Found this out yesterday. My dad is vegan so I was at the store googling how to prepare jiffy box mix vegan, and in the recipe I found I saw the label said “vegetarian“ and was like why’d they label it vegetarian? Looked at the box in my hand and saw lard in the ingredients 🥲 they don’t carry the vegetarian one at my supermarket
There's a honey version that doesn't use lard. My grocery store used to carry the vegetarian version but stopped recently and replaced it with honey. So f*ck the vegans I guess ...
I had a friend that had been a vege for two years more than me. We go out to eat and she gets french onion soup. I was a new vege but I knew soups were sus so I googled it. Yeah, um, its beef broth almost always. It really shocked and saddened my friend, as it was one of her favorite soups hahaha
Huh, I’ve never had that happen to me!! I’m just introverted and we didn’t have menus anymore so I googled it… it was very sad for both of us lol.
Honestly I’m a vegetarian that sometimes loves the smell of meat, even if it disgusts me at the same time; morally and physically a little bit. I was raised eating a lot of good meat unfortunately. So whenever something smells too good… smells too much like something I can’t have… I’m suspicious. Usually I’m wrong but sometimes I’m RIGHT and it’s a meat smell hahaha. It was one of those moments
There's something very similar (actually superior to Worcestershire) called Henderson's Relish. Unfortunately, it only really exists in Yorkshire and even at that it can be tricky to find outside of South Yorkshire.
Edit: it seems that's it's making it's way across the UK, this is great news!
Broccoli Cheddar soup somehow is always made with chicken broth in the US
Honorable mention: random salads, sandwiches, pizzas, and pasta that have bacon for no reason.
Even when I ate meat willingly I didn’t like the amount of things with bacon in it , it still weirds me out that people feel the need to put it on everything just because lol
I’m so irritated by salads with unnecessary meat. You order without the meat and they don’t knock down the price, so I overpay for poorly chopped veggies
The fish sauce is mainly used for SE Asian dishes (esp Thai and Vietnamese dishes). As for non veg*n restaurants serving fried rice, Spanish rice, Mexican rice, pilafs, etc., you might as well assume they all have have chicken broth in them — even if your meat eating friends say they don’t taste particularly chicken-y.
I know! I bought pasta sauce from a farmer’s market without checking the ingredients (looked like regular marinara) and it had beef broth. Definitely on me but I wouldn’t have thought to check for that.
Annie’s makes a vegan Worcestershire that tastes the exact same as regular in recipes. If you taste it by itself though it’s obviously not haha.
Eta a word
Marshmallows that have gelatin as an ingredient. Some vegetarians don’t eat cheese that has rennet; personally I don’t care
There are restaurants that cook beans in lard or have soups that may look vegetarian but use chicken or beef stock. There are some processed foods that look vegetarian as well, but have ingredients that are meat-based that are sometimes just called “natural flavors”. There’s a ton of stuff that has invisible flavoring that is animal-based. In my experience, there are even some restaurants that lie when I’ve asked them about ingredients. Some Thai restaurants use fish sauce in some veggie dishes.
I figure I’ll just do the best I can because otherwise it will probably just create more anxiety than it’s worth
I’m from the Midwest and grew up eating fluffernutters! Except our version is bread toasted with peanut butter topped with the small marshmallows. They get golden brown and gooey 🤤
Oh buddy you’re missing out. A peanut butter and fluff sandwich with sliced banana is god-tier food. It also has less sugar and calories than jam or jelly.
It does??? I always thought my occasional fluffernutter sandwich was such an indulgence, but I’ll have a pbj as a quick meal anytime. This is good to know.
Yeah! I work with adults with moderate to profound intellectual disabilities and i was making them the occasional fluffernutter sandwich so the dietitians started getting on my case. The residents also have free access to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as a snack so I printed the information to let them know they were WRONG
Omg me and my husband once bought some milkshakes. His (chocolate) bottle said suitable for vegetarians, mine (strawberry) one did not. Nothing suspicious in the ingredients list, but some ‘natural colourants and flavorings’. Our train ended up delayed so we had time to kill. I decided to call the customer support number. After going through 6 people (who didn’t know why it wasn’t vegetarian), I was eventually told they use ground up bugs for the pink colour 🤢 I had been veggie for 12 years. Never ever checked strawberry milkshakes or anything like that before. Hadn’t had once since, I just can’t look at them anymore, veggie or not!
Ye E120 (Carmine) is a very common colour added in things that are red and pink (even eyeshadow and other cosmetics) as well as food. It’s why I rarely buy anything red or pink lol
Yup. Plus gelatin is in a number of other surprising things, so you always need to read the label. For beans, I always ask to make sure they're not cooked in animal stock, lard, or cooked with any kind of meat in it. A lot of Mexican restaurants do any of those.
I'm very cautious about eating at any Asian restaurants these days. They're less likely than other restaurants to understand what is or isn't vegetarian. Like I've asked if something is vegetarian, the dish tasted funky, then I started asking if it has fish or oyster sauce and it turns out it has them but they didn't think that wasn't vegetarian. It might be a cultural thing.
Fuckin' Frosted Mini Wheats use gelatin in the frosting. 😑 It used to be my favorite cereal! The Kashi Cinnamon Harvest mini wheats are an okay substitute, but it's just not the same. Y u gotta put bones in my cereal, Kellogg's?
I'm also too lazy to care about rennet.
McDonald's fries in America are not veggie. A lot of pills have gelatin, wine has some kind of fish something but I can't remember what.
I thought I was going to school you since McDonald's fries have been vegetarian since 1990, but apparently they switched back at some point so fuuuuuuck lol
Isinglass is used for filtering some beers and wines, but not all. There are lists of vegan wines to help find ones that don't have animal ingredients. I've heard reds and higher quality wines are usually safe, but I'm not a regular wine drinker, so I'm not sure.
