Berlin still feels like the last cool city humans can be human before everything moves into the cloud. We took a five-day family trip with a Green Prophet mindset — low-impact, curious, no interest in polished tourist loops.

Generator Hostel is often recommended as a budget option for families in Mitte. We considered it but felt that Mitte is too far from it all, and instead contacted eco-leaning hotels to see who had space. Circus was full. Orania was almost full and offered a family room for 750 Euros, still well beyond budget. Michelberger, noted for its regenerative farm on the outskirts of Berlin, had two loft rooms available for a family of four, 300 Euro, — booked immediately. The location was excellent, the brunch breakfast was an added 24 Euro each (you can choose each day), and if you have time to linger, this farm-to-table option is worth it.

A cafe on the other side of the hotel offers a great place to have a cappuccino and a buttery croissant. Artists, designers and fashion types also pop in off the streets by day, and to hear DJs (and sometimes) live music by night. At Michelberger you are in the center of it all without leaving the hotel. I’ve never felt that way before, except once at a $10 a night hostel in San Jose, Costa Rica. I am too old for bedbugs and 7 people to a cramped dorm room.

Every other night a bean bag room on the 5th floor turns into a movie house called the Forest Theater, upgrading your trip to the feeling of a global nomad without having to travel to Chiang Mai. We peeked in on a film at 8pm and it was packed.

The loft bed setup in Michelberger made the room feel like a treehouse. We took 2 rooms for a family of 4, but 3 could fit comfortably if you are planning on being out of the room by day. Climbing up into the king bed every night felt like a repeat moment of “okay, I can live like this.” Beds and pillows were excellent.

Note on scent: the hotel uses aromatherapy-type smells in the rooms, lobby and common areas. They’re from natural oils and noticeable. If you’re scent-sensitive, just be aware — it’s part of the Michelberger identity.

Breakfast at Michelberger is a meal you actually remember. Sourdough bread, jams, vegetables, cheese, the best apple I ate in my life,  — a lot of it coming from the hotel’s own farm. It reminded us of farm stays in Sweden like Stedsans: real food, not hotel buffet food. Designers we know travel to Berlin and mark this place as THE place to brunch and we get why.

The Michelberger building used to be an East German factory. Now it’s full of laptops, fashion people, and families like us who are tired of standard hotels. You hear multiple languages at every table. The shared spaces are active but not chaotic. It’s rare to walk into a hotel and feel like you are part of something bigger.

Simple but good touches: Dr. Bronner’s soap in the rooms, mesh shelves, big desks, nothing overly designed but everything considered. My husband says that’s the German way.

The location is ideal — right next to Warschauer Straße S-Bahn and U-Bahn. From there you can get anywhere in Berlin or to the airport without thinking. Michelberger is in the quirky Friedrichshain district and it’s a walk or a two-stop tram ride to the Kreuzberg district.

Berlin from Michelberger — Walkable, Raw, and Full of Side Missions

RAW-Gelände is minutes away — graffiti walls, skate ramps, concerts, bars operating out of shipping containers, and informal market days where Berliners unload boots full of old Doc Martens and Adidas. Bargain and bring a hood or umbrella because Berlin weather shifts every hour.

Once a 19th-century train repair yard (the Reichsbahn-Ausbesserungs-Werk), this abandoned industrial strip is now one of the last true subcultural zones left in central Berlin. Since being taken over by artists and outsiders in the late ’90s, it’s evolved into a graffiti-covered hub packed with clubs, bars, an indoor skate park, a climbing gym, and a Sunday flea market. It feels less like a tourist site and more like Berlin holding onto its rough edges on purpose.

Skatehalle inside RAW is a full skatepark indoors with sessions for different skill levels and even wheelchair sessions. Teens will not be bored.

Dog Shit Park nearby (nickname earned) is where you meet people actually living in Berlin, not touring it. We met Collin there — former snowboard film guy — who said, “You look like you want to skate and spray paint. Why did you come here? Too bad not earlier, I could have shown you the alternative Berlin” in a way only Berlin locals can.

