Flows vegan and gluten free

Vegan gluten free with a smile on top!

Here it comes Flows: a new juice bar that is 100% vegan, gluten free and that just opened its doors in beautiful Batignolles in Paris, close to the Saint-Lazare train station.

Flows is also a dream-turned-into-reality of a fun and smart young woman: Camille Debien, whose looks remind me of Pre-Raphaelite paintings.

It’s actually her that smiles back at me the moment I step through the door: here at Flows, you can breathe a relaxed environment, cool and calm, and the beautiful, large wall painting is like an ancient panorama to me, an invitation to travel to a beautiful, flowery prairie, take your time and fully enjoy your meal.

At Flows everything is home made with ingredients labelled Demeter, a word that designates a Biodynamic agriculture: the core business are the cold pressed juices, Camille’s own recipes. She tells me that each one of them has super foods like the green one I chose that has Spirulina and Klamath algae, renown for their energising and reinvigorating properties. Each recipe has been carefully studied to give us specific health benefits.

So here I am at my table ready to enjoy lunch!

I chose the Rainbow Salad: a nice combination of quinoa, graines, nuts, spinach, carrots, avocado, so many beautiful colours that just put on a smile on my face and oh boy, do I am sensitive to that ! The salad was fresh and delicious.

Camilla invited me to taste also her signature Spring rolls that hide a heart of mango and cashew cream mixed with herbs. I can say that I did enjoy them a lot!

I also tasted the no-added sugar granola served with soja yoghurt and fresh fruit. It’s made of Medjool dates, almonds, hazelnuts, seeds, Brasilian nuts that are re-hydrated in water in the first place, to gain back all of their precious minerals and then, dehydrated for many hours to preserve those health properties.

At Flows, I also met with the lovely Adelaïde that has joined Camille on this adventure.

Before leaving I can’t help to ask Camille a few questions… I always love to show a little bit of the person behind the project…!

Chiara: Why Flows?

Camille: I love a healthy, vegan, gluten free way of eating just because I feel better when I eat it.

I started working in fashion but I didn’t like it; in the meantime I had started studying about healthy foods and experimenting recipes. So I took the decision to leave my job and I worked at Detox Delight first and at Juicerie later. My passion grew at a point that I decided to take the leap and create my own business. Flows was born soon after and I am grateful to all the people who have been supporting me.

Chiara: Why open in the 17th neighborhood?

Camille: I didn’t know it well at the beginning; then, one day, a friend of mine suggested I took a stroll down the Batignolles and I literally fell in love with it, especially with the beautiful Felix Lobligeois square. I am so happy that I was able to open Flows just a couple of blocs away from this square. There is also a vegan Naturalia shop that has recently opened rue de Rome, so I thought I was in the right place.

I can’t but congratulate Camilla for this beautiful, vibrant new project that I am happy to support and can’t wait to go back!