BEAR, THE NOT SO MYSTERIOUS SHOPPER GREEN BAY

BEAR, THE NOT SO MYSTERIOUS SHOPPER

GREEN BAY LOCATION: LONDON, SOUTH KENSINGTON
GREEN BAY, LONDON'S FIRST VEGAN SUPERMARKET

I'm embarrassed to state that last week, I left my home too late in the day which left me a couple of hours to get to the Green Bay supermarket with about 30 minutes to shop before it closes. I got lost! The funny thing was that I was so close, I was about 5 minutes away and kept going the wrong way. Freaking, Google Maps! Bah!

Yesterday, I made sure that I left my home in good time to get to this much talked about Vegan supermarket! I like to travel by bus so that I can take in the sights. I also love to power-walk and I make a mental note of potential routes for future walks. So, it took me 4 buses to get there. If you're in Central London you need to take bus numbers 10 to Hammersmith and 28 to Mapleton Crescent. You get off at the Lillie Road stop and opposite you'll find Green Bay!

THE ARRIVAL

When I arrived, finally, I was a little disappointed to see how small it is. Anyway, I went inside and had a look…

The shop interior isn't too bad; it's just a tad on the claustrophobic scale, 2, 5 being the highest. I was told that the shop gets packed out and I was relieved to see that I was 1 of 2 customers in the shop. There again, I arrived with 40 minutes to shop; it closes at 20:00.

It drives me to distraction when I don't have space to shop. I hate bumping into people and vice versa. Not every Vegan is skinny! I'm not skinny and I need to get back to the gym very soon! Ha ha!

PRICEWISE

Well, given the shop location, it wasn't much of a surprise to find some goods marked with a high price tag. London, as you know, is a very expensive city and Central London is insanely costly! Property, rent, rates, etc are through the roof; these factors can and does affect the goods sold in shops (in and around Central London). Now, a Vegan supermarket, the only one of its kind, is not going to come cheap slap in the middle of Central London.

The range of chocolates was varied, however, I didn't see the brand that I used in my Sweet Choco Sensation recipe! Some of the prices were quite high - the higher the percentage of cocoa, the higher the price. I'm looking for another brand of chocolate for my next dessert recipe. I love chocolate!

Above: Vegan shampoos and other toiletries/cosmetics. It's good to know these things exist! But they are expensive!

Going back to chocolate… I was surprised to see that Green Bay didn't stock cocoa powder! In fact, Vegan cocoa powder has become scarce! These days, I'm finding products with labeling that states, “May contain milk…” This tells me that a Vegan based cocoa powder is going to cost me! It's crazy! Cocoa is a product that has no dairy in it in the first place! Surely, there has to be a way to create cocoa powder without cross contamination that's not going to cost the Earth? Grrrr!

MEAT ME IN THE MIDDLE

There were a number of meat substitutes that ranges from sausages to steaks and other forms of meat products. For some reason, these meat substitutes don't appeal to me. I've yet to use such substitutes in my recipes. I've decided to revisit tofu and to educate myself on it; I think I may have been misinformed on the subject of tofu and soya based products.

One of these days, I'll have to pick one of these meat substitutes and give it a try! I do prefer to make my own foods from scratch! I don't even use ingredients such as tomato paste. I certainly will not use ketchup! I can make my own! Some of the prices for these substitute meats were high - at least for me!

Here's an observation for you… A while back, before I became a Born Again Vegan, I used to buy baked beans with vegetable sausages that have egg whites in them! I didn't care! My thoughts were, “It ain't pork. Eggs aren't so bad…” Jeez, Louise! How could I have thought like that? The answer: Cognitive Dissonance. You know the truth but you think, “So what?” I digress…

CONCLUSION

I enjoyed Green Bay and I'll certainly be going there again. I bought a couple of items and with one of the items, I'll be making a recipe that I'll share with you soon!

The range of foods isn't that great but I'm sure that the range will keep expanding. I want to support this wonderful incentive in the hope that it'll expand to other areas. There's a lot of scope for a larger shop! Vegan might seem “niche” but when you think about it, Vegan encompasses raw fruit and vegetables, nuts and common cereals such as oats. We're there already! Green Bay is the first step.

If you like, Green Bay is everything that is Vegan in a shop like Whole Foods packed into a smaller outlet. The Whole Foods store is an okay store but I can do without smelling the cheeses, fish, and meat that's on sale. It gets on my nerves! Plus, it takes a good while to find Vegan based products. Green Bay is sandwiched between 2 Whole Foods stores on high street Kensington and the other in Fulham. And because Whole Foods is considerably bigger, the Kensington shop is on 3 floors, it's a miracle that Green Bay can exist! Thank goodness it does!

Green Bay is the future of Vegan shopping!

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Bear XOXOXOXOXO