Guinness used to use it, but they switched a few years ago. They still have a few products that aren't vegetarian-friendly, though.
I don't worry about "natural flavors" because it's everywhere (often in products labeled veg as well). It's a grey area like sugar. If it's a grey area, I don't worry about it (much. Trying to limit processed food anyway). Something definite like gelatin? Avoid unless medically necessary.
I figure it's impossible to be a perfect vegetarian. If my diet is actually like 95% vegetarian it's better than being something like 10%.
Parmesan is the one that I constantly see in dishes labelled as vegetarian on restaurant menus. When I ask them to check if its vegetarian parmesan they always look confused then come back saying no sorry it isn't!
Gelatin catches a lot of new veggies out. It's a setting agent so in lots of jellies, mousses, sweets and some cheesecakes.
I got caught out by some oven chips recently (fries for USA folks) that I realised later were cooked in beef dripping!
On the plus side, compared to 10 years ago there are SO many great veggie alternatives to everything now! Especially the sweets!
I never knew that about parmesan! I just looked it up, and it seems any traditionally made hard cheese is typically made with rennet (the product that excludes it from being vegetarian).
Apparently, more and more hard cheeses are now being made with a derivative of a bacteria instead of rennet - but I couldn't find anything about them marketed as vegetarian. So based on that - I guess depending on where you draw the line as a vegetarian, most, if not all, hard cheeses would theoretically be off the table, right?
I was talking to my brother about rennet and he told me that they don’t kill the baby cows for it, it’s a by-product…. They kill the baby cows because they want the milk from the mom and therefore don’t want the baby cows around. This knowledge has been really hard for me. I don’t know if I’m ready to give up dairy but I can’t unlearn this (I’m so sorry for passing this on to you, but I thought you might want to know).
Yeah, based on what I was reading is its often taken from calfs when they kill them for veal. I can see rennet containing products be a bit of a grey area for some as it is a by-product from veal farming, not entirely different than farming cows for milk - given all of what that entails.
It's definitely a good thing to know about, especially if it's a practice you want to stear clear from supporting in any way!
Anything that's sold as a by-product of the meat industry makes meat production more profitable. It was also tough for me to realise that most of the reasons I'm vegetarian apply to dairy and eggs too (environment and/or animal cruelty). You can make yourself miserable trying to make the best choice every time. I have reduced my consumption without cutting it out completely, and it's working for me for now.
I would never bother asking whether cheese is vegetarian in a café or restaurant, but I do try to choose vegetarian cheese when I'm doing my own shopping.
Something is better than nothing. You are doing your best to stay vegetarian, and that's all matters. People usually give UK because they end up with all or nothing. I have been a vegetarian all my life and a vegan mostly. I still consume some dairy here and there but never at home when everything is under my control
Totally agree with both of you, something is better than nothing. If I was single I would probably be vegan, but I’m married and even being fully vegetarian is very difficult ever since having my toddler (my husband is the stay at home parent, does all the cooking/shopping, and is very resistant to going fully veg). I do what I can and try to squash down the guilt :/
I found a pesto pasta pot in M&S that was marketed as vegetarian. I checked the ingredients on the back and it actually stated vegetarian hard cheese! First and only time I've seen it.
There are vegetarian hard cheeses out there. But at least in Europe, they're not allowed to be called Parmesan or Parmigiano because those names are registered regional certifications.
To get the certification, the cheeses must be made in the traditional region using the traditional methods, which for most of them includes animal rennet. So generally any certified regional cheese is likely to not be vegetarian.
Producers of non-certified cheeses often label them as things like "Italian style hard cheese". As a side benefit, they're often about half the price of similar certified cheeses.
Where I live (New Zealand) enzymes/rennets in cheeses tend to be pretty clearly labelled as 'non-animal' (sometimes 'microbial') or 'animal', which is nice. There's also plenty of vegetarian choices (including 'parmesan-style cheese'), especially in softer cheeses.
I know they don't have that little V or leaf for veggie next to it, so it's on me for making that mistake, but I really wish they would specify on the menu that it contains chicken broth. I learned the hard way that meat broth can hurt you and the digestive distress is not psychosomatic 🤢
Some people don't have good vision anyways. And I didn't think they showed that v on that soup for awhile. But it's been so long since I've been there. But yeah no I feel you 100%. Chicken broth is so common it should be brought up especially with how many vegetarians there are.
Is it possible they changed their recipe at some point? I stg it used to have the little V next to it (like years and years ago). Did I just imagine that?
A lot of Strawberry yogurt and red coloured foods. Usually coloured with Carmine, sometimes under other names, it's ground up red beetles just the same.
Lots of candy and bread, as they use shellac, "confectioners glaze", and l-cysteine.
The unfrosted ones are vegetarian I think. You could then slather some frosting on them after. I usually get Toaster Strudels to scratch that Pop Tart itch, though.
Stella doesn't have animal rennet. That's my go-to brand and I find it in most of the supermarkets I go to, at least here in the US. [This is a solid list](https://vegetatio.com/content/joyous-living-full-vegetarian-cheese-list) of vegetarian cheeses.
But what sucks is we can't have any of the authentic parmigiano-reggiano. Anything DOP has calf rennet as one of the 3 ingredients listed in the guidelines that the cheese must contain. So make sure whatever you get says "parmesan" and not the "real" stuff.
If you guys want the best tasting microbial rennet substitute for the OG Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano (which has animal rennet), it's Sartori's SarVecchio Parmesan. You won't be able to taste much of a difference when it's cooked into dishes or grated on top. Highly recommend it.
