plantbased Archives - Wander-Lust

I have been getting several request from our followers and readers about where the best vegan spots in Amsterdam are. Yes, eating less animal products is becoming somewhat of a trend and Amsterdam is one of those cities that is quick to respond. More and more restaurants are giving you the vegan option. Just to be clear; A Vegan (or plant-based) diet means that you are not consuming any animal products like meat, fish, milk, eggs, cheese and yes, even honey. For the people who live a plant-based lifestyle, it’s not always easy to go out for dinner but Amsterdam is thankfully becoming more adapt to those who seek the vegan option.

Here are the best places to find your vegan luck:

YAY Healthstore and more
I recently worked with YAY and they catered at my Green Up Your Life event.
Everybody was super enthusiastic about their delicious pumpkin tarts and vegan sushi. They are one of the best vegan spots in town.
I’ve written a blogpost about them a few months back so for more info, check here.
Albert Cuypstraat 101 – 103, Amsterdam
www.yayamsterdam.nl/en Unfortunately they have closed but they promised to be back at a new location.

One of the best vegan spots in Amsterdam

Hummus Bistro D&A
The name should give it away, they serve a whole lot of hummus! Although the also serve meat, they have a lot of vegetarian and vegan options.
You can choose up to 5 different kinds of humus (I didn’t even know they existed!) You can share or go for the, somewhat special all day breakfast. Just ask them if they can make your meal vegan and they will accommodate you. Tip: order the roasted cauliflower!
Hummus Bistro is open for breakfast, Brunch, Lunch and Dinner from Mon – Sun.
Westerstraat 136, Amsterdam

Hummus galore!

Vegabond
I love this store and their location. It’s in the middle of Amsterdam and looks really cool from the outside.
When I came round I had a tasty tempeh wrap and a coffee with coconut milk. Happy Elke. But besides their food and drinks, they sell different kinds of products like vegan cheese, wine, sauce, pizza and chocolate. I must admit that although this place has the full potential to be hip and happening, it still attracts a stereo type vegan-audience. And there is nothing wrong with that of course but I hope that a broader community will find out about this place so I can say to my friends; “Let’s have a coffee and Vegabond instead of Starbucks today!”.
Leliegracht 16, Amsterdam
www.vegabond.nl

Source: Vegabond

Dophert
I recently discovered this vegan spot in Amsterdam-west near the Westerpark. Writer Lisa Steltenpool had her second book presentation here.
They are open for lunch until 5.30 pm (closed on Monday & Tuesday) but every 3rd Thursday of the month they open for a special burger night including sweet potato fries and (plant-based) milkshakes! The’re also open on the 1st Thursday of the month and offer a set menu that changes every from time to time.
Spaarndammerstraat 49, Amsterdam
www.dophertcatering.nl

Hip and delicious Dophert

“These vegan spots are just the beginning of a new food era”

Golden Temple
This place is great for dinner! Situated in the “Utrechtse Straat”, it’s one of the oldest vegan friendly restaurants in Amsterdam.
They don’t use any meat, fish or eggs in their meals but some dishes contain dairy products so check before you order.
Try their daily soup option or one of their main meal salads or Indian dishes. The music might be something to get used to as they play mantra music sometimes. (the same tune over and over again) They have a nice seating area at the window where you sit on cushions and can enjoy the view of people walking past.
Utrechtsestraat 126, Amsterdam
www.restaurantgoldentemple.com/en

Nacho’s with homemade guacamole and a lentil soup

Koffie ende Koeck
This vegan lunchroom is also very close to the Westerpark just like Dorphert. The menu is a 100{8b669be72a7f340f9ef2d6d852585cd40ddf0e79ccf763f3ea93c1234c3d888b} vegan and includes homemade cakes, sandwiches, soup and breakfast. The offer a high Tea but make a reservation to avoid disappointment. 020 737 2731
The owner is a young woman called Maartje. She’s a qualified vegan chef who is even better in baking cakes!
Haarlemmerweg 175, Amsterdam
www.koffieendekoeck.nl

