Spritz, Crisps and Orange Cinnamon Chocolate Shake
In my post about Venice, I mentioned that we didn’t stay in the city but took the train from Padova. The Couch Surfing hosts in Venice are pretty maxed out with requests. Some will host you but in exchange for meeting their crazy demands, like entering into a video taped wrestling match. Seriously. Given this, we were very happy to have found a friendly host in nearby Padova who was eager to show us the city, share home cooked vegan meals, and introduce us to a variety of Italian beverages.
As in most small Italian towns, you won’t find many vegetarian restaurants in Padova. Luna Nuova (Via San Gregorio Barbarigo, 12, Padova, Italy, Tel: 049.8758907) is Padova’s one vegetarian restaurant. I’ve read it has limited vegan options so it’s probably a good idea to call in advance. Luna Nuova was closed during our visit, along with practically every other vegetarian restaurant in the country. During the month of August, many shops and restaurants close for holidays.
Valsoia and Eraclea Menu
Walking around Padova, enjoying the architecture and history, we weren’t expecting to come across any vegan offerings. So imagine how sweet of a surprise it was to catch a glimpse of this Valsoia and Eraclea sign in the window of a small cafe. At last a sweet delight in 34 flavours with soyadrink. Yum!
Orange & Cinnamon Chocolate Shake
After some careful evaluation, we agreed on the orange & cinnamon chocolate shake. I have to tell you, this is one awesome combination of flavours and would encourage you to try and recreate it at home. It cost about €3.50 Euros ($4.87 USD), which is quite steep when you compare it to the price of a coffee or spritz, but we were won over by the taste and came close to ordering a second.
Bar Rendez Vous
I’m sad to report this was the only cafe in all of Italy that we saw advertising the Valsoia and Eraclea menu. We weren’t hunting them out, but didn’t come across any during the rest of our month-long stay in Italy. If you’re in Padova, you can enjoy a sweet soy beverage at Bar Rondez Vous.
Bar Rendez Vous
Via Degli Zabarella 61
35121 Padova, Italy
Tel: 0498758940
Eating In
Italian Kitchen
Our Couch Surfing host, Mike, had a variety of vegetarian and vegan cookbooks, but some limits in the kitchen. We were full of ideas but couldn’t cook anything that required using the burners on the stove. He explained to us that when Italians move apartments or homes, they take their kitchens with them. Literally. They take the counter tops, sinks, appliances and everything else. This meant he had a sparkling new kitchen, but no gas running to his stove top. When we were there, he’d been waiting a month and counting for the gas line to be hooked up. Things really do move quite slow in Italy.
Vegetable Stuffed Peppers
With inspiration from Mike’s cookbooks, a fantastic selection of local produce, and an electric oven, we managed to bake some vegetable stuffed peppers.
Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette
We also made a fresh salad, with a citrus vinaigrette that involved pureeing a whole orange and some apricots.
Curried Hummus
Also on the evening’s menu was curried hummus and bell peppers.
Salt Tarallini
We also kept a bowl of tarallini at hand. This Italian bread stick and pretzel hybrid quickly became a favourite snack. We found them in many flavours, including rosemary, garlic, onion and fennel.
Vegan Pizza
Makings of a Pizza
Saying we ate a lot of pizza in Italy would be a huge understatement. One night, we decided to make our own using ingredients from a small supermarket. Our choice of crust generated some laughs from our host. We choose a kamut flour piadina because we wanted a healthy option but learned this kind of bread is usually prepared with lard (not in our case) and paired with cheese, meat and vegetables to make quick wraps sold on the street.
Valsoia Pizza
Our choice of ingredients, though some fresh vegetables are missing from the picture, may seem lazy but we could have gone for an even easier route and bought a Valsoia pizza with soy cheese. I can’t tell you what they’re like because we didn’t get around to trying one with so many fresh pizzas to enjoy.
Marinara and Vegetable Pizza
Our next pizza experience, and our first at a pizzeria in Italy, was a special one. We ordered a vegetable pizza with no cheese and pizza marinara, which is the simple combination of tomato sauce, garlic, herbs and olive oil. Both pizzas were fantastic. The vegetable pizza was absolutely loaded with veggies. There were tomatoes, onion, garlic, olives, spinach, white asparagus, cabbage, eggplant, zucchini and roasted red peppers. Wowzers!
Pizzeria Happy Box
These awesome pizzas we ordered at Happy Box, a small pizzeria, just a few blocks from where we were staying.
Pizzeria Happy Box
via Morelli, 2/Bis
Padova, Itay
Tel: 049 8642911
Markets & Supermarkets
Padova Fruit and Vegetable Market
One thing that’s hard to miss, regardless of where in Italy you find yourself, are the beautiful markets selling fresh fruit and vegetables. Italy is a big country, with a diverse climate, which means they grow a lot of produce and don’t seem to import much, at least not during the summer.
Cut Vegetables, Borlotti Beans and Couscous Salad
Prepared Vegetables - Ready for Soups!
In addition to all the fruit and vegetables, we saw a vendors selling prepared couscous salads and chopped veggies.
Zucchini Blossoms
The supermarkets are also stocked with beautiful produce. These zucchini blossoms were spotted at a Pam supermarket. I don’t think I’ve ever seen fresh zucchini blossoms in any Canadian supermarkets. Only in Italy.
Valsoia Cone
At the supermarket, you also find lots of Valsoia products, like these delicious chocolate and nut cones.