Boxhagener Platz (Boxi) is a short walk — calm park on weekdays, full flea market on Saturdays. RAW on Sunday felt more alive and less curated than the Boxhagener Platz, with stuff that can be bought on a Chinese website and sold as trinkets.

We ate mostly vegan and Berlin makes it easy. 1990 Vegan Living — Vietnamese-style vegan bowls, tofu panko sticks — easy crowd-pleaser. About 100 Euros for a family of 4 including alcohol. You can’t make reservations and if you have a chance, choose a table on the right side if you like action and people watching.

Iro Izakaya (vegan tapas and sake) was my husband’s top meal of the entire trip. It’s supposed to be Japanese but tasted like an Asian fusion restaurant. Also about 100 Euros for a family of 4 dinner. The kids still like ramen, so noodles and Asian food was an easy way for us to please all. A ramen bowl was about 15 Euros. I didn’t love the broth and had much better vegan ramen in Japan. You can’t please everyone all of the time.

Museums weren’t a focus, but the Vintage Computer Museum was a hit (Computerspiele Museum) — kids can actually play old Sega and arcade games without time limits. DDR Museum gave the kids a practical picture of East German life — like a kibbutz apartment but with more 70s wallpaper. It was my way to warn them about Communism.

Useful Stops for Teens and People Who Like Real Shops

• Green Fuzz – non-vintage alt clothing store, actually interesting.

• Wollparadies Fadeninsel – right next door, full of hand-dyed wool, very Waldorf-friendly.

• Voo  – scent and ceramic heaven, items look like they were pulled from a flea market but priced like art objects (just look, don’t commit).

• Search and Destroy Skateshop – for kids who actually skate, not just wear skate brands.

• There are vintage shops everywhere but they feel overpriced for someone who shops vintage in small charity shops in Canada. Even Humana, with its outlets around Berlin are very overpriced. Pop in though if you need a sexy dirndl costume for Octoberfest or a pair of Lederhosen.

Train rides in Berlin double as people-watching. Watch out for BVG tourist passes bought through an app. We made an expensive mistake, spending $250 for a 3-day local tram pass for our family. We mistakenly bought the pass that included museums free of charge, and one of the days all the museums were closed. We hadn’t intended on going to any of the museums that were free with that pass. I reached out to customer service and they said the passes are, sadly non-refundable. Try and research the passes and what you need online before your trip, and I suggest buying single ride tickets the first day you are there, to see if it’s worth for you to buy any passes. In some instances taking an Uber on short trips made it more worth our while.

Beyond that unpleasantness, the trains are great and easy to navigate. A little less easy for me than Japan.

Multicultural, relaxed, with vegan döner and kepap stands at almost everywhere outside of them. We tried Indian food one night at in Oranienstraße at Amrit (not far from the station) and it was forgettable, but a Pakistani taxi driver later told us where the “real” places were— filed for next time.

If You’ve Got a Few Days and Don’t Want the Usual

• Use Michelberger as a base and explore everything within a 20-minute walk before you even consider museums. We heard that the Natural History Museum is great for kids –– the aquarium too. But our kids have travelled to so many large cities from Toronto to Bangkok, where these kinds of copy-paste museums seem to be a carbon copy of each other and a place to go when you need to kill time and not get the true vibe of the place.

• Sit at RAW for an hour or a few and just watch. Get to Holstmarket 25. We didn’t make it, but it’s earmarked for our next stay.

• Let teens spend a session or two at Skatehalle while you explore Boxi or grab coffee. Book in advance so you aren’t disappointed. Skatehalle offers a beginner’s session for kids for 20 Euros on Sunday mornings from 9 to 11. My son loved it. They have a number of drop in times throughout the week.

• Mauerpark on Sunday for markets and karaoke

• Look up what’s on at SO36 or About Blank instead of Googling “best nightlife.” We caught a show with the teens at Prachtwerk. Berlin works better without lists.