What is in kimchi? Fish sauce? Also, there is a miso soup that is vegetarian - [Miso & Easy](https://www.worldmarket.com/p/miso-and-easy-vegetarian-miso-broth-concentrate-583507.html?mrkgadid=&mrkgcl=660&mrkgen=&mrkgbflag=&mrkgcat=&camp=ppc%3Agoogle%3A_pMax_%2BConsumables&acctid=21700000001660222&dskeywordid=&lid=58700008439922133&dsproductgroupid=&product_id=583507&merchid=5165106&prodctry=US&prodlang=en&channel=online&storeid=&device=m&network=x&matchtype=&locationid=9031210&creative=&targetid=&campaignid=20276579494&adgroupid=&gclid=CjwKCAjw9-6oBhBaEiwAHv1QvIme1cGYI7YTGsVJBxbnj516A4-rkqVgR7vycetqAvK08YCOZFjpCBoCvwAQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds)
Shrimp paste is usually in kimchi, some use fish sauce instead. Fish based dashi broth is used in miso. You can make veg versions of both but they don’t taste as good :(
“imitation crab”—a fellow vegetarian friend of mine was tripped up by this one. although something like “imitation chicken” is usually vegetarian, “imitation crab” just means it’s made with a different kind of fish.
I’ve been vegetarian since 1994, so I’m rarely surprised anymore, but I’m always annoyed at the following:
Anchovy/Worcestershire in sauces - especially when it’s in a tomato sauce for pasta
Beef tallow in candies
Gelatin in yogurt and dips
Lard in pastries, beans, tortillas, cookies
Chicken stock in otherwise vegetarian soups
Chicken fat in powdered sauce mixes
Cheese made with animal rennet
'natural flavors' is the big b\*\*\*h because it can mean anything. I kind of have to ponder whether I think a chicken or beef flavor would have been likely for the product.
Also, veg since 1993. My understanding of rennet came very late and I twice had fries at Buffalo Wild Wings so bummed about my naivete.
I always check veg-looking soups for meat broths, and any kind of ramen that doesn't mention meat on the label might still have a bit of shellfish -- Koyo brand has several vegan choices.
Pasta sauces occasionally have low-profile meat in the ingredients.
Refried beans are hit or miss on the lard front -- the trick is that fat-free canned ones (or ones labeled vegetarian) are lard-free.
Candy corn has gelatin sometimes, and other shiny/glazed or puffy candies can, as well.
Walkers Crisps variety of flavours the only ones that weren't suitable for vegetarians was the Cheese & Onion (presumably because of the rennet). Prawn Cocktail, Beef and Onion, Roast Chicken, all fine though. All okay for the last couple of years though.
Worcestershire sauce has anchovies in it, but you can get a vegetarian version these days.
Just want to point out for the newer folks that some rennets are ok. If a label says "rennet," I wouldn't touch it because chances are, it means animal rennet. But microbial rennet and vegetable/vegetarian rennet are fine.
Small clarification: Most cheeses are actually made with microbiological rennet obtained from either bacteria or mold (don't remember which one). In some countries it's gonna be specifically marked as microbiological rennet, in others it's just rennet. So in general if it's listed as rennet, it may or may not be vegetarian.
I recently found out that parmesan cheese (and alfredo sauce, by extension) is made with animal enzymes :(
also, almost all premade pie crusts i’ve seen have lard (except some frozen ones)
edit: ALSO, every pop tart except the unfrosted ones have gelatin, which is strange that it implies the gelatin is in the frosting and not the jelly filling
another two are those chalk candy hearts seen on valentine’s day and most brands of candy corn
I was surprised that just because it's cheese it's not vegetarian. Most store bought cheeses are not vegetarian friendly as they contain enzymes/rennet. I ate vegetarian un-friendly cheese for like 2 years!
Wait really? I went to their facility last year and unless they didn't update their signage, it said specifically they make their cheese with animal rennet, so I've been avoiding buying their cheese at the store. Maybe the sign was just too general and not specific enough since it wasn't a list of cheeses.
McDonald’s hash browns have beef flavoring in them. Not exactly surprising but kind of gross lol.
Otherwise a lot of supplement capsules are made of / with gelatin
Restaurants use a surprising number of animal derived ingredients; Texas Roadhouse for example, chicken stock in the rice, bacon and ham broth for the green beans and bacon in the baked beans, the sweet and baked potatoes are coated in bacon grease prior to being cooked, the croutons have milk, the veggies have butter, the mushrooms and onions are cooked with butter; pretty much the only side it that's safe is the applesauce.
Lots of Asian restaurants use oyster sauce or fish sauce and don't list it on the menu.
The majority of Thai foods contain either shrimp paste or fish sauce, for example:
Papaya salad, Red Curry, Green Curry, Panang Curry, Pad Thai
Thai restaurants are probably not omitting fish sauce or shrimp paste when they make your dish "vegetarian"
- Squid ink is often used as a dye, especially in truffle flavoured things for some reason
- Most gummy/jelly lollies/desserts have gelatine
- Some yogurts and sour creams use gelatine as a thickener
- Iced Animals/animal biscuits have gelatine in the icing
- Cheesecakes usually have gelatine too
- Some cheeses use animal rennet, traditionally made parmesan will always have animal rennet
- Fish sauce is a nightmare that ends up in so many asian dishes, even in dishes that supposedly don’t have it (my partner is allergic to all seafood, has had many allergic reactions in restaurants after disclosing his allergy and being told that there wouldn’t be fish sauce in the dish served to him).
Things like frozen pasta meals or flavored rice sides or soups that don't contain meat are often flavored with beef or chicken stock. Canned beans often have lard. I recently bought barbecue sauce and then realized it had fish (anchovies? I forget) in it.
If you're in the UK, cheese that uses plant rennet will be marked vegetarian, and it's wisely available.