Italian Beverages
Orzo
If you enjoy trying traditional beverages, be sure to try some orzo, a caffeine-free coffee alternative made from barley. I’m not a coffee drinker but really enjoyed this orzo blend made with cereal, chicory and figs.
Limoncello and Liquorizia
If you’re looking for something a bit stronger, there’s always limoncello, made from lemons, and liquorizia, made from licorice plant. A word of warning: These drinks may be served in shot glasses but they aren’t shots. Sip slowly.
10 Comments »
Orange cinnamon and chocolate shake? I want that immediately! And everything else looks delish too. Great post.
As an information/warning: The Valsoia pizza is not vegan, because they use bacterial cultures from milk.
oh awesome… we’re catching the ferry over to Italy tomorrow night and Phil has been talking about getting some vegan ice cream for a month or so now with no luck – so he will be pumped to go the grocery store in Florence and check things out!! looks awesome – did they give you any flack at the pizza places for ordering cheese-less?
@Rebecca Thanks for the info. I looked up the ingredient list again for the Valsoia pizza and I guess it’s the L. bulgaricus – S. thermophilus that is the problem?
Italian:
Farina di grano tenero tipo “0″, estratto fermentato di soia (11%) (acqua, semi di soia (8,2%), inulina, destrosio, fruttosio, addensante: carragenina, sale marino, aromi, fermenti: L. bulgaricus – S. thermophilus), acqua, polpa di pomodoro, spinaci (6,7%), peperoni grigliati (4,7%), zucchine grigliate (4,7%), olio di semi di girasole, broccoli (4,2%), semiconcentrato di pomodoro, asparagi (3%), sale, lievito, olio di oliva, amido modificato di riso, basilico, origano.
English:
Wheat flour type “0″, fermented soybean extract (11%) (water, soybeans (8.2%), inulin, dextrose, fructose, thickener: carrageenan, sea salt, spices, yeast: L. bulgaricus – S. thermophilus), water, tomato sauce, spinach (6.7%), grilled peppers (4.7%), grilled zucchini (4.7%), oil sunflower, broccoli (4.2% ), tomato puree, asparagus (3%), salt, yeast, olive oil, modified starch of rice, basil, oregano.
@Heather – It was never a problem to have the cheese left off but one pizza place also decided to remove the sauce and that was kinda weird :-s
I will email you some tips for Florence :)
“The Valsoia pizza is not vegan, because they use bacterial cultures from milk.”
Wikipedia does not say anything about those bacteria coming “from milk”, only that they are added to milk to make yogurt. Sounds like we need a microbiologist to shed more light.
Hi Jill! Nice article :o)
Just a correction about the kitchen… I had, for a variety of reasons, been waiting for a kitchen for around 8 months, not for the gas to be hooked up – although that had been about a month due to it being August.
And then sadly about Spritz… I have since learned that the Aperol and Campari in Italy are made using cochineal – so off the menu for vegans. However, I now order Spritz al Cynar which as far as I am aware is vegan friendly.
The Luna Nuova does have a number of vegan options… in fact quite a few to choose from every time I’ve been – but I agree that it’s better to call in advance so that they can ensure there is sufficient variety as they often run out of certain dishes. There are also some items on the menu which can easily be adapted on request.
Finally, I’d just like to add that your cooking was delicious, and your company fantastic – it was a real honour and pleasure to host you in Padova! :o)
Nutritional yeast, beer yeast, bread yeast and so on… even beer and some other beberages (which can be vegan if not processed with any animal product as bones, eggs and milk for “whittening”… all those products have microorganisms. Lactobaciles do not mean that come from cow milk, even we produce lactobaciles, an perfect example, the ones that we women have in our vigina (sorry if it is too gross for someone). Those kind of bacterias just need polysacarids (I don’t know the therm in english) and produce lactic acid, as part of it’s Krebs cycle, the same way we do in our muscles when overwork our body without enough oxygen..we have lactobacillus in our intestins even if we do not eat any dairies! That kind of cultures can be done without dairies, I’ve made my self soy and almond yogurt from bacillus that I started grown in soymilk when I still was vegetarian, until they survived and produce communities of bacterias, and now they are totally grown in vegetable milks (with their corresponding acids and sugars to trigger fermentation).
Come on guys! if we were so purist we could not even take B12 supplements because it’s a bacteria, or drink beer, use yeast for our vegan home-made cheezes or for our bread and cakes, just because they are bacterias!!! even eat “dirty” vegetables to get a certain account of cianobacterias that we need for a correct brain function. Please, read and inform your selves before making a judgement just because somebody told you so! is as silly as telling that we should not being using cotton wearing because thousands of little organisms are killed with the production of our clothes (well, I know, that’s why we want to seek for “organic” frabrics, but even them killed animals without wanting so, to be produced). We have a cause, we do it not just to judge, but we are trying to change the world, if we start to discard those products which are 99% vegan, we are telling the industry that there is not place for that kind of products and we would have the counter-effect… if we want the world to turn into compation, we have to start tolerating them to soften the change…
@Zaga – Thank you very much for your informative and thoughtful comment. I really appreciate your contribution to clarify the bacteria issue.
So Italians have emotianal attachments with food, I am a big kind of foody and I am not vegetarian but that veg pizza made me think twice on that..lastly Limoncello and Liquorizia…I would die to have a drop on my tongue;)
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