In the 90’s when I was at University in London I had a conversation with a friend’s boyfriend (and soon to be husband) who happened to be a French man from Paris. I asked for some info on how to survive as vegan in Paris and very naively he told me: “I’ve never heard of a French person being vegetarian, let alone vegan….Bonne chance!”. I have to say, my visit to Paris in 1993 isn’t exactly remembered for a particularly vegan friendly city.
VG-zone
Fast forward to 2011, meet Laura Veganpower and Sébastien Kardinal, the minds behind Vg-zone.net who has been promoting veganism in the most hard-core dairy country of Europe.
Laura-VeganPower
In a country where vegetarianism is already a bold statement, veganism is somehow a major challenge that they have met with enthusiasm and success. They decided to go public four years ago with the informative website Vg-zone.net. Laura and Sèbastian have been promoting veganism for the last four years through their site and all their collateral activities, from event organisation (they are behindParis Vegan Day too), ebook publishing, recipe sharing, vegan patisserie and activism, as you may have seen them on a number of manifestations in favour of “les droits des animaux”.
Sèbastien Kardinal
Paris nowadays boasts a growing vegan community spanning from accommodation to fashion designers, some restaurants and several bio shops. Finally la capital de la mode is waking up to vegan philosophy and is becoming more and more a cruelty free place you can visit sure to have all your vegan needs met.
Vg-zone is simply a comprehensive guide of all things vegan in Paris and France where you can find a plethora of precious infos on how to vegan everythign while you are there. The site is actually a mine of information and is possibly one of the best vegan website around, easy to navigate and with the most disparate information: products, recipes, restaurants, shops and all you need to find your vegan way through Paris the easy way.
Shall we call them “heroes of “la French veganization”? what’s the philosophy behind their site and what projects are they involved in? I have asked the successful duo few question: here are their answers.
Laura is also very well know for her skills at making cakes and with Sebastian, she has published books on veganism the easy and stylish way. I’ve met Laura at the Paris Vegan Day in Nov 2010 when I visited the city for this very special event. She is an excellent chef and her dreamy cupcakes do leave a lasting impression. She had a stand selling her famous cupcakes and my boyfriend and I had to go back for more servings after tasting them for the first time. If you think fancy cakes are an American thing look no further than Laura’s masterpieces both on her Facebook page and on Vg-zone. Her creations are not only delicious but real masterpieces in their own right. Real works of art.
Fraisier
Following are some questions I asked them via mail. [I need to apologize to them for the delay with which I am publishing this interview having being at a standstill with this blog for a long time due to personal encumbrances].
LLB : Obligatory question: what has pushed you to become vegan and how long have you been?
Laura: I have become vegan after I saw on the Internet all the atrocities perpetrated on animals. I had been vegetarian for two years. When I realized what eating eggs and drinking milk meant I stopped eating this food. I have been vegan for four years and a half.
Sèbastien: First I became vegetarian around 1986 when I was 14 for the simplest reason in the world: I hated meat and fish! An ovo-lacto vegetarian diet was something more “me”. I have always been animated by the acute sense of what we call “good and evil”. Logically veganism represents “good” and that’s why I adopted this lifestyle four years ago.
LLB: can you tell me something about your life before veganism?
Laura: It was a carefree life when I didn’t do anything to change things. I lived my life without worrying about the rest.
Sèbastien: there is no big difference between before and now exception made for a better health (“hygiène de vie”) and a wider warenesss.
LLB: What has changed once you took the big step?
Laura: Becoming vegan pushed me to cook while before I was satisfied with simple things without much creativity. I have since discovered products I didn’t know before and this coincided with the moment I quitted smoking realizing how much the obacco industry was linked to animal suffering.
Sèbastien: The need to read labels to find out non vegan ingredients has pushed me to get interested about the strange world of preservatives, than to the production mechanism. I have adopted once again a better “life hygiene” (hygène de vie), excluding all that could be poisonous. Veganism has taught me not to be a blind and submissive consumer”
LLB: How have people around you reacted?
Laura: It hasn’t caused any problem to my parents…my love for animals and disgust for meat was already well known.
Sèbastien: I am lucky to have parents that are very thoughtful about my desires, there was no surprise rather a great deal of understanding and benevolence about my vegetarian choice as a teen. On the other hand the passage to veganism has caused some anxiety, more for lack of understanding and knowledge about the issue, but it has never been a problem.
LLB: Vegan in France: can you tell us how is veganism considered in French society? I have noticed Paris has quite a few vegan places.
Laura: Veganism is a trend not very well known in France and up to a year ago it was badly represented in the press. The issue is often banalized and French society is unsuited or even reticent towards this lifestyle. No official structure (schools, hospitals, university, canteens, etc) provides vegan meals and even the vegetarian option is now available in few places.
