybe you can go for a more classical jacket (always 55% hemp and 45% recycled polyester) available from Charlie + Mary at a discount price.

  

  Studio Jux - jacket in hemp and recycled polyester

“We aim to offer people an alternative to synthetic and uncomfortable wear and promote the use of eco-friendly fabrics and especially hemp. We believe that by combining hemp & other eco-friendly materials with new innovative design; fashion and sustainability can be combined into one entity. Stylish, urban wear that’s not only beautiful but also high in comfort and produced in an earth friendly way”.

Hempworks coats

With every purchase of a Men’s Sea Shepherd Classic HoodLamb (left) Hempworks will donate  40€ to the Sea Shepherd Charity.

Men's Tech 4-20 HoodLamb Jacket (left) and Men's Furry Hoody Hemp HoodLamb (right)

They also design an hemp/bamboo/soy blend t-shirt: anti-bacterial, hypo-allergenic, soft and breathable. A snatch at only 20€.

Hemp/bamboo/soy blend t-shirt.

Soya fibre is a vegan alternative to silk: Soybean protein fibre has the same moisture absorption as cotton and better moisture transmission than cotton; it has higher breaking strength than wool, cotton, and silk and presents highly antibacterial propertiesmaking it an ideal choice for underwear and summer wear.

Hempworks products are also available at Hempmade in Leuven (Belgium).

No Fur

The decision is surely goning to piss off a lot of people especially in that fringe of the fashion industry that still believes you need to kill, torture ans steal animals’ skin to look gorgeous. Anna Wintour and other witches: get a life, you are so out, move on and leave your thrones, on with the new, stylish and compassion kings and queens of fashion.

Tools of the trade

So here I am, in a city that is increasingly being veganized, at this nice restaurant hidden away in a pleasant courtyard in chic Uhlandrstrasse, West Berlin. It is marked as a high end vegan restaurant and when I look at the menu I am a bit disappointed by limited choice of raw dishes, it seems like you are somehow forced into choosing between option A and option B on any dish. Stoically I complete my raw order and endure the temptation to side-track into cooked. I try to order the Cannelloni Non Forno, but I am told they don’t make them tonight so, disappointedly I fall back on the Raw Raviol (I had heard of them but I have never experienced).

When the dishes start to come I begin to realize that I am in for a big surprise: we’re talking the high end spectrum of raw cooking here! Everything tastes delicious and leaves me with the feeling of having discovered Berlin’s best kept secret.

Here is what I have ordered. I started with a Lime Almond Gazpacho that tastes simply heavenly, maybe the best raw soup I’ve ever had: a delicate balance of coconut sweetness blended into a soft avocado texture, with hints of chilli and refreshing lime.

Lime Almond Gazpacho

The standards of the dinner are set very high by this more than delicious soup, so I eagerly await the next dish: Raw Mediterranean Quiche made with fennel, mushrooms, pimentos, black Kalamata olives and thyme crust.

Raw Mediterranean Quiche

The taste is fulfilling under every point of view and while I am still wondering how the hell the chef reached such a good balance for the soup. I delve into the quice, a bit afraid to spoil the perfect composition sitting in front of my dish and I indulge into the epicurean (raw) feast: tomatoes, black olives, thyme and nuts hold together by a mix of essential oils. Essential oils in the kitchen: it’s a prime for me and I love it.

I am very curious to know how they make raw ravioli and when the waiter brings this, he gets the wow effect right on the spot: parsnip ravioli with pears, ginger and red cabbage salad.

Raw Turnip Ravioli

If I was afraid to ruin the composition of the previous dish, imagine the guilt I feel to bring my fork and knife close to the plate…obviously it tastes even better than it looks! I want to marry the chef here, so I look into the open kitchen and see a middle age man, he may not be the head chef but he certainly knows the secrets to the soup and the sweety flavour of the ravioli. Not my type but he’ll do if he can bring me to heaven and back.

I am approaching the end of the main dishes with a Timballo of Salsa Verde and Aubergine Terrine.

Timballo of Salsa Verde and Aubergine Terrine

I remember reading raw aubergine aren’t supposed to be very healthy but I am too curious to taste them and pretend I don’t remember what I had read. Once again, nuts, basilic, summer squash, tomato kirsch: it all tastes very good and is cleverly put together by someone that obviously has been practising the art of raw food!

I feel obliged to finish off with a dessert even if I am not hungry anymore. It’s a cashew nuts cheesecake, a bit too rich and sugary. Mine (thanks to Any Phyo’s recipe) tastes better! Little sad satisfaction of a raw chef wannabe like me.

I leave the restaurant and I head back to the hotel, very satisfied with my new Berlin discovery: the whole dinner was incredibly fresh, well prepared and tasted delicious. That’s what I associate Berlin with now: the fresh taste of ginger, lime and coconut of a multicultural city where gourmet food is accessible, and you don’t need a mortgage to shop organic!  Well done Berlin, it’s a city I certainly would like to live in and on my way back to underground I feel sorry for all those people I know that still think culinary art is ruled by strict rules based on animal exploitation and slavery.

Vego burger

Veganz has everything you can ever dream of: from a rack of raw food alternatives, ready packed for the busy rawfoodist on the go, to pet’s food, toiletries, not to mention the organic

fruit and vegetables section and a pretty good counter for the lazy vegan who doesn’t feel like cooking tonight. A lot of the products are organic: a philosophy that is widely accepted and developed in Germany and it’s nowhere near as expensive as in the rest of Europe: Organic food is not a priviledge but a right everyone should afford.

Great place, great people and what a great place Berlin has become. To plan your stay in Berlin you can get more detailed information on http://www.berlin-vegan.de/. It looks like these vegans are taking over the world*.

* PS: The vegan mafia is very handy in a country where you don’t speak the lingo.

Dance music with an edgy message: Mad Chicken Production, a New Zeland based project to dance and awaken people to respect the Ocean and its creatures. Has anyone mentioned Sea Shepherd by any chance? You can download more Mad Chicken Prodction Tunes at their website. MCP is also part of Artists for Sea Shepherd.

Here is their statement, from the Fb page: “Make music, write lyrics, compose your song, create video-art, whatever that conveys your message on whales being killed for no reason and help us put to these senseless atrocities.Your voice is welcome. So speak up so the world can hear. Inspire us with your art, with your music, with your sound, with your creativity and make the whales message heard through you. For Paul Watson once said: “The most powerful weapon in this compassionate crusade is the passion of the artist.”So it’s time for you to be heard”
Artists for Sea Shepherd.

• Vegan Drag Queens: While on one side of the planet MCP is grooving to save the Ocean n the other side, Honey LaBronx, a vegan drag queen in New York is in the process of taking over the world teaching people how to cook vegan. We love her, even when she doesn’t get the measures right: thank God for editing!