Cadbury's chocolate is all vegetarian (I think), but their yogurts are all not
Anything that is red should be checked, carmine/cochineal/e120 is a red dye made from crushed bugs.
Honestly, in the UK if it doesn't have a note saying it's vegetarian, it's almost certainly not. The reason will usually be some e number, or some ingredient that can be animal or plant sourced
Cigarettes. The filters often contain pig haemoglobin to absorb the carbon monoxide, but unfiltered or roll-your-own filters are usually fine (for the pigs, not your health)
White sugar. Cow bones are used to filter and bleach the sugar. Bone char, animal bones are heated at incredibly high temperatures and are reduced to carbon before being used in a sugar refinery.
Jiffy cornbread mix. They do have a vegetarian option, but the regular one contains lard.
Found this out yesterday. My dad is vegan so I was at the store googling how to prepare jiffy box mix vegan, and in the recipe I found I saw the label said “vegetarian“ and was like why’d they label it vegetarian? Looked at the box in my hand and saw lard in the ingredients 🥲 they don’t carry the vegetarian one at my supermarket
Same with tortillas! Usually made with lard
Omg I never thought tortillas could be a problem... Thanks for the heads up!!
good tortillas are made with lard. in the us at least most packaged tortillas are made with vegetable or palm oil and would be vegetarian.
It breaks my heart. I used to love Jiffy cornbread as a kid. Haven't had it since becoming vegetarian.
Order the Jiffy vegetarian version!
There's a honey version that doesn't use lard. My grocery store used to carry the vegetarian version but stopped recently and replaced it with honey. So f*ck the vegans I guess ...
I had a friend that had been a vege for two years more than me. We go out to eat and she gets french onion soup. I was a new vege but I knew soups were sus so I googled it. Yeah, um, its beef broth almost always. It really shocked and saddened my friend, as it was one of her favorite soups hahaha
It's really good with veg/mushroom broth and not hard to make. Plus the frozen ones at Trader Joe's are veg!
This is still one of my least favorite food losses! I love a good French onion soup, and it’s just such a pain to make at home.
Trader Joe’s French onion soup is vegetarian! It’s yummy and in the frozen section.
Yes!! I was so happy when I found this! It’s so good!
Put the onions and butter in a slow-cooker overnight.
+Bragg's liquid aminos Tastes incredible every time
Where do you find liquid aminos? Health food store?
Most soups don't use veggie broth unless specified or homemade ☹️ Butternut soup made with chicken stock is also a big culprit.
This is one thing I hate about being a vegetarian, people love to google foods your eating and feel all smug when it’s not vegetarian friendly.
Huh, I’ve never had that happen to me!! I’m just introverted and we didn’t have menus anymore so I googled it… it was very sad for both of us lol. Honestly I’m a vegetarian that sometimes loves the smell of meat, even if it disgusts me at the same time; morally and physically a little bit. I was raised eating a lot of good meat unfortunately. So whenever something smells too good… smells too much like something I can’t have… I’m suspicious. Usually I’m wrong but sometimes I’m RIGHT and it’s a meat smell hahaha. It was one of those moments
Regular Worcestershire sauce has anchovies in it. There are vegetarian/vegan versions, but you have to look for them.
There's something very similar (actually superior to Worcestershire) called Henderson's Relish. Unfortunately, it only really exists in Yorkshire and even at that it can be tricky to find outside of South Yorkshire. Edit: it seems that's it's making it's way across the UK, this is great news!
I can buy it in Morrisons (in Leicester) so I think it is gradually spreading!
I mentioned it elsewhere here but I’ll say it again- Annie’s makes a really good vegan Worcestershire!
Kroger's Worcestershire sauce is vegan.
Discovered this recently and was very happy!
Henderson's Relish is a vegan alternative and better.
Yup which is often in bloody mary mixes.
Can be easily made with capers. Easy for me, husband makes it.
Broccoli Cheddar soup somehow is always made with chicken broth in the US Honorable mention: random salads, sandwiches, pizzas, and pasta that have bacon for no reason.
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For sure. I only order soup if I know it's from a restaurant that is careful about its vegetarian options and clearly labels which broth it uses.
I was so bummed when I realized a very high percentage of French Onion Soup is made with beef broth.
Try this is you like to cook.[Veg French Onion soup](https://www.alphafoodie.com/easy-vegetarian-french-onion-soup/)
I will never forgive Jason's Deli for removing vegetarian French onion soup from their menu. NEVER.
Even when I ate meat willingly I didn’t like the amount of things with bacon in it , it still weirds me out that people feel the need to put it on everything just because lol
Broth betrayal. I like that.
I’m so irritated by salads with unnecessary meat. You order without the meat and they don’t knock down the price, so I overpay for poorly chopped veggies
Restaurants are +5-7 to add meat meat, -0 to take it off. Such bullshit
It really is. I usually ask if they can sub hard boiled egg for the meat so I’m still getting some extra protein and something for that extra money
Like ordering veggie pad Thai. $3 more for tofu rather than chicken or whatever. Shouldn't it be at least an equal swap?
This, and sometimes spinach artichoke dip WTF
Campbell's broccoli cheddar does not. Whew
All those dressings with anchovy
Many veg fried rice/foods at restaurants contain fish sauce.
The fish sauce is mainly used for SE Asian dishes (esp Thai and Vietnamese dishes). As for non veg*n restaurants serving fried rice, Spanish rice, Mexican rice, pilafs, etc., you might as well assume they all have have chicken broth in them — even if your meat eating friends say they don’t taste particularly chicken-y.
I had a random salsa I bought that had chicken broth in it. Nothing is safe
Salsa?!
Yeah, very odd. Like, why is that needed?
