Calling all vegetarians! What are all the not-so-obvious foods we cant eat?!
I only discovered that some cheese and white wines aren't OK a long time after I gave up meat. In the supermarket the other day I was looking at the nutritional chart for a chocolate pudding, only to see beef extract in the ingredients list!
This is really annoying, I read a lot of labels but there are some I just wouldn't even think to look at, plus not all animal products are obvious in their naming.
A lot of my vegetarian friends worry about this too so I thought I'd ask if people could share their discoveries of certain things that people might not realise are non-veggie friendly?
Answers:
I will give you a rough list of some of the foods/items that I have found that contains animal products.
Cheese: (I know you mentioned that you already found out about cheese, but I just wanted to add this to the list incase other vegetarians/vegans missed that in your question. Most cheeses contain rennet). A lot of vegetarians would never guess this, especially when they are first starting out.
Marshmallows: Marshmallows contain gelatin, but I have heard stories of vegan marshmallows somewhere out there-I have yet to find them.
Pills: A lot of pills for medication are made using gelatin. If you look in health food stores, you can find medication that is not made with the use of gelatin.
Sobe drinks: I am not sure if any of you have heard of Sobe, but it is kind of like an energy drink. I was drinking one the other day and found out that it has cochineal in it, which is coloring derived from crushed insects. There are flavors that do not contain it, but be careful. Always check foods for cochineal because it is popular for coloring. Even if I wasn't a vegetarian, this just completely grosses me out. Cochineal is also used in many cosmetics.
Chocolate: I have heard that some milk chocolates, if not all, contain animal fat. Dark chocolate and Carob are alternatives for this.
Sugar: Some refined sugars are made using bone char from cows.
Sodas: Some sodas, especially orange soda, contains gelatin. Make sure that you always check the back of the bottle.
Energy bars: I have found that there are few energy bars that are not made using gelatin, fish gelatin, or any other substance from an animal. I have found vegan ones recently.
There are more that I have found, but these are the ones that I think of off of the top of my head. For a list of things that are vegan-friendly, check out .
it's the biggest Rip off in the world and you all brought it and the price you pay for it is absurd even the organic products are a rip off.
jelly sweets (gelatine is often used to make them stay in shape)
suet for making dumplings for stew - make sure it is from vegetables
also some glues are still made the old way so dont buy those...
beef extract in chocolate pudding? i thought i'd seen and heard the worst! that is so ridiculous and unnecessary. you'd think being vegetarian would be cut and dry, right? no meat, it's good. but no...
well, i just learned that paradise bakery's tomato soup has chicken broth in it! they have four soups on the menu...steak chili (obv. not veggie), broccoli cheddar (could/should totally be veggie, but is not), fire roasted tomato (could/should be veggie, but is sadly not), and black bean soup (veggie, but not sure it's vegan).
soups are the worst place to check as far as assuming they would be vegetarian but have chicken/beef stock.
as far as i know, cheeses are kind of up to your discretion, but i have noticed, every once in a blue moon, a cheese labeled "vegetarian".
also beware of "carmine"...other than that, check the labels on anything from the grocery, esp. frozen items that seem deceptively vegetarian but rarely are.
As others have stated, just make sure you read the labels. I never would have suspected Campbell's "Vegetable Soup" to contain beef broth, but at least in Canada, it does. Although it doesn't specifically say vegetarian, it just doesn't quite seem right.
With regards to cheese, please note that microbial enzyme is basically the vegetarian equivalent of rennet. Where I live, it is quite rare for me to pick up a package of cheese and see animal rennet; it is almost always microbial enzyme.
Although this isn't a direct answer, if you want to be completely safe, you should start preparing your meals from scratch (or at least lower-level ingredients). This is quite a sure way to avoid any surprises.
same here, i only in the last year or 2 found out about cheese issues
but cos i live in britain its never really a problem, they cater a reasonable amount here for veggies, more than they used to anyway
i found pesto, then had to give that up, when i loved it, cos of the cheese they use in it ;-(
i learned resonably early on, puddings , desserts, sweets, cakes, always read the lable, gelatine is in most of them if they dont have vs on them
it still boggles my mind why they use gelatine so often when there are other replacements
another thing is gelatine on any suppliments, seems stupid to me as a LOT of veggies take them, so making them veggie friendly is kinda a given
but,
what i notice isthey make seperate veggie ones, and bump the prices up, so the non veggie ones are cheaper
which is obviously pretty disgusting
medicines from doctors etc usually have gelatine when they are capsules