I’ve been thinking about becoming a vegan for a rather long time (two hours), and I decided to go ahead with it. So… What foods (other than meats, eggs, dairy products, etc…) have animal-based ingredients? Specifically, I’m wondering if the soft drinks, ramen noodles, and bread I eat daily are anathema to my newfound veganism. But feel free to list animal-based foods I should avoid. I’d appreciate it greatly, and when I wind up in the hospital with iron-deficiency anemia, I’ll be sure to remember this.
for veganism questions I would visit IVU.org, they have a lot of info.
They have a comprehensive list of ingredients that come from animal sources, even the ones in disguise.
If your a true vegan, you can’t eat ANYTHING made with refined sugar (probably your soda), because animal bones are used to make it white (discovered from IVU.org)
You can’t drink tap water either because bones are used in the filtering process.
Throw away your car too, your car runs on fuel that was refined from oil, and oil is an animal product, in the strict sense of th word
Throw away anything you have that is plastic, including your toothbrush (and the toothpaste is prolly made by proctor and gamble, the evil animal tourteres, so you won’t need it either)
because plastic is made from oil
good luck being a vegan. (evil grin)
Hey Brainlego, good to hear you’re joining the team.
I’ve been (mostly) vegan for the last year and a half or so. (I had to go back to some dairy last summer since my job took me to an area of the country that didn’t have a co-op for miles) It can be pretty dang tough at first to keep all animal stuff out of your diet, as stuff like whey and gelatin sneaks in when you least expect it. The important thing is to only go as far with veganism as you can (i.e. I still eat honey and refined sugar, although some people don’t, my soon-to-be stepsister is vegan except for fish to help nutritionally). You aren’t a bad vegan if you do, everybody’s got a different limit.
Ok, so vegan food. It’s not too hard to find bread that’s vegan, but be sure to check the label. I have never found any of that really really cheap ramen that’s even vegetarian, there’s all kinds of meat bases in that stuff. Just check the labels, you’ll actually be surprised at the amount of vegan friendly foods out there.
Other notes - drink enriched soy or rice milk (my fav is Soy Dream), find yourself some egg replacer - it’s a weird combination of starches that works darn well in baking, and just poke around your local co-op or “hippie food” section of your grocery store and try stuff like Amy’s soy cheese pizza, tofutti ice cream (yes, tofutti), anything made by the fantastic foods brand, and for when you absolutely need chocolate - Cliff bars.
And when people bug you, and some will, relax. Just because you can’t do everything isn’t an excuse to do nothing. Good luck!
Soda’s dont have refined sugar, at least not in the US. They’ve been using high-fructose corn syrup for years for economical reasons.
Also, just out of sheer curiosity, what is a co-op?
Yeah, take it all with a grain of salt.
But do remember things like most toothpastes, laundry detergents, and shoelaces all contain animal products. Just take it all slowly and try not to get discouraged or feel guilty of you can’t find an alternative right away. It does take a bit of time and research.
But make sure you pick up a copy of The Moosewood Cookbook
for some great recipes and check out The_Vegetarian_Times
Co-op is short for food cooperative - a community owned grocery store. They stock groceries of a typically alternative (read: hippie) nature - vegan, organic, exotic produce, etc. While you don’t have to be a member, if you pay the (usually small) membership fee, you get cheaper groceries. If you volunteer to work there, you get cheaper food still. Plus they’re often really nice about bulk and special ordering. I get my soy milk by the case from the place near my apartment for quite a bit cheaper than I could at a normal grocery store.
I had been vegetarian for years and when I went vegan a year and a half ago, it involved little more than replacing cow milk on my breakfast cereal with soy milk (White Wave Silk — the best). And replacing yogurt at lunch with soygurt (is that a real word?).
What being vegan means in practical terms is you’ve gotta start relying more on soy than ever before. Fortunately, there are a lot of varied and delicious soyfoods out there. Learn how to cook tempeh—yummmm!