PLANT BASED FOOD IS ON THE RISE...

Compared to just a decade ago, a lot of people knows now or has heard about Veganism. Thanks to the increasing velocity of social media, the impact that animal agriculture has on our environment and the way we treat animals are seen worldwide, and this has brought a lot of people to decide to decrease their consumption of animal products, or to completely avoid them. I'm one of them. I've been vegetarian for about 4 years after eating a common diet for my whole life, and almost 4 years ago, I decided to go completely vegan. We're lucky, today, plant based alternatives are appearing like mushrooms during the autumn, and things like Ice Cream and Burgers are no longer exclusive to the omnivore kingdom. We can even find a beautiful variety of flavors, textures and colors that plants bring us, and chefs are being more and more interested in that lifestyle and in the multitude of possibilities that it offers, giving us vegan options in their restaurants and sharing recipes and ideas to fulfill our diet.

But what about pizza's?

We all love pizza's...and before I went Vegan, one of my favorite food was a Pizza Margherita: a thin crust, fresh tomato sauce topped with top quality mozzarella, good olive oil, baked in a wood oven in just a few minutes... If there is something that I miss, it has to be this. Really.

So, since it's not easy to find a vegan pizzeria around here, I've decided to create one myself!

PASSION FOR GOOD FOOD

I'm a food passionate. I've studied gastronomy in Chile and then worked for about 17 years in different kitchens in Chile and Belgium, developing my sensitivity and love for good products. When the idea of starting a pizza food truck was born in my head, I first dreamed about recreating the taste of those incredible rustic Margherita's I had when I was a child, at our local pizzeria "La Conca de Oro" in Brussels... that smell, that taste, that satisfaction, those memories... So we started testing different doughs until we found the perfect one. A dough with a slow fermentation process, thin on the inside of the pizza, fluffy and crunchy on the outside, and incredibly tasty.

I also tried different plant based cheeses, bought or self made, but I’ve never been able to reach the same level of quality, structure or taste of those Italian burratas. That was the missing point. Veganizing something that has an incredible value to a lot of people is not an easy task, so I've asked to vegan chef Pieter-Jan Lint (see picture) to help me find out the perfect recipe for a great vegan mozzarella. And what he did is amazing: In a few months, he created an incredible vegan mozzarella, a real plant based fermented cheese, that melts when heated and that tastes like the original, or should I say... better than the original?

One thing is sure, the result is bombastic!

LOCAL PRODUCTS

An important aspect in our philosophy is sustainability. We believe that supporting and boosting local businesses is a key factor to help reducing our footprint on earth, that's why we are committed to source most of our ingredients with local farmers, following the seasons, and we will follow that idea as far as possible... We'll get our flour by De Artemeersmolen (www.flourpower.be) in Poeke, the last professionally milled mill in East Flanders, Belgium, 30 minutes from home. Our certified organic veggies will come from local farmers: Ter Doorn Biomarkt in Sijsele, Pieter Lutin in Damme with his tasty biodynamic tomatoes, Philip Vemeulen (picture) with his incredible variety of tomatoes and other organic veggies etc... and starting in 2020, we will grow a big part of what we'll be using through the year, on our farm in Knesselare.

SO THERE WE ARE NOW...

Now that we've created a great product, and that we’ve developed a dozen of perfect pizza combinations (we’re even currently developing a GLUTEN-FREE recipe), we want to get a step further and share this with everyone. That's why we've created the concept of Plant A Pizza, a Pizza Food Truck, serving high quality Neapolitan style pizza's, 100% plant based and organic, baked on stone, at markets, festivals, concerts, parties, weddings etc...

We want to share our passion for good pizza’s with you, and prove you that even a 100% plant based pizza can be incredibly yummy and addictive! So yummy that you will almost forget what you've tried before!

WHO’S BEHIND PLANT A PIZZA? #familybusiness

My name is Victor, I’m born in Brussels. Chile, that's where my family comes from, that’s where I’ve studied the basics of cooking, and that's also where I've met Mabel, my wife, with whom we've build a beautiful family of 5. I came back to Belgium with her and our first son with the idea of staying only for a short period, and learn some skills in the Belgian kitchen and look... 15 years later, we're still here! With an immense will of building a beautifull future for our family while leaving a positive footprint on our planet.

We are full of dreams, and one of them is to see people eating less animal products, and more plant based, healthy and clean food. Now I hear you laughing! I know that a pizza isn't the healthiest meal (even if we only use organic and healthy ingredients), the thing is that we see health not only as a personal issue, but rather as a global one. And animal agriculture plays a big negative role in our planet's health. If we can let animal products outside of the game, we're doing a giant step forward. The other thing is that mood is also important, and a good pizza really can boost it! ;)

So here we are, bringing our dreams to reality, one by one... We started 5 years ago launching Tiny Greens Farm, an indoor vertical farm producing microgreens for local restaurants, Mabel work since 1997 with baby's and toddlers, and started 2 years ago to study and practicing Yoga and Philosophy for Children (she's passionate about children!) and has recently started to work at the kindergarden of the Steiner school in Brugge, a beautiful place for baby's and toddler's.

In short, we want to align our acts with our values, step by step.

Plant a Pizza