Some of their amazing assortment. Pictures from Instagram Koffie ende Koeck

De Culinaire Werkplaats
Wow, this is kind of amazing. This is a restaurant where food is treated as a form of art and let’s be honest, it totally is!
They only use vegetables and fruits but with a twist. They focus on animal welfare, organic farming, fair trade and personal health.
Take look at their impressive cocktail and drink list, it’s really good. You can cook yourself in the workshops they offer and get tasty inspirations.
Another nice touch is that at the end of your meal, you can decide what would like to pay for it!
They are open for food on Mon, Thu, Fri and Sat from 7pm to 11pm.
Fannius Scholtenstraat 10, Amsterdam
www.deculinairewerkplaats.nl

They treat food as an art in this vegan spot.

Beter en Leuk
A menu full of vegetarian and vegan dishes! Located in east-Amsterdam, this breakfast & lunchroom is great for chilling out.
Besides the nice coffee, they also serve the infamous Dutch Weedburger! Workshops are hot right now and Beter & Leuk offers a vegan sushi workshop and a vegan brunch workshop. You can also buy jewelry, clothes and healthy food items. Sounds like a great place right?!
They also deliver via Foodora and Deliveroo
1e Oosterparkstraat 91, Amsterdam
www.beterenleuk.nl

Healthy and nutritious Source: Beter en Leuk

Lavinia Goodfood
Pure, honest, nutritious vegetarian and vegan foods at Lavinia Goodfood. It’s a great looking spot in Amsterdam that’s been around since the beginning of 2014. Lavinia has a deli where you can choose your daily freshly prepared dishes from. Take away or enjoy this nice place for a few hours.
Kerkstraat 176 & Amstelveense Weg Amsterdam
Facebook

Super cute, Lavinia Goodfood

Mastino V
Vegan pizza galore! They have just opened their doors and you can bet that these vegan pizza’s are just as good as the real deal. They are also glutenfree so no worries what so ever!
Bilderdijkstraat 192, Amsterdam
Facebook

More vegan hotspots will be opening such as a Vegan Junk Food Bar and the Dutch Weed Burger Shop.

Also worth mentioning:
Go with the Glow, not a hotspot but a monthly vegan brunch hosted my the beautiful sisters Machinè. More info here. I interviewed Isabella before Metro and Vogue online found out about her vegan lifestyle. (yes, yes) Read the interview here.
De Peper, they are a creative non-profit collective that throw vegan dinner parties about 4 times a week at a very low price. www.depeper.org
The Alchemist Garden, raw and vegan food but I’m not crazy about the service here and their prices are extremely high. Facebook

Go With the Glow, Vegetarian Traiteur and Cropbox. Source: Facebook

Enough choices I would say! I’ve got 99 problems and protein ain’t one!
Did I miss a vegan hotspot you think should be in the list? Comment below!

Love,

Elke

What started as an idea, grew out to be something quite big.
I’ve always been a “green girl”. From a young age, I’ve always had an intense love for the world and the animals living in it.
I guess this is why I love traveling so much. Seeing the beauty of this world. But when you’re young you only see the good stuff. As I grew to an adult, I also learned that we, humans, have done a lot of damage that we must fix if we want to keep the earth the way we found her.

I needed to do something

Why do something?
After seeing a few documentaries like Cowspiracy a few months back and watching the news about hurricanes, earthquakes, animal extinction and extreme drought, I wanted to to something. I wanted to inspire people and make them more aware of what was going on.
If we continue to consume animal products the way we are now, we are doomed. We are currently living on this earth with a crazy amount of 7.125 billion people. This number is rapidly growing and as you know people are getting older. All those people want food but unfortunately, 870 million people are starving. Is it because we don’t have enough food? Hell no. We have plenty. We grow more and more every day. But we’ve decided to give our grains to livestock so we (I’m talking globally) can eat cheap burgers. It just doesn’t make any sense right?
I knew I couldn’t do this alone so I was lucky to find my fellow earthling and asked Emanuelle Vos to join forces with me.
After a few weeks of brainstorming, we picked an amazing location across from the Amsterdam Zoo called the Freedom Lab Campus and decided on a name. Green Up Your Life was born!