It’s easier to live vegan in Paris than in the province: we have a larger choice of products due to the presence of bio shops, kosher and Asian markets. Our friends from the countryside only find some options in the dietetic rack of supermarkets and it is often a limited choice. In Paris we have more choice: when it comes to restaurants we can name around thirty vegetarian and macrobiotic places but only around three 100% vegan
It’s a larger choice compared to other cities in France but still modest compared to our English neighbours if we think that there are around one hundred vegetarian restaurants in London only and they all have vegan options. We need to point out that in Paris we have more and more Starbucks which have soya milk options for all its drinking. It’s very good!
LLB: Can you tell us how you got the idea to set up VG-zone, a real mine of information for French vegans and likewise for who is not. Can you speak about Vg-zone and about the projects connected?
Laura: The idea to create an info site complete and practical came to me when I realized that in France there was no specific web resource in this area. I looked for something that would gather quality tests about products of our diet, serious gastronomic critics, good addresses for shopping as well as some more sophisticated recipes. In brief all that is part of our vegan daily life. But I couldn’t realize this project on my own….I bought the domain name made up the banner, set up an editorial line and thought about the topics to deal with but I didn’t have the courage to do it on my own. It took about one year before the project went online: the turning point was my meeting with Laura who was very enthusiastic about my idea. Since than we both devoted ourselves entirely to this adventure. We’ve had and immediate and very encouraging success: this summer we’ll celebrate Vg-zone’s fourth year. Our visitors keep increasing steadily, and this pushes us to improve the quality. We are proud that our work helps our readers to improve their lives and it also shows non-vegans that our culinary culture has nothing to envy traditional gastronomy. And that, contrary to the way veganism is portrayed it doesn’t rhyme with only greens, brown rice, boiled tofu and apple compote!
Cake by Laura
Beside the main site, we have created an editorial company to provide our work with a legal structure. We have published two eBooks, we collaborate with different magazines and offer suggestions to restaurants. We also help some talented bloggers and associations linked to veganism and ethical companies with their web design needs. We don’t have time to get bored! And we are also continuously asked for vegan buffets and patisserie both for individuals and companies.
LLB: There is also Veganpower: what’s the difference between Vg-zone and it? It seems to be Laura’s personal space: can you tell us more about it?
Laura: As a mater of fact Vg-zone is centered exclusively around dietary issues. Three years ago Sèbastien gave me as birthday present a domain name with my name, a space to create something similar to me. I felt like talking about women’s topics like clothing and cosmetics, but always from a vegan perspective. That’s because there are women that look for information about make-up or contraception and don’t know where to turn to. And so I share my discovering, my stratagems and my researches.
LLB: You have taken part in the organization of the Paris Vegan Day, one of the best vegan events I have ever took part. What did you organizing such a big event? What was your role and what can we expect from the next?
Sèbastien: Together with the incredible Gentle Gourmet team (the only vegan b&b in France) we are co-founders of the event. The meeting we had and our common ideas allowed us to conceive the event in only six weeks: the first event of its kind in France. Four hundreds people came to assist to our cooking workshops and had lunch in the small place we rented. This experience was so positive that the need to recreate the event on a large scale was a natural development. So we created an association (of which I am vice-president) to create what is nowadays “the salon” [Paris Vegan day].
During the Paris Vegan Day we set up a stand where we sell Laura’s cakes served with a selection of bio teas. All the profits from the Paris Vegan day are reinvested toward the improvement of the next event. We organise cooking workshops with unusual, refined and festive recipes. During the year I look after the association’s website and this year Laura takes care of the contacts with cosmetics companies.
In 2010 we have had more than 5000 visitors when we hoped to reach the 2000! The Paris Vegan Day is for Parisians and French vegans alike and it has a worldwide echo. People came from all over Europe and USA to discover and support us. For the 2011 edition the Paris Vegan Day will be hosted over two days (1st and 2nd October) and we estimate a rough 8000 people to take part in it.
Laura and Sèbastien: The organisation of such an event requires lots of resources from the teams involved and it requires a year of planning. It’s very demanding and it requires a lot of energy as shown by Caroline Pivain, the current project coordinator. But it’s well worth and we’re not ready to stop! 😉
LLB: Let’s talk about your vegan cookbooks: you’ve created two eBooks downloadable from Vg-zone: how did you get the idea?
Laura and Sèbastien: As a matter of fact Vg-zone has always had the vocation to go beyond the website. The idea of making electronic books was an idea to overcome the finance cost of normal books and also to produce them according to an ecologic ethic. This is right in line with our own ethics: we are now dealing with different topics but this require an awful amount of time in planning and producing them.