• We didn’t get to the Liquidrom or Vabali spas this trip. The kids needed our full attention. Next time we will look for events at the Tempelhofer Feld, an old airstrip turned into a giant public park, and maybe a hike to Teufelsberg in Berlin, a man-made hill in the Grunewald Forest that is home to an abandoned Cold War listening station used by the US and its allies.

• Rent a bike and drive around without a plan.

Michelberger, designed by re-use architects: Jonathan Tuckey Design in 2018, is the best home base if you can stretch to it. From there, Berlin unfolds itself without needing much planning. Don’t sweat it by booking trips.

::Michelberger

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It’s a sign of the times: a vegan cheesemaking company in Israel is considering listing on the TASE – or Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Two meat or animal product substitute companies already list there and now Vgarden, which makes vegan cheese is looking to raise capital. A report in the local paper Haaretz says the kibbutz-based company plans to list next year at a valuation of $102 million. 

Israel has more vegans per capita than anywhere in the world. And the company already has dozens of companies looking to offer a plant-based alternative to meat or animal based products. 

Yofix in Israel already sells its soy-free yogurt alternative made from oats, legumes and seeds. The fermented, cultured products contain protein, fiber, calcium and iron, have no added sugar or preservatives, and are pre- and probiotic.

Vgarden produces sliced cheese, cream cheese, ricotta, and feta –– all without milk of any kind. And it’s marketed under the brand Mashu Mashu, which means “wow, that’s something” in Hebrew. I have tried the sliced cheese and it’s a satisfying and convincing alternative. It’s firm and tasty and has a cheesy smell and flavor likely from yeast – which the African Israelites have been using as a seasoning for decades. They are an all-vegan village in Beersheva. 

The transition to complete veganism hasn’t been difficult for mainstream Israelis because as part of the Jewish lifestyle and dietary laws it is already known if a food product contains traces of animal products as it’s not allowed to eat meat and milk together, for those who observe the customs and traditions known as kashrut.

They are similar to the Muslim dietary laws called halal but are more restrictive – except for one – Jews are allowed to drink alcohol, Muslims are not. 

Israelis taking bite out of meat substitute markets

MeaTech in Israel 3-D prints meat alternatives and its shares have risen 120% on the TASE over the last year according to the Marker, an Israeli financial paper. SavorEat is developing a plant-based meat alternative using 3D printing and plant cellulose. 

Impossible Burgers have been on the Israeli grocery shelves for a couple of years already. But they cost about $8 a piece, which is more than double the price of a burger bought at a butcher. McDonalds in some locations in Israel is selling vegan burgers and for those observing dietary laws can for the first time order a cheeseburger from the famed fast-food chain. 

Redefine Meat from Israel says it is making the world’s first plant-based steak created using 3D printing technology. The Rehovot-based company said it will start testing the beef, which it calls Alt-Steak, at select high-end restaurants in Israel later this year.

Israelis are thrilled with the rollout of Beyond Meat and are clearly trying to take a bite out of this enviable market. Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2019-2026, “the global meat substitute market size was valued at $4.1 billion in 2017, and is expected to reach $8.1 billion by 2026.”

RilBite is ambitiously positioning itself as the basis for “The burger that saves the world.”

Founded by Barak Melamed and incubated in The Kitchen FoodTech Hub of the Strauss Group in Ashdod, RilBite is developing a “minced plant” product using only six ingredients: onions, tomatoes, textured vegetable protein (TVP) from soy, lentils, rice and spices.

There is Kinoko Tech developing a vegan protein with a meat-like texture and slight umami flavor. The secret ingredient is an edible mushroom tissue called mycelium.

FFW is creating a yeast-based meat alternative. Founder Leonardo Marcovitz says that yeast contains 50% protein and has all the essential amino acids. It’s cheap and easily available. But until now, no one has been able to create a textured product out of yeast or temper its strong umami flavor.

“For the past year, our food technologists have been working on solving those two challenges,” he says. “We’re deciding whether our first product will be in the form of pulled chicken, chicken nuggets or Bolognese.”