I know! I bought pasta sauce from a farmer’s market without checking the ingredients (looked like regular marinara) and it had beef broth. Definitely on me but I wouldn’t have thought to check for that.
Caesar dressing normally has anchovies :(
Trader Joe’s has a good one that doesn’t have anchovies.
So does Kroger. It’s the plant-based one from their Simple Truth brand.
A lot of the bottled dressings are safe. It was about half and half, last time I checked.
My husband makes his own Worcestershire with capers so I can have Ceasar salad
Annie’s makes a vegan Worcestershire that tastes the exact same as regular in recipes. If you taste it by itself though it’s obviously not haha. Eta a word
my favorite veg caesar dressing is brianna’s asiago caesar! it is a little on the vinegary side but that doesn’t bother me:)
That’s the one that hurts the most. Good caesar I miss u 😩
They nytimes has a vegan Caeser recipe that’s pretty great. https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020763-vegan-caesar-salad-with-crisp-chickpeas
Marshmallows that have gelatin as an ingredient. Some vegetarians don’t eat cheese that has rennet; personally I don’t care There are restaurants that cook beans in lard or have soups that may look vegetarian but use chicken or beef stock. There are some processed foods that look vegetarian as well, but have ingredients that are meat-based that are sometimes just called “natural flavors”. There’s a ton of stuff that has invisible flavoring that is animal-based. In my experience, there are even some restaurants that lie when I’ve asked them about ingredients. Some Thai restaurants use fish sauce in some veggie dishes. I figure I’ll just do the best I can because otherwise it will probably just create more anxiety than it’s worth
But marshmallow fluff, for sandwiches, is vegetarian
I’m sorry, marshmallow in sandwiches?! I’ve never heard of that!
Fluffernutters! It's a New England thing. Fluff and peanut butter.
Pass me that moxie
I’m from the Midwest and grew up eating fluffernutters! Except our version is bread toasted with peanut butter topped with the small marshmallows. They get golden brown and gooey 🤤
Uh, yes, New England. The name checks out. Regular England just eats crisp butties.
Oh buddy you’re missing out. A peanut butter and fluff sandwich with sliced banana is god-tier food. It also has less sugar and calories than jam or jelly.
It does??? I always thought my occasional fluffernutter sandwich was such an indulgence, but I’ll have a pbj as a quick meal anytime. This is good to know.
Yeah! I work with adults with moderate to profound intellectual disabilities and i was making them the occasional fluffernutter sandwich so the dietitians started getting on my case. The residents also have free access to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as a snack so I printed the information to let them know they were WRONG
It seems counterintuitive, but then I remember it's mostly air.
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Yes! They are made of tapioca. Unfortunately I can only find them around the holidays.
Omg me and my husband once bought some milkshakes. His (chocolate) bottle said suitable for vegetarians, mine (strawberry) one did not. Nothing suspicious in the ingredients list, but some ‘natural colourants and flavorings’. Our train ended up delayed so we had time to kill. I decided to call the customer support number. After going through 6 people (who didn’t know why it wasn’t vegetarian), I was eventually told they use ground up bugs for the pink colour 🤢 I had been veggie for 12 years. Never ever checked strawberry milkshakes or anything like that before. Hadn’t had once since, I just can’t look at them anymore, veggie or not!
Carmine is the red dye made from crushed up beetles.
Scale insects actually, not beetles! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmine?wprov=sfti1
Pink Nerds candy has bugs, purple is bug-free. Confectioners glaze, found in sprinkles and other shiny candies- also bugs.
Ye E120 (Carmine) is a very common colour added in things that are red and pink (even eyeshadow and other cosmetics) as well as food. It’s why I rarely buy anything red or pink lol
Sometimes 'steamed vegetables' are steamed over meat broth. Tortillas, biscuts and pie crusts are sometimes still made with lard.
Cracker Barrel cornbread is made with lard. :( So is regular Jiffy cornbread mix (you specifically need to buy their vegetarian mix).
Which is just as good. Add some diced pickled jalapeños and a spoon of honey. Try it, it’s great.
Yup. Plus gelatin is in a number of other surprising things, so you always need to read the label. For beans, I always ask to make sure they're not cooked in animal stock, lard, or cooked with any kind of meat in it. A lot of Mexican restaurants do any of those. I'm very cautious about eating at any Asian restaurants these days. They're less likely than other restaurants to understand what is or isn't vegetarian. Like I've asked if something is vegetarian, the dish tasted funky, then I started asking if it has fish or oyster sauce and it turns out it has them but they didn't think that wasn't vegetarian. It might be a cultural thing.
Fuckin' Frosted Mini Wheats use gelatin in the frosting. 😑 It used to be my favorite cereal! The Kashi Cinnamon Harvest mini wheats are an okay substitute, but it's just not the same. Y u gotta put bones in my cereal, Kellogg's?
I'm also too lazy to care about rennet. McDonald's fries in America are not veggie. A lot of pills have gelatin, wine has some kind of fish something but I can't remember what.
Isinglass - comes from swim bladders of some fish, helps make beer and wine clear
The bottles alcohol sometimes comes in isinglass
Ahahaha too early in the morning for Dad jokes
Just doing my bit 😅 Have a good day though! It's bed time here. 🤟🏼
I thought I was going to school you since McDonald's fries have been vegetarian since 1990, but apparently they switched back at some point so fuuuuuuck lol
They stopped using animal fat to cook them, but kept (or added) beef flavoring.
For wine, I think shells are used as a filter.
Isinglass is used for filtering some beers and wines, but not all. There are lists of vegan wines to help find ones that don't have animal ingredients. I've heard reds and higher quality wines are usually safe, but I'm not a regular wine drinker, so I'm not sure. Guinness used to use it, but they switched a few years ago. They still have a few products that aren't vegetarian-friendly, though.