Books published by Vg-zone
Sèbastine: The first eBook is the result of a reflexion to gather finance for the Paris Vegan Day. I had suggested Laura to contact her two friends Löu from Vegeta-Löu e Marie of 100% vegetal to create a “girly” vegan recipe book. The three girls were really enthusiastic so together we thought about a concept centred around the idea od “the dish for one person”. It was a thing we had never seen and it seemed to answer the needs of all those people who do not cook because all recipes are measured for 4 or 6 people.
For the second book the idea just sprung out Laura’s creativity for cupcakes. She wanted to publish every new recipe on Vg-zone, we thought that one or two cupcakes recipes on the website would be fine but not too many…So I suggested her to concentrate all her prolific creativity to create an eBook exclusively dedicated to her passion: cupcakes.
LLB: Your relation to cooking and diet in general?
Laura and Sèbastien: Cooking has only a rival in sex! Aren’t these the greatest human desires? So, when it comes to work in the kitchen, we devote ourselves without restrains with the wish to surprise, of going further and further, always with a great deal of love. This is a formula suitable for other things too, isn’t it?
LLB: What has changed after becoming vegan?
Laura and Sèbastien: When one leaves an industrial and easy to access diet, one finds himself quickly having to make things on his own due to boredom. Veganism has two conditions: getting interested to nutrition to know where to find all the nutrients of the products we ban from our diet and culinary creativity because the sources we rely on are fewer in comparison to traditional meat based recipes. These limitations are chances to overcome ignorance and allow you to take life back in your hands.
LLB: Let’s get to the reason why I know you Laura: cupcakes. I had the chance to try them at the Paris Vegan Day, I loved them so much I call you The Cupcake Goddess. Can you tell us how you got the passion for these little cakes? A little secret you can share with us to make them as delicious as yours? Do you provide a catering service too? I have also seen some photos of your last book Les Cupcakes: are they your wok too? I have found on your Facebook profile you are also interested in photography.
Laura: I have tried my first cupcake in London three years ago and it was love at first sight. A friend told me about these little cakes that at the time were booming in the USA. As in Paris there was no way to taste them in the vegan version, I started to make them myself. Immediately I saw it was possible to decorate them in many different ways, associating different tastes, without ever getting tired of them. At present I am dedicated to these cakes and I think that I am crazy enough to make another book on them!
Cupcakes by Laura Veganpower
I don’t have secrets, I already share all on Vg-zone and in the eBook Les Cupcakes, take these as suggestions. The cake is easy to make: I would say you need firm margarine at the basis to have a topping that holds in place. A good pastry bag to make super frosting and than especially you need to dare to use colours: the fun consists in not getting discouraged if you can’t make great frosting the first time. I myself have failed more than one before achieving exactly the decoration I intended.
Les cupcakes
As a matter of fact I have taken all the photos of the book Les Cupcakes. I have been interested in photography for some years now, and I got this passion thanks to Vg-zone. I am very meticulous and demanding on image quality. I want our readers to have the same experience as if they were reading a “real book”. Outside Vg-zone photography is also a personal pleasure for me.
Laura and Sèbastien: We don’t cater, but we do get orders both for buffets and pastries. For us it’s a good way to prove non vegans that you can make a sophisticated meal with only vegetable-based products. We are always proud when someone orders us a cake for his birthday or his wedding. You don’t have to forget you can’t buy a vegan cake in a French patisserie: it’s simply not possible. It’s also due to French families who don’t have curiosity for this type of alternative cooking. At family gatherings vegans often have to bring their own food and are seen as weirdoes that do not eat “normal food”. So if they can bring a beautiful vegan cake to share with others, it certainly helps to make people understand veganism.
LLB: How do you see the future of veganism in France, one of the countries most reticent to vegan philosophy but in which many interesting things are happening (Vg-zone, Paris Vegan Day, April 77, The Gentle Gourmet new vegan restaurants like Loving Hut, etc..)
Laura and Sèbastien: Since the beginning of 2011, French media has monopolised the topic of veganism after the appearance of Johnatan Safran Foer’s book “Eating Animals”. Almost every week tv or radio program or some magazine discuss the topic. As a result veganism is brought into the spotlight. This is very good for French veganism because the word “vegan”, so far ignored has come into use more and more often and begins to attract interest. This doesn’t mean the majority of France will turn vegan but al least it helps to ask questions in reference to this lifestyle and contributes to know and respect people who have already adopted it.
It is evident that French veganism can only develop in gastronomy. This may seem a bit subaltern to the main causes vegan activists are fighting for, but we need to be realistic: the majority of French people care more for what they eat than to ethics. This is not a battle lost in advance because vegan initiatives and talents are multiplying, diet has a main role and eating tofu has now become a trend. This is exactly Vg-zone’s strong appeal: the pleasure of food, good products, good places: in few words all that goes against the idea of “deprivation” and wrong eating.