Taking on the humble chickpea, a staple of the Middle East diet: InnovoPro and ChickP have developed proprietary technologies for extracting neutral-tasting protein from chickpeas for use in the food industry. Although hummus everywhere unless it’s organic contains high amounts of cancer-causing Roundup. 

Sometimes, unless it’s my daughter begging to try a vegan bacon one day, I just have to hope: maybe we should just stop trying to create substitutes? The next generation of vegans won’t hunger for milk, cheese or anything that resembles meat if we educate them properly. Food grown simply from a garden and made into a homemade spread without a printer or complicated enzymes in a lab is really the healthiest and more sustainable way we can consumer our food. These foodtech companies may both help and hinder a meat-free transition. What do you think?

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For the first time in its 77-year history, guests at the prestigious entertainment awards The Golden Globes awards show are being served up a completely plant-based meal. According to a statement from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the menu change – which occurred a mere two weeks before tonight’s party, is an effort to raise awareness about climate change.

The decision aligns with the vegan-burger craze sweeping the United States, and heightened public awareness of the negative environmental impacts of the beef industry.  Agriculture and ranching industries are the biggest greenhouse gas emitters after fossil fuel energy production. Farming accounts for more global emissions than transportation.

Natalie Portman’s Vegan Feet

“If there’s a way we can save the planet, maybe we can get the Golden Globes to send a signal and draw attention to the issue about climate change,” HFPA president Lorenzo Soria told The Associated Press, adding, “The food we eat, the way we grow the food we eat, the way we dispose of the food is one of the large contributors to the climate crisis.”

The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in film, both American and International, and the American television.

Hollywood heavyweights and climate change activists Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo took to Twitter to cheer what some consider a bold food choice. “Our industry leads by example. Vegetarian food is delicious and healthy and reduces greenhouse gasses about as much as driving electric cars. The HFPA should be commended for this and all the other awards shows should follow suit,” tweeted Ruffalo.

The awards show has proven itself adaptable to Hollywood diet trends: the menu long featured fish as an alternative entrée to beef, and went gluten-free in 2015. Steak hasn’t been an option since 2017.

Matthew Morgan, executive chef at the Beverly Hilton where the dinner is held said he understood the revised menu would broadcast a positive message internationally, “It was a little shocking when first announced, because of being very close to the actual Globes ceremony and having already decided on a menu,” he said, “But once we thought about it and the message that it sent, we were really excited about it. That’s something I stand behind myself.”

So what is the chef cooking up for Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lopez, Brad Pitt, and Eddie Murphy? Celebs will tuck into a starter of chilled golden beet soup, followed by king oyster mushroom “scallops” and wild mushroom risotto, along with roasted baby purple and green Brussels sprouts and carrots. For dessert, there’s a vegan “chocolate opera dome” with praline crumble and caramelized hazelnuts. Natural spring water will be served in glass bottles; plastic water bottles are not welcome on the red carpet and ballroom.

“While the intent is good, the impact is likely to be minimal,” the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association said in a statement. “If all livestock in the U.S. were eliminated and every American followed a vegan diet,” greenhouse-gas emissions would only drop by 2.6%, the group said, citing a study from the National Academy of Sciences.

Veganism has evolved from a niche diet, and the award show’s culinary choice is another example of how mainstream it’s become. Fast food chains now offer vegan options, consider Burger King’s whopper featuring  an Impossible Burger patty, and KFC is experimenting with BeyondMeat fried “chicken.” Disney World is adding 400 plant-based dishes to its theme park menus. Reducing or eliminating animal products from our diets doesn’t seem like much of a challenge anymore. 

According to The Economist, there is empirical data to show an American lifestyle change is afoot: a quarter of 25 to 34-year-old Americans (a/k/a millenials) claim they are vegan or vegetarian. 

The Golden Globe Awards recognize excellence in American and international film and television, based on voting by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.  The event is a major part of the film industry’s awards season, which culminates each year in the Academy Awards.

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