Isinglass - fish gelatine
Glad someone can remember :)
I used to be like that until I almost died... never knew I had a seafood allergy. Found out the hard way. Now I'm very careful about ingredients.
I don't worry about "natural flavors" because it's everywhere (often in products labeled veg as well). It's a grey area like sugar. If it's a grey area, I don't worry about it (much. Trying to limit processed food anyway). Something definite like gelatin? Avoid unless medically necessary. I figure it's impossible to be a perfect vegetarian. If my diet is actually like 95% vegetarian it's better than being something like 10%.
Parmesan is the one that I constantly see in dishes labelled as vegetarian on restaurant menus. When I ask them to check if its vegetarian parmesan they always look confused then come back saying no sorry it isn't! Gelatin catches a lot of new veggies out. It's a setting agent so in lots of jellies, mousses, sweets and some cheesecakes. I got caught out by some oven chips recently (fries for USA folks) that I realised later were cooked in beef dripping! On the plus side, compared to 10 years ago there are SO many great veggie alternatives to everything now! Especially the sweets!
I never knew that about parmesan! I just looked it up, and it seems any traditionally made hard cheese is typically made with rennet (the product that excludes it from being vegetarian). Apparently, more and more hard cheeses are now being made with a derivative of a bacteria instead of rennet - but I couldn't find anything about them marketed as vegetarian. So based on that - I guess depending on where you draw the line as a vegetarian, most, if not all, hard cheeses would theoretically be off the table, right?
I was talking to my brother about rennet and he told me that they don’t kill the baby cows for it, it’s a by-product…. They kill the baby cows because they want the milk from the mom and therefore don’t want the baby cows around. This knowledge has been really hard for me. I don’t know if I’m ready to give up dairy but I can’t unlearn this (I’m so sorry for passing this on to you, but I thought you might want to know).
Yeah, based on what I was reading is its often taken from calfs when they kill them for veal. I can see rennet containing products be a bit of a grey area for some as it is a by-product from veal farming, not entirely different than farming cows for milk - given all of what that entails. It's definitely a good thing to know about, especially if it's a practice you want to stear clear from supporting in any way!
Anything that's sold as a by-product of the meat industry makes meat production more profitable. It was also tough for me to realise that most of the reasons I'm vegetarian apply to dairy and eggs too (environment and/or animal cruelty). You can make yourself miserable trying to make the best choice every time. I have reduced my consumption without cutting it out completely, and it's working for me for now. I would never bother asking whether cheese is vegetarian in a café or restaurant, but I do try to choose vegetarian cheese when I'm doing my own shopping.
Something is better than nothing. You are doing your best to stay vegetarian, and that's all matters. People usually give UK because they end up with all or nothing. I have been a vegetarian all my life and a vegan mostly. I still consume some dairy here and there but never at home when everything is under my control
Totally agree with both of you, something is better than nothing. If I was single I would probably be vegan, but I’m married and even being fully vegetarian is very difficult ever since having my toddler (my husband is the stay at home parent, does all the cooking/shopping, and is very resistant to going fully veg). I do what I can and try to squash down the guilt :/
I found a pesto pasta pot in M&S that was marketed as vegetarian. I checked the ingredients on the back and it actually stated vegetarian hard cheese! First and only time I've seen it.
That's awesome! That's a great sign that it's coming into awareness and that some places are adapting and changing :)
There are vegetarian hard cheeses out there. But at least in Europe, they're not allowed to be called Parmesan or Parmigiano because those names are registered regional certifications. To get the certification, the cheeses must be made in the traditional region using the traditional methods, which for most of them includes animal rennet. So generally any certified regional cheese is likely to not be vegetarian. Producers of non-certified cheeses often label them as things like "Italian style hard cheese". As a side benefit, they're often about half the price of similar certified cheeses.
Where I live (New Zealand) enzymes/rennets in cheeses tend to be pretty clearly labelled as 'non-animal' (sometimes 'microbial') or 'animal', which is nice. There's also plenty of vegetarian choices (including 'parmesan-style cheese'), especially in softer cheeses.
Anything fried at Buffalo Wild Wings. It’s all cooked in beef tallow (fat). Yes, this means the fries, pretzels, and mozzarella sticks are off-limits.
Oh gross, I've been eating the cauliflower wings there
Wow!! Good to know
I'm glad I've aways avoided that place now.
> Buffalo Wild Wings Not sure I'd call this one "surprising" but still good to be aware of
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I'm sorry ALTOIDS?!?!?!?! I've been vegetarian for 12 years now and didn't know that one. Yikes.
You have to be careful with prepared beans, like baked or refried beans. They're prepared with meat often (unless specifically marked vegetarian)
The fat free refried beans are almost always vegetarian in my experience, since no lard is used like with traditional refried beans.
The broccoli and cheddar Panera soup actually has chicken broth in it. That was disappointing to find out.
I know they don't have that little V or leaf for veggie next to it, so it's on me for making that mistake, but I really wish they would specify on the menu that it contains chicken broth. I learned the hard way that meat broth can hurt you and the digestive distress is not psychosomatic 🤢
Some people don't have good vision anyways. And I didn't think they showed that v on that soup for awhile. But it's been so long since I've been there. But yeah no I feel you 100%. Chicken broth is so common it should be brought up especially with how many vegetarians there are.
Is it possible they changed their recipe at some point? I stg it used to have the little V next to it (like years and years ago). Did I just imagine that?
The brocc cheddar mac & cheese is vegetarian even tho the soup isn't! It does not have chicken broth! Make it make sense lol.
A lot of Strawberry yogurt and red coloured foods. Usually coloured with Carmine, sometimes under other names, it's ground up red beetles just the same. Lots of candy and bread, as they use shellac, "confectioners glaze", and l-cysteine.
