Europe

4 July 2019

vegan food at Haus Hiltl in Zurich
I recently returned from a two week trip to Italy and the struggle to get back into every day life is real. Italy is a beautiful country and if you're a long time follower you'll know this is just one of many trips we have taken in recent years. This time we started off in Switzerland, in fact Zurich to be specific with the main purpose of catching the Bernina Express to Italy.


16 May 2017

Travel Berlin Germany Vegan Vegetarian Free From Tourist Attractions Sight Seeing
If you follow me on social media you'll know I spent last week in Berlin. I’d previously been to Germany on school trips but my ability to speak the language is little to none. I've two phrases I remember from GCSE and one is laughable - Ich habe ein Meerschweinchen (translates to "I have a guinea pig"). It’s funny how with hindsight you regret not paying attention in school and disappointment that even with an Austrian Grandmother we weren’t taught German at home. When we booked our trip to Berlin it dawned on me I had been in Hamburg at the time the wall fell and I think the significance of that event passed over me as a teenager.

Berlin is a huge city and you could re-visit numerous times and still miss things. It’s a great city to just wander around and take in the architecture. In five days we covered most of the well known tourist stops – Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg Gate, Berlin Wall (East Side Gallery & Open Air Exhibition) and Holocaust Memorial. There are many museums and we opted to visit the DDR Museum and the Spy Museum (Deutsches Spionagemuseum).

Sightseeing is one small element to travelling and I'm most certainly someone who books a trip based on the food I can eat. If you are new to my blog I should quickly mention I'm a vegan with food allergies (includes milk and egg). Vegan may carry a risk of cross contamination for allergens but on the whole it can take the pressure off menu choices as I'm not asking for dishes to me adapted. I’m probably not the first to say this but based off my travels around Europe, Berlin is easily one of the best cities for Vegetarians and Vegans. There are dedicated Vegan cafes and restaurants but you’ll also find options elsewhere which is particularly useful for us because my husband isn’t vegetarian/vegan. I did notice that sometimes vegan items are marked vegetarian so don’t overlook this when checking menus. If you're interested in where we ate keep reading.
Vegan Vegetarian Food Berlin Germany Free From Allergies
Boussi Falafel - We arrived in Berlin late afternoon so whilst getting our bearings we found the Mall of Berlin which has a large food court. I wasn’t expecting much but found a falafel stand and was ecstatic to see everything listed vegan including a mayo option with chips. Also whilst I think of it the ice cream stand had vegan options (Alteatro tucked in a corner near the lifts and toilets).

Coffee Fellows - if you love Bagels (like I do) then grab lunch here (we stopped in the store near Checkpoint Charlie). The Vegan bagel was a delicious combination of avocado, hummus and salad. I washed that down with an amazing iced lemon matcha drink. There were also several vegetarian options which I guess they may adapt if you asked.

Dean & David - their slogan is "fresh to eat" so I'd describe this place as a health conscious fast food chain (similar to Pret a Manger?). The menu is salads, sandwiches, soups and curries and you’ll find vegan options marked on the boards. I enjoyed the superfood salad.

Back Werk - we spotted these stores at train stations and I’d describe it as the German equivalent to Greggs. They had several vegan sandwiches including a schnitzel one and I noticed some chia and coconut yoghurt breakfast pots. Everything is labelled on the shelf so easy to pick out what is suitable.

Peter Pane Burgergrill - by far our favourite place as we ate there TWICE! We stumbled across this place as we exited the U-Bahn at Friedrichstraße. My husband just assumed it would only have meat burgers but I checked regardless (thanks Katie for that tip to check where you might not think to look). You can imagine my excitement when I spotted vegetarian and vegan burgers on the menu.  I had the Panflote and Weltreise. The ultimate prize for me was a vegan dessert option, chocolate mousse on chocolate biscuit with coconut vanilla ice cream and mango. I also recommend the Blueberry Mojito.

Brammibal's Donuts - a little cafe on a mainly residential street selling Vegan donuts and not just any old boring doughnut we chose chocolate peanut butter, cherry pistachio, salted caramel and banana peanut butter. My husband who is a fuss pot but has no special dietary requirements happily helped me eat the box of four. Yep! we went a little nuts over that, a box was better value according to my husband....clearly it was all a clever plan.

Bio Company & Alnatura – if you are self catering or looking for snack food then both these stores are equivalent to say Wholefoods or Holland & Barrett. There are stores across the city and they also have a little cafe/deli counter so you can grab and go for lunch if you wish.

Veganz (a vegan supermarket) – this is probably the place I knew the most about before visiting Berlin thanks to bloggers I follow. There are three stores in the city and our closest was in Kreuzberg. This Veganz is located on the top floor of an indoor market with a vegan cafe next door called Goodies. Veganz also have their own branded products which we spotted in various shops across the city including DM and Netto.

One of my most sentimental discoveries was Manner Hazelnut Wafers. I remember these were a treat sent to us from Austrian relatives when my sister and I were little. I had absolutely no idea I was still able to eat them and was ecstatic to see them labelled Vegan. 

If you want to have a true German experience with a Currywurst then you can do so as a non-meat eater. Sadly I forgot to note the name of a place we walked past but I did spot Vegan options so keep your eyes peeled and double check stands as you walk around.

We made one slip up on food whilst in Berlin. Just remember to continually check ingredients even if you've eaten there before as I found myself accidentally chomping down on a pretzel filled with cream cheese. I was so caught up in the buzz of safe eating that I took my plain looking pretzel for granted. Also double check your pizza bases for milk because that's a common mistake assuming they are all safe to eat.