LLB: Things are changing fast in Europe and all over the word. Vegan isn’t synonym with hippie and despite a resistance towards the word “vegan”, vegans are more and more out there showing that a vegan lifestyle is easier than thought, it’s fun and can also be “design conscious”. A vegan lifestyle is not made of deprivation, quite the opposite! What do you think about the marketing strategy adopted by many associations that choose to spread vegan philosophy and ideas but without ever referring to the word “vegan” (a term still pretty much still stigmatized) and instead adopt the more neutral “vegetarian” in an attempt to cause less trauma in a sense. Do you think veganism is still so scary?
Laura and Sèbastien: It’s a double-edged weapon. On one side the vegan movement really needs to be acknowledged in order to show its “beyond vegetarianism” values. On the other side we know it by experience the word vegetarian and vegan cause a lot of preconceptions. The culinary example is astonishing: prepare a 100% vegan meal and don’t say anything to the people that are supposed to eat it: people will simply enjoy the meal. Try making the same meal saying it’s vegan: half of the people will not want to try it while the other part will find that there is something lacking in the taste, that it isn’t entirely satisfying and that is lacks “meaty taste”. It’s all psychological! So, it’s difficult to judge on this topic because you need to be able to address all sort of people. It seems a good idea to have associations with different ideas which tackle the same subjects in different ways as long as it serves the cause.
LLB: What do you suggest to a person who want to take the leap into veganism?
Laura and Sèbastien: Thanks to the Internet vegan living has become really easy but you still need to know where to look for information. We don’t want to boast or make publicity for our site but the first thing to do is: “GO to www.vg-zone.net”. We’ve had so many testimonials by vegans who thanked us for our work and that have benefitted from it. Obviously that made us proud but it also contributed to make us understand the quality we owe our reader: people trust us and we cannot disappoint them. We also would like to point another site www.unmondevegan.net which is an online vegan shop.
LLB: You live in Paris, a city rich of magic and history: what do we need to visit when in Paris?
Sèbastien: Paris is my city, I was born here and I live here. I know very well the capital and everything it can offer: it’s difficult to be synthetic on what you can do or see. There are things I prefer like Le Louvre, le cimitiere de Père Lachaise, Notre-Dame and the catacombs. The real Paris’ beauty isn’t on display in shop windows or in museums: it’s out in the streets. Take a walk in the small streets of the 1st, 4th and 5th “arrondissements: it’s a chance to discover history and the real Paris.
Laura: I am nor a “pure” Parisian as I wasn’t born here but I’ve learnt to love this city, I would suggest you to go on top of La Tour Eiffel and take a look at the whole or Paris because it’s an amazing view. Le Jardin du Luxembourg are very nice and I like to go there for a stroll. La Basilique du Sacré-Coeur in Montmartre is really beautiful and on a good day the view is worth the way. And I totally agree on Sèbastian’s suggestion.
LLB: Can you suggest us some vegan or non vegan places in Paris?
Laura and Sèbastien: Thre are two vegan places in Paris: the restaurant Loving Hut and the dinners at The Gentle Gourmet: these are the only totally vegan places in Paris. The food is vegan, the people working there are vegan, the cleaning products are vegan and even the soap in the toilet is certified vegan. In both cases it’s more than a business: they are active and work hard to spread veganism. We are also big fan of a tea room called Mariages Frèresi, a mythical place in Paris where you can have an astonishing selection of teas in an old teahouse atmosphere. It’s a place beyond time which blends chic, quietness and refinement. Unfortunately they do not sell any vegan cake, but for us they are a great source of inspiration for the finest patisserie which we can veganize.
(Vg-zone publishes also a vegan map of Paris)
LLB: What is your relationship with Paris?
Laura and Sèbastien: It’s often said that Paris is the most beautiful city in the world….Although we haven’t visited all the capital cities on the planet to have a right opinion, I must admit that what we know about this city is indeed extraordinary. It’s a problem because you are kind of obliged to compare everything to our city, for this reason all seems a bit bland. For us only London has succeeded in competing a bit with Paris in our hearts.
LLB: Last question: what would you like to let us know I didn’t ask?
Laura and Sèbastien: The most important thing we’d like to let people know is that keeping a website is not difficult. Nowadays there are many free tools and easy to use that can help you do it. You don’t need to be a computer scientist or know how to code to express yourself on-line. With Vg-zone we use the WordPress platform that allows us to make wonderful things with an intuitive to use approach. Therefore if you want to spread veganism on-line, whatever the subject, do it! Because veganism isn’t visible in every city or every street, let’s take over the Web!
Laura and Sèbastien have also published a great book on “how to vegan-picnic”.
Pique nique Ethique
Go and get a copy and do thank them when you see them at the next Paris Vegan Day, this due is out there and you can’t stop them anymore! We need more Laura and Sèbastien.
Filed under: France, Laura Veganpower, Paris Vegan Day, Sèbastien Kardinal, Vg-zone
Lui là bas 