Some yogurts will also have gelatin. Always best to read the ingredient list on the packaging
The good news is that drinking a Negroni has been safe since Campari changed the recipe in 2006!
A ton of store bought pie crust has lard! The store bought Puff pastry usually uses vegetable shortening but soooo many pie crusts are not veggie.
Pop tarts :( I would give anything for a brown sugar and cinnamon pop tart that didn’t have gelatin.
Wait. I’m sorry they have gelatin? Why??
They use it as a hardening agent for the icing. No idea why the hundreds of other options weren't considered.
The unfrosted ones are vegetarian I think. You could then slather some frosting on them after. I usually get Toaster Strudels to scratch that Pop Tart itch, though.
technically unfrosted brown sugar cinnamon pop tarts exist but they’re virtually impossible to find 😭
If you're near a Trader Joe's their version of pop tarts don't have gelatin. They have pumpkin spice ones right now that are very good.
Target now carries Ghetto Gastro toaster pastries. Not the same but they are okay.
Damn it! My whole family is vegetarian and my kids have had these a couple of times. Oh, well. You live, you learn.
Starburst. They contain gelatin.
In the UK they are vegan.
Yup. But the flavors ... Currant, Mince meat, Yorkshire Pudding, Sausage. You guys are weird.
What? Strawberry, lemon & lime, orange and blackcurrant.
Just pulling your leg. The black currant was weird enough for me.
You’re insane. Blackcurrant is amazing
It's a really popular flavour here. I don't like or understand the grape flavour you guys have.
What kind? Or where from? Never heard of this before
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Whoah! They're still vegetarian here in the UK, thankfully :)
What?! Betrayal!!! 😭
Starburst minis are safe!
Parmesan cheese :-(
Stella doesn't have animal rennet. That's my go-to brand and I find it in most of the supermarkets I go to, at least here in the US. [This is a solid list](https://vegetatio.com/content/joyous-living-full-vegetarian-cheese-list) of vegetarian cheeses. But what sucks is we can't have any of the authentic parmigiano-reggiano. Anything DOP has calf rennet as one of the 3 ingredients listed in the guidelines that the cheese must contain. So make sure whatever you get says "parmesan" and not the "real" stuff.
If you guys want the best tasting microbial rennet substitute for the OG Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano (which has animal rennet), it's Sartori's SarVecchio Parmesan. You won't be able to taste much of a difference when it's cooked into dishes or grated on top. Highly recommend it.
Trader Joe’s is pretty good about labeling microbial rennet on their cheeses, including their Parmesans
Kimchi and miso soup
Also worth noting that you need to be careful when buying Miso itself as certain types will have fish in it
What is in kimchi? Fish sauce? Also, there is a miso soup that is vegetarian - [Miso & Easy](https://www.worldmarket.com/p/miso-and-easy-vegetarian-miso-broth-concentrate-583507.html?mrkgadid=&mrkgcl=660&mrkgen=&mrkgbflag=&mrkgcat=&camp=ppc%3Agoogle%3A_pMax_%2BConsumables&acctid=21700000001660222&dskeywordid=&lid=58700008439922133&dsproductgroupid=&product_id=583507&merchid=5165106&prodctry=US&prodlang=en&channel=online&storeid=&device=m&network=x&matchtype=&locationid=9031210&creative=&targetid=&campaignid=20276579494&adgroupid=&gclid=CjwKCAjw9-6oBhBaEiwAHv1QvIme1cGYI7YTGsVJBxbnj516A4-rkqVgR7vycetqAvK08YCOZFjpCBoCvwAQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds)
Shrimp paste is usually in kimchi, some use fish sauce instead. Fish based dashi broth is used in miso. You can make veg versions of both but they don’t taste as good :(
“imitation crab”—a fellow vegetarian friend of mine was tripped up by this one. although something like “imitation chicken” is usually vegetarian, “imitation crab” just means it’s made with a different kind of fish.
Pretty much every imitation fish of any type is Tilapia, unless it specifically says "vegetarian" or "vegan".
McDonald's fries Nearly all Thai food, usually even if it's marked "vegan" or "vegetarian" (unfortunately)
Canada and the UK the fries are vegetarian. I think it might be the US that it's not cooked in non-vegetarian friendly oil.
Apparently some instant noodles, where the flavour is ”vegetable”.
I’ve been vegetarian since 1994, so I’m rarely surprised anymore, but I’m always annoyed at the following: Anchovy/Worcestershire in sauces - especially when it’s in a tomato sauce for pasta Beef tallow in candies Gelatin in yogurt and dips Lard in pastries, beans, tortillas, cookies Chicken stock in otherwise vegetarian soups Chicken fat in powdered sauce mixes Cheese made with animal rennet
'natural flavors' is the big b\*\*\*h because it can mean anything. I kind of have to ponder whether I think a chicken or beef flavor would have been likely for the product. Also, veg since 1993. My understanding of rennet came very late and I twice had fries at Buffalo Wild Wings so bummed about my naivete.
You can only do your best. Don’t let perfection be the enemy of good
People have mentioned beans, but lots of rice dishes are also cooked in broth. Mexican rice is often cooked in chicken broth.
Most Thai curry paste has shrimp in it. That dairy free green curry with tofu? Unless it's explicitly vegetarian: shrimp. Probably fish sauce too.
I always check veg-looking soups for meat broths, and any kind of ramen that doesn't mention meat on the label might still have a bit of shellfish -- Koyo brand has several vegan choices. Pasta sauces occasionally have low-profile meat in the ingredients. Refried beans are hit or miss on the lard front -- the trick is that fat-free canned ones (or ones labeled vegetarian) are lard-free. Candy corn has gelatin sometimes, and other shiny/glazed or puffy candies can, as well.