For getting around the city we opted for the Berlin Welcome Card, it covers transport and gives discounts on attractions, we bought in the airport which took the hassle out of getting bus tickets to our hotel. If you’re looking for a hotel recommendation we stayed at TRYP by Wyndham Berlin Mitte. I’d say it’s a modern business hotel but easy to get to from Tegel Airport, it’s located in what would have been East Berlin and a short walk from the Natural History Museum (U-Bahn stop Naturkundemuseum). We were also a 5/10 minute walk to Bio and Rewe supermarkets.

Have you visited Berlin or are you planning to in the future? Will you be going for the sights or the food?

Sarah x

30 April 2014

Reading labels on food and skincare is part of my daily life because there are many ingredients I either need to or chose to avoid. I want to impart some of my knowledge to readers because there are laws in place to protect consumer safety and a small number of cosmetic manufacturers are failing to comply. I currently have four products in my collection with labelling that does not meet the standards set out by The Cosmetic Products (Safety) Regulations 2008. Obviously, government regulations are lengthy and complex but there are three labelling requirements which I wish to draw your attention to - INCI, allergens in essential oils and best before dates.

You will see from the labels pictured above, these companies fail to comply with regulations because ingredients are listed in English and they should be in INCI (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients). For example, water should be listed as Aqua, Jojoba oil as Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil and Shea Butter as Butyrospermum Parkii. When an ingredient cannot be identified in this way then other classifications are used (chemical name, European Pharmacopoeia name, International Non-proprietary name (INN) as recommended by the World Health Organisation, EINECS, ELINCS or CAS identification reference or colour index number). As a side note, ingredients in concentrations of less than 1% may be listed in any order after those in concentrations of more than 1%. If a product is small or an odd shape and labelling it would prove tricky, then ingredients must be shown elsewhere, perhaps on an a leaflet, outer box or a tag.

I approached the companies about lack of INCI and received the following responses. FYI when I shop for products I very rarely give indication that I am a blogger. I do this because I want my shopping experience to be authentic and do not wish to receive special treatment. 

"Yes we are in the process of updating all of our labelling to be in line with the new legislation. As a small family run business that has only recently started selling generally, we do not have the budget of large conglomerates so bare with us as we update the labels."

"And so sorry for a wrong label, not sure how did I get it. I only can guess - As I design, print, cut my labels myself and I normally keep different designs on one product on one sheet of artwork."

"Thanks for the heads up and many apologies, our labels have recently been changed to comply with INCI but an old version must have been stuck on your jar."

Whilst I am willing to give companies the benefit of the doubt, isn't it funny how two of them practically came up with the same "excuse". 

The most alarming part to one response was "I was not aware that allergens for essential oils were a requirement for labels but we will definitely get on the case with that one!" From my own research via Google, I understand that on March 11, 2003, the EU published the 7th Amendment to its Cosmetic Directive 76/768/EEC. Among the changes was the addition of the 26 popular fragrance ingredients to the Annex III. In order to explain what that means for the consumer the following paragraph offers clarification.

"There are 26 fragrance ingredients that are considered more likely to cause reactions in susceptible people. These must be indicated in the list of ingredients, in addition to the word ‘parfum’, if their concentration exceeds 0.001% in leave-on products (e.g. a moisturiser) and 0.01% in rinse-off products (e.g. a shampoo). This way of labelling cosmetics was introduced in 2005 to help people to make informed choices about what they buy, particularly if they have a diagnosed allergy to a specific fragrance ingredient." (source link)

Fragrance allergens are identified at the end of the ingredient lists, you may be familiar with seeing components such as Linalool, Limonene, Geraniol (*further reading).

Lastly, lets address the issue of minimum durability dates which I think is pretty straightforward to understand. The regulation states -

12a) the date of minimum durability
(i)indicated by the words: ‘best used before the end of’ followed by either the date itself, or details of where it appears on the packaging;
(ii)clearly expressed and consisting of either the month and year or the day, month and year in that order
(iii)supplemented, if necessary, by an indication of the conditions which must be satisfied to guarantee the stated durability;
except where the cosmetic product has a minimum durability of more than 30 months, in which case it is not mandatory to indicate the date of durability, but such a product shall have an indication of the period of time after opening for which the product can be used without any harm to the consumer. This information shall be indicated by the symbol given in Part 2 of Schedule 8 followed by the period in months or years or both months and years. (source)

One of the companies I contacted (quoted above) mentioned "new legislation". I can only assume they are referring to Cosmetic Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009, a new directive that came into force July 2013. Rather than bore you with further explanations of recent changes, the infographic below does the job for me.

Two of the products I have in my possession were bought on the basis of reviews I had read. I can not say whether the labels were incorrect for those Bloggers. I love and support cottage industries but can not ignore failures to comply with the law. My most recent cosmetic purchase prompted me to write this blog post because they were the worst offenders. I spent £11 on a cleansing balm that I will not be using. Ingredients are listed in English, which I can forgive but the product contains essential oils and gives no indication of allergens. I worry because this product is from the company that informed me they were not aware allergens had to be listed on the label. As it stands, if the essential oils are above 0.01% (which I have no way of knowing) then this company is breaking the law by not declaring them. Effort has been made to include for a "best before" date as there is a space on label but it hasn't been written in so I have no idea of minimum durability or period for which product is safe after opening. I also spotted lack of a batch code which is required under Regulation 12(1)(d). As a customer with sensitive skin, the risk of allergic reaction is too high.

Countries outside of the EU will comply with different regulations laid out by their governing bodies, however, if they intend to sell to Europe they would be expected to comply with EU laws. If you are not happy with a cosmetic label, I would challenge the company that manufactured the product. If the answer you receive is not satisfactory, you would be within your rights to report your concerns to Trading Standards.

I know this is a lot of information to digest but I am curious, how many of you were aware of the regulations? Are you checking labels in the same way I do? If you find incorrect labels do you raise your concerns with the manufacturer?

Sarah x

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