Vegan foods...?

Question

I'm trying to be a vegan, but I keep getting worried that what I'm eating isn't vegan-safe. Can anyone tell me some easy ways of determining whether or not what I'm eating is vegan(apart from the little symbol on some foods that say 'Certified Vegan,' or the packaging saying something like, '100% VEGAN')?!

PLEASE HELP!!!

Answer 1

why don't you just try your best, read labels, read what the ingredients are and do a little research on where they come from.  It's not like it's a pass/fail test and if you happen to ingest something not acceptable to vegans you'll be kicked out of the club.  Don't make such a big deal out of it and just be conscious of what you eat.

Answer 2

I would just read the ingredients and don't buy anything that contains meat, eggs / egg albumin, or dairy. In my opinion, those are the only animal products that vegans should be concerned about.

Veganism isn't about personal purity, which is an unattainable goal. It's about trying to make choices that help animals. So don't worry about the hidden / unpronounceable ingredients. Boycotting products that are 99.9 percent vegan sends the message to manufacturers that there is no market for this food, which ends up hurting more animals.

To quote J.R., another Yahoo Answers user: "Becoming fanatical about the content of natural and artificial flavors, dyes, etc. that make up less than 1% of what you're consuming seems counterproductive to me. Veganism should be about doing the most good for animals. The biggest way to help animals is not to just stop eating them yourself, but to teach others so that they may decide to become vegetarians/vegans. Being fanatical about Red 40 does not make people want to give veganism any credit, it only allows them to write you off so they can continue their habits. Until we've solved the bigger problem of meat production, it's stupid to focus on whether or not our naturally flavored bagel might have a gram of whey in it."

More on this:

http://www.vegcooking.com/anote.asp

http://www.veganoutreach.org/howvegan.ht...

Answer 3

Hey.

The best way to avoid foods with hidden animal products, is to find foods with the vegan sunflower logo on, which means it has been approved by the vegan society, and is 100% vegan.

There are so many products approved these days.

Some of my favorite vegan foods are here:

http://www.rjfoods-flapjack.com/ - Vegan tasty flapjacks.

http://www.plamilfoods.co.uk/chocolate.h... - Vegan chocolate, they have alot of different flavours to try.

http://www.naturalbalancefoods.co.uk/PRO... - 100% vegan tasty, natruaral, healthy bars.

http://www.alprosoya.co.uk/alpro/UK_en/i... - They do vegan chocolate/banana/strawberry milk, vegan custard, vegan yogurts and loads more.

http://www.thefooddoctor.com/ - Loads of vegan things like bagels, soya nuts, seeds, crackers, vegan cerial and loads more.

There is also a big list of vegan products approved by the vegan society here - http://www.vegansociety.com/business/tra...

Hope this helps and good luck!

Answer 4

There's a book called Animal Ingredients A-Z that you can buy (just google it.)  Obviously, it's quite comprehensive and you're not going to memorize the whole thing, but you'll be able to pick out the usual culprits in food and just learn to avoid them.  Someone also has a list online that you can download to the notes section of your iPod so you have info available when you're shopping, but I have no idea who's posted it or where you can find it; if you're resourceful, you might be able to track it down, though.

Answer 5

go to your local bookstore and get "The complete idiots guide to vegan living " it tels you EVERYTHING !

:)

Answer 6

What you need is an everyday guide to vegetarian/vegan life.   Listed below is a great guide you can use when you have a question like this.

Answer 7

Looking at Product Labels

Labels can be deliberately misleading, and not just where the ingredients list is concerned. Non-vegan items can be hiding elsewhere on the product label, and certain labels, while sounding good, are not necessarily indicative of an animal free product.

Check out the cholesterol percentage listed in the nutritional information. If it’s more than zero, the product has animal ingredients. Animals are the only source of cholesterol in processed foods.

Be on the lookout for items that don’t list the full contents if each ingredient. Things such as ‘natural flavours’, for example, are not vegan friendly.

Don’t confuse pareve or kosher with vegan. Kosher simply means that meat and dairy do not appear together in the food. While pareve items may not contain either meat or dairy products, fish, eggs and honey are considered acceptable, so any products labeled as such should be read with care.

A product labeled as ‘natural’ doesn’t indicate that it’s vegan. After all, goat’s milk and honey are natural, but they’re not something vegans want to use or ingest.

Also beware of labels marked ‘non-dairy”. Surprisingly enough, they’re usually not. The term was coined in consideration of the dairy industry and is directed at the lactose intolerant market. It means only that the food is not primarily dairy based.

Don’t be fooled by the ‘no animal by-product’ or ‘cruelty-free’ labels either. The first may contain animal products—as opposed to by-products—while the second means only that the product was not tested on animals, which is a separate issue and doesn’t guarantee a product free of animal derivatives.

Alternative Names for Animal Ingredients

Although English might be the language you speak everyday, what you see on the food ingredients list may seem more like Greek. There are many alternative names for things like milk and eggs and other non-vegan food components. These are just a few examples:

Casein – a class of milk proteins often found in items marked ‘non-dairy’

Ghee – a common milk derivative

Albumen – protein found in egg whites

Cochineal/Carmine – a coloring agent made from ground up beetles

Oleic acid – fat from sheep or cattle

Rennin/Rennet – enzymes from a calf’s stomach

Calcium Stearate – a mineral usually derived from hogs and cattle

Gelatin – protein from animal bones, cartilage, tendons, and skin

Glycerides (mono/di/tri) – glycerol from animal fats

Stearic acid – animal fats and oils

Lecithin – phospholipids often from animal tissues and eggs

Pepsin – enzymes gathered from pigs stomachs