{"id":27997,"date":"2012-08-08T10:32:43","date_gmt":"2012-08-08T00:32:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/?p=27997"},"modified":"2013-06-24T14:34:14","modified_gmt":"2013-06-24T04:34:14","slug":"les-magasins-bio-organic-product-stores-in-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/2012\/08\/08\/les-magasins-bio-organic-product-stores-in-france\/","title":{"rendered":"Les magasins bio: organic product stores in France"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"2700323949_591c921968_z\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Have you ever strolled down the streets of France and seen the store front signs that say \u2018Bio\u2019? Wondered what it is? Are you plant-based, vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, a health nut, have food allergies or just like to consume healthy organic stuff? <\/strong><\/p>\n

From food to cosmetics, I\u2019ve got you covered. Let\u2019s shop bio! Allez<\/em>!<\/p>\n

Organic products are huge in France. There is a large bio\/organic following here. Almost 50% of consumers in the Paris area alone shop bio.\u00b9 I\u2019ve personally met people in France that will only consume products purchased from the bio stores. Think something along the lines of Trader Joe\u2019s, Whole Foods or your local co-op stores. That\u2019s what the bio stores are.<\/p>\n

\"7636828838_3ee1799e34_z\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cOK Tina,\u201d you say. \u201cSo what does it all mean?\u201d<\/p>\n

Bio means an organic product has been grown without synthetic pesticides, chemical fertilizers, GMO or radiation, in accordance with EU regulations.\u00b2\u00a0Newer and stricter regulations came into operation in 2009.\u00b3 Only 3% of the land in France is zoned for bio products, although the government has set a target for 6% in 2012.?<\/p>\n

\"7636826282_05c857dd96_z\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The AB (Agriculture Biologique<\/em>) <\/em>label is an important logo to look for. For instance, for a product to host this label it needs to meet 62 criteria points – and that\u2019s just for grains. Producers of the AB-label products need to renew their certifications every year.<\/p>\n

However, be aware that you won\u2019t find these labels on items found at outdoor markets, unless they have met all the criteria to label their products. Bio stores are meant to cater to this type of market.<\/p>\n

There are a few varieties of bio stores in France that I\u2019ve seen, such as La Vie Claire and Naturalia. The difference is that most bio stores are privately owned. La Vie Claire is a name-brand chain and Naturalia is a chain owned by the large Casino Group stores seen all over France.<\/p>\n

\"7636825278_e732be6bf2_z\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Inside these stores there are shelves and shelves loaded with gluten-free products, along with vegan foods like nutritional yeast, tofu, seitan, veggie burgers and soy yogurt. You can buy cookies, crackers, bread, flour, nuts, pasta, spices, fair trade chocolate, wine, fruit, veggies and cosmetics.<\/p>\n

You name it, you can find it there! And they all have an incredible selection of bulk food items like nuts, oats, seeds, quinoa, brown rice, lentils, and cereals.<\/p>\n

\"7636823986_d43b4db163_z\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I live in these stores! As a plant-based chef from Los Angeles, it was vital for me to seek out these places. Not only for myself, but for my clients as well.<\/p>\n

Go visit a store and walk the isles, read labels, try new things! Also, it\u2019s a good idea to get to know the people in your local store. I adore my (always happy!) friend Herv\u00e9 Rose, who is the manager at Vital Sant\u00e9 Bio in Cagnes-sur-Mer.<\/p>\n

\"7636825844_f9ef22d816_z\"<\/a><\/p>\n

He helps me with the translation of products and will order in items that I want if he doesn\u2019t stock them. He greets me with a huge smile every time I see him. The La Vie Claire stores are great too. I like to mix it up!<\/p>\n

There are over 4,000 bio stores and counting throughout France. There are over 200 La Vie Claire stores and about 60 Naturalia shops. You definitely won\u2019t starve if you\u2019re a vegan in France.\u00a0 <\/em><\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sources:
\n1. Label bio : qu’y a-t-il derri\u00e8re l’\u00e9tiquette ?<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0S\u00e9bastien Baer, France Info, 25\/04\/12
\n2. Un produit bio, c’est quoi ?<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0La Vie Claire, July 2012
\n3. La r\u00e8glementation des produits bio<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0La Vie Claire, July 2012
\n4. Label bio : qu’y a-t-il derri\u00e8re l’\u00e9tiquette ?<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0S\u00e9bastien Baer, France Info, 25\/04\/12
\n<\/strong>
\nImage Credits:<\/span>
\n1. Tomato<\/a>, by photon_de\u00a0on Flickr<\/span>
\n2. Tina Chevalier: An outside view of the Vital Sante Bio Store.<\/span>
\n3.\u00a0Tina Chevalier:\u00a0Organic veggies at La Vie Claire.<\/span>
\n4.\u00a0Tina Chevalier:\u00a0<\/span>Oat, Almond, Rice, Soy and Coconut Milks at La Vie\u00a0<\/span>Claire.<\/span>
\n5.\u00a0Tina Chevalier:\u00a0Tofu, Seitan and Veggie Burgers at La Vie Claire.<\/span>
\n6.\u00a0Tina Chevalier:\u00a0The wonderful Herv\u00e9 Rose, Manager of Vital Sante Bio.<\/span><\/address>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are you plant-based, vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, a health nut, have food allergies or just like to consume healthy organic stuff? You definitely won\u2019t starve if you\u2019re a vegan in France. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":842,"featured_media":61357,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[1103,1084],"tags":[210,213,236,240,258,281,384,436,569],"class_list":["post-27997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gastronomie-guides","category-gastronomie","tag-food","tag-france","tag-french-guide","tag-french-life","tag-french-cuisine","tag-in-english","tag-places-to-go","tag-things-to-do","tag-advice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/842"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}