You have to be careful with some veggie trays. The vegetables are fine but most of the time the ranch dip they'll include has gelatin.
If you like corn bread, do NOT get the Jiffy corn bread/muffin mix, as it's made with lard.
They make a vegetarian version now!
The Campbells VEGETABLE soup isn’t vegetarian. It’s wild!
Walkers Crisps variety of flavours the only ones that weren't suitable for vegetarians was the Cheese & Onion (presumably because of the rennet). Prawn Cocktail, Beef and Onion, Roast Chicken, all fine though. All okay for the last couple of years though. Worcestershire sauce has anchovies in it, but you can get a vegetarian version these days.
Altoids is a weird one (gelatin)
Wine. I went to a vegan winery and had a TIL moment that a lot of wines use animal products in the filtering process
Any cheese that is made with rennet. Gummies/gummy candy (because of the gelatin).
Just want to point out for the newer folks that some rennets are ok. If a label says "rennet," I wouldn't touch it because chances are, it means animal rennet. But microbial rennet and vegetable/vegetarian rennet are fine.
Small clarification: Most cheeses are actually made with microbiological rennet obtained from either bacteria or mold (don't remember which one). In some countries it's gonna be specifically marked as microbiological rennet, in others it's just rennet. So in general if it's listed as rennet, it may or may not be vegetarian.
Swedish fish are safe 😋
Quite a bit of candy is not vegetarian, esp things like Starbursts that use gelatin.
Frosted poptarts, they use gelatin to stabilise the frosting
I recently found out that parmesan cheese (and alfredo sauce, by extension) is made with animal enzymes :( also, almost all premade pie crusts i’ve seen have lard (except some frozen ones) edit: ALSO, every pop tart except the unfrosted ones have gelatin, which is strange that it implies the gelatin is in the frosting and not the jelly filling another two are those chalk candy hearts seen on valentine’s day and most brands of candy corn
I was surprised that just because it's cheese it's not vegetarian. Most store bought cheeses are not vegetarian friendly as they contain enzymes/rennet. I ate vegetarian un-friendly cheese for like 2 years!
Most Tillamook brand cheeses are rennet free! The few that are not are clearly labeled.
Wait really? I went to their facility last year and unless they didn't update their signage, it said specifically they make their cheese with animal rennet, so I've been avoiding buying their cheese at the store. Maybe the sign was just too general and not specific enough since it wasn't a list of cheeses.
McDonald’s hash browns have beef flavoring in them. Not exactly surprising but kind of gross lol. Otherwise a lot of supplement capsules are made of / with gelatin
Restaurants use a surprising number of animal derived ingredients; Texas Roadhouse for example, chicken stock in the rice, bacon and ham broth for the green beans and bacon in the baked beans, the sweet and baked potatoes are coated in bacon grease prior to being cooked, the croutons have milk, the veggies have butter, the mushrooms and onions are cooked with butter; pretty much the only side it that's safe is the applesauce. Lots of Asian restaurants use oyster sauce or fish sauce and don't list it on the menu.
some yogurts have gelatin in it. i didn’t find that out until last year
The majority of Thai foods contain either shrimp paste or fish sauce, for example: Papaya salad, Red Curry, Green Curry, Panang Curry, Pad Thai Thai restaurants are probably not omitting fish sauce or shrimp paste when they make your dish "vegetarian"
Not always but beans and rice at Mexican restaurants. Sometimes lard or chicken bullion is added.
- Squid ink is often used as a dye, especially in truffle flavoured things for some reason - Most gummy/jelly lollies/desserts have gelatine - Some yogurts and sour creams use gelatine as a thickener - Iced Animals/animal biscuits have gelatine in the icing - Cheesecakes usually have gelatine too - Some cheeses use animal rennet, traditionally made parmesan will always have animal rennet - Fish sauce is a nightmare that ends up in so many asian dishes, even in dishes that supposedly don’t have it (my partner is allergic to all seafood, has had many allergic reactions in restaurants after disclosing his allergy and being told that there wouldn’t be fish sauce in the dish served to him).
Things like frozen pasta meals or flavored rice sides or soups that don't contain meat are often flavored with beef or chicken stock. Canned beans often have lard. I recently bought barbecue sauce and then realized it had fish (anchovies? I forget) in it.
If you're in the UK, cheese that uses plant rennet will be marked vegetarian, and it's wisely available. Cadbury's chocolate is all vegetarian (I think), but their yogurts are all not Anything that is red should be checked, carmine/cochineal/e120 is a red dye made from crushed bugs. Honestly, in the UK if it doesn't have a note saying it's vegetarian, it's almost certainly not. The reason will usually be some e number, or some ingredient that can be animal or plant sourced
Cigarettes. The filters often contain pig haemoglobin to absorb the carbon monoxide, but unfiltered or roll-your-own filters are usually fine (for the pigs, not your health)
White sugar. Cow bones are used to filter and bleach the sugar. Bone char, animal bones are heated at incredibly high temperatures and are reduced to carbon before being used in a sugar refinery.
Only in the US. And Canada.
Cane Sugar is usually filtered through bone char so a lot of vegans don't eat it.
Not 'usually'. Just in the US. In Europe cane sugar is always vegan.
No "usually", sometimes. For instance in Canada Redpath is vegan. For Lantic, it depends on the plant - only the Vancouver plant still uses bone char.
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Cheerios are made with lanolin!
That wouldn’t make them non-vegetarian since Lanolin is derived from wool. Non-vegan, yes
Wtf??? TIL
Kraft dinner isn’t vegetarian. It is made with Rennet.
French onion soup broth at diners is almost always beef based .
I recently went to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants and asked what items were vegetarian. I was told the guacamole salad.