In This New year we will regularly give text and explanations on this page about things we like to share with our visitors. This can be about the wine, the ingredients or, for example, the principles we stand for at Bonboon.

The kick-off has been awarded to the Quince. A forgotten fruit, which in many people does not directly conjures up an image on the retina. Now chef Aitziber Renteria uses this fruit to come to something beautiful it is high time to take the ‘ Cydonia oblonga ‘ for the light.

Back in picture

The quince is a fruit that is the family of the apple, the pear and the Rowan. She has a beautiful yellow colour and originates from the countries around the Caspian Sea (Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan). In the southern European countries, the fruit is well-appreciated, and now the Netherlands (again) is the turn. In the past, many farms had quince in the orchard, but they got out of the picture. Now you see the quince again more and more often in the vegetable shop. And now, even disguised, on your plate at Bonboon.

Just like a stew, a quince is not nice to eat cold. She is hard and sour. But once heated it becomes a completely different story! Then she is a deliciously sweet fruit that manages to excite your senses and makes you longing for more.

Healthy Fruit

The quince is also a healthy fruit. It is packed with vitamin C, iron, and because of its many fibres, quince is also very suitable for people with intestinal complaints. In the novel ‘ Don Quijotte de la Mancha ‘ Don Quijote advised his helper Sancho Panza a few thin slices of quince (and a hundred waffle rolls) to fill his stomach and to promote his digestion. The value of the quince has been known in Spain for a while.

Marmalade or aioli

Due to the large amount of pectin in a quince, the fruit is excellent for making jams or marmalades. The Portuguese name for the quince, ‘ Marmelo ‘, reveals that already a little. In Spain they make ‘ Membrillo ‘; Aitziber processed it into an alioli and put it at Bonboon on the menu.

A beautiful glass of wine can often make the experience of a dish even more complete. To be able to offer our guests these fine combinations, we work intensively with D-Vine, also FOUND ON Knsm Island.

Of course, in a vegan restaurant like Bonboon, there are no animal additives in the wines. ‘ Are there animal products in wine? ‘ Yes, quite often so. And that is not so beautiful, we find. Because it can be different.

The process of winemaking is called vinification. The picked and crushed grapes are made in wooden or steel barrels. There the fermentation process starts and a nice wine is created under good guidance and hard work. This wine is still cloudy. To make it a beautiful, clear drink, the wine is ‘ cleared ‘. For this clear one often uses albumin (egg protein), casein (of milk proteins), gelatine (of bone and cartilage of mammals) or fishglue (dried parts of fish). Little animal friendly of course….

Fortunately, there are alternatives. It can by cooling, but also with bentonite. This is a kind of clay that filters the wine, so no animal products are needed during vinification. Because it is not compulsory to indicate on wine labels which additives one uses, it can be a daunting task to find out if a wine is vegan or not. Nowadays, more and more producers are mentioning the label when a wine is vegan. Thanks to the people at D-Vine we guarantee it for all our wines.

On Friday 8 March , International Women’s Day; A day which since 1911 stands for solidarity and female struggles.   This year’s theme is ‘ heroines ‘. And with that you can of course all sides. Because heroines are everywhere. Known or less known, visible or invisible. Women who stand up for the rights of the woman, for another, for equality in general, or of course for the rights than the animals.

We, the combative women of Bonboon, also have our heroines.

Aitziber: “I have many heroines. For me, all women are heroines who have to participate in a society conceived by men and for men. Still. All heroines that consciously or unconsciously, bit by bit, bring change in that.

Angela Davis is an American philosopher and human rights activist who I admire. She has long fought for women’s rights and human rights in general. Moreover, she is also vegan and anti-speciesist. She has a very interesting view on this topic. ”

My personal heroine is Esther Ouwehand. She is an open and honest woman who, at national level, is fighting the rights of animals against a very solid lobby of the meat and cattle industry. At the same time, she is very approvable and is just as easy next to activists in the mud in an action, as she enters the debate on international laws and conventions on the environment and animal rights in the second chamber.

It remains important to draw attention to inequalities in the world, for humans and for animals. It is the reason why we do our utmost every day to give our guests a pleasant evening. Without suppressing another. On International Women’s Day, a free ‘ Bloody Mary ‘ cocktail is ready for every woman who comes to eat with us .

You will find Bonboon at Piraeus Square on KNSM Island, directly on the Levant Quay. The name of the square is based on the name of the building in which we are located: Residential block Piraeus. The Piraeus building is a design by the German architects Kolhoff and Rapp and named after the eponymous Greek port city. After all, KNSM Island was once a port and the ships of the KNSM (Royal Dutch Steamboat Company) were given names from Greek, Roman and Egyptian mythology.

Original influences
On the whole island you still see the influences back from that time. The island was developed into a residential area in the 1990s. A number of original buildings were then taken into account in modern, high-quality architecture. This attracts a lot of architecture enthusiasts. Warehouses have been converted into homes or shops and new buildings have been folded around old buildings as it were. The Piraeus block is a good example of this. That is built óm a protected port building. At the Levant square around the corner you will find the former canteen building, which was once sold for one guilder to the artists who lived there then…

Levant Quay
On the Levant Quay is still quite a few ships, only most of them are now inhabited. Those who make a walk on the quiet quay can hardly imagine that the island is located in the middle of the world city of Amsterdam. A hidden resting point, where you can enjoy the sun, the food and a nice glass of wine all day on our cosy and colourful terrace. Life…. For that you really don’t have to go to southern Europe.