Is wheat and wheat-gluten vegan?

Question

I am a new vegan and I was wondering if someone could explain if gluten and wheat are vegan, and if they're not, why so many vegans don't eat wheat or gluten.

Answer 1

Wheat is a grain and gluten is grain protein.  Both are completely vegan.  Most people who avoid it do so because they either have a medical condition that demands it (celiac disease) or they just find that they don't digest it well.  I think it gets lumped together with veganism because both are "special diets."  Perhaps a lot of vegan cookbook authors are sensitive to people who have to be gluten-free because they know what it's like to have to search harder to find good recipes?  I know several vegans who are gluten-free, but none avoid gluten because they're vegan, they do it because they have to.

Answer 2

The only reason a true vegan or vegetarian would not eat wheat products,would be due to allergic reactions.

I love the stuff.

White processed bread tastes like "cardboard" to me

Answer 3

Wheat is vegan but a lot of people are alergic to the gluten.  It's beyond me why someone who is alergic to a important staple food like grains would cut two food groups out of their diet.

Answer 4

The only reason some vegans don't eat wheat/wheat gluten, is because they have a alergy to it. Wheat and wheat protean (gluten) are vegan.

Answer 5

Vegans don't eat anything derived from animals, including dairy products and eggs, gelatine (except vegetable-derived gelatine). Wheat is ok with vegans, as it is a cereal, unless they have a dietary problem that makes it, or the gluten which it contains, dangerous for them. People who are gluten intolerant cannot eat wheat, rye or barley.

Excluding wheat and/or gluten from your diet as a vegan, if you don't need to for health reasons, is a very bad idea. It's extremely difficult for a vegan to balance their diet so that they get all the different nutrients they require in any case, without excluding wheat.

Answer 6

Yes, except for the creatures such as worms, bugs, rabbits, field mice, etc that may be killed in farming the land with plows and harvesting machines.

Have never heard of vegans avoiding wheat or gluten unless they have celiac disease...gluten makes a good fake meat called seitan.

Answer 7

Yep, they are vegan. Many vegans don't eat them because they believe that wheat gluten is harmful or something. Or they're just allergic. Not because it isn't vegan though.