Earthlings

Screening
Because we wanted to inspire people, we decided to host a screening. We watched lot’s of documentaries and with the help of our friend Daan van Citters, we created a short film of 20 minutes that clearly explained what is going on. We started off light and funny with comedian Arjen Lubach so the subject wouldn’t be too heavy. Followed by a more serious message and finally we ended our film with an impressive music video from the documentary film “Racing Extinction“.

Green up your life NL door KIRSTENVANSANTEN - all rights reserved, contact before use-3
Emanuelle Vos and I at the Green Up Your Life event

Serious faces

Speech, Speech, Speech!

Guest speakers
We invited two guest speakers to talk about sustainability and a plant-based diet. Our first speaker was Lisa Steltenpool, the writer of The Vega Revolution and Kickstart. She knows all about a plant-based diet and how to maintain a healthy lifestyle. She spoke about how becoming vegan has helped her physically and all the other benefits that come along with this lifestyle.
After Lisa, we asked Kiki Calis, head of production at DGTL Festival, to take the stage.
She told us about how DGTL is becoming more and more sustainable by recycling plastic, using re-usable cups and talked about the new announcement of becoming a meat-free festival! Yes, that’s a big deal. From now on, they will only serve vegetarian meals at DGTL Festival. This includes crew and artist. I love it!
It takes about 1550 liters of water to serve one beef burger. By making this change, DGTL will save up to 14 million liters of water. (yes really).
Watch their video about going veggie here:

The Event
We wanted to make this event as easy going and cool as possible. Vegan’s are often portrait as unhealthy, pale and boring people and we wanted to change that perspective! We collaborated with a couple of really cool brands that supported our idea.
The YAY Healthstore catered the most amazing food (all vegan of course) while the Juicebrothers took care of the soup and healthy juices.
Jajem and Cawston Press took care of the stronger drinks, while guests enjoyed a live cooking presentation of Hendrawanto and Lisa Steltenpool using ingredients from the Vegetarische Slager. An event isn’t complete without something sweet so Professor Grunschnabel hosted a small vegan ice-cream stand (with the most amazing flavors!) and Mumu Vitamin Chocolates handmade 70 organic bonbons for us.
People’s Avenue showcased their sustainable and organic clothing and people had fun in the specially pimped photobooth by Boooth. (see picture)
No good event is complete without a nice goodiebag! Vita Coco, Unlimited Health, Glamour Magazine (who have recently announced that they will be more sustainable), YAY Healthstore, Prof. Grunschnabel, Mooi anders florist all contributed but the biggest goodie was from DGTL Festival! There was a green envelope hidden in 2 goodiebags and if you were the lucky finder, you got yourself a weekender for the festival on Easter Weekend!

“Green up your Life doesn’t want to force you in becoming a vegan, we started this to raise awareness. Then people can decide what they want.”

I’ve got 99 problems and protein ain’t one..

Fresh (vegan) food of Yay Health

Delicious juices of the one and only Juice Brothers

Inspirational presentation of nutrition expert and author Lisa Steltenpool

During Green Up Your Life, we wanted to use the space as much as possible by writing some documentary tips on the whiteboards and letting our guests write their comments on the post-it’s provided. We were overwhelmed by the positive reactions as we also invited people who are massive meat lovers.
Some guest even became vegetarian or decided to have a meat and fish free month after last night!

Writing down positive messages on the wall

Wander-Lust with the boys of Notre Vue

Goodies!

It’s a first step in the right direction and I’m not sure where this new journey will take me but I always knew I would do something with this subject.
We need more pioneers and someone in the government to say; we need to change our ways. I hope this event inspired enough people to do just that.

To see the video that we played during the event, check here.

Follow Green Up Your Life on Facebook and Instagram.

Love,

Elke

Photo’s by Kirsten van Santen

plantbased

These are the best vegan spots in Amsterdam

“These vegan spots are just the beginning of a new food era”

Green Up Your Life. The report

“Green up your Life doesn’t want to force you in becoming a vegan, we started this to raise awareness. Then people can decide what they want.”