Post Punk Kitchen Forum

So, today, I put together a vegan lasagna with almond ricotta, topped it with bread crumbs and threw it in the oven. Then I thought, oh, I should read contents on those bread crumbs. I mean, I have no idea why they'd have anything other than bread and herbs, but I should get used to reading labels...

Milk. Honey.

Granted, this is a completely rookie mistake, and a quick read of the label would have made it clear. But I know now that beer is often not vegan, and strawberry smoothies at Starbucks were not until recently. So...

How do I find out if my beer is vegan (so I can make an informed choice), and what are the other 'surprise' foods you discovered in your early vegan days that aren't vegan?

(Not to mislead anyone - I'm not vegan. I'm a toe dipper. But it's incredibly frustrating to not be able to determine, with relative ease, if a food item is vegan or not.)

I wouldn't worry about it, it takes a bit.

Things I've fallen for:
- Trader Joe's Italian sausages (contain egg whites)
- Many other random things, I can't think of anything specific

One easy way is to see if an item contains cholesterol. Nothing vegan should have cholesterol in it. I usually scan the ingredients and if my husband is with me, I'll have him scan them too.

Barnivore is your go-to for vegan-ness of beer (and other alcoholic beverages.)

I read ingredients even when it seems silly to do so. I usually start with the allergy warning at the end of the ingredient list because fish, shellfish, eggs and milk ingredients will all be flagged there and sometimes that saves me having to bother reading the rest. If the allergy warning is clear, I move on to the ingredient list. I'm still not 100% on trace ingredients, but I have an app on my phone for things like sodium lactylate and other crepe that I have no idea what it is.

Oh, glory be! My favorite beer is vegan friendly. *wipes forehead*

I love the cholesterol trick, and the trace ingredients thing is going to take a WHILE, but I'm trying to have some awareness. The allergy warning is nice and quick, great idea!

I eat mostly fresh vegetables, but sometimes I pick up frozen for those quick after-work dinners, and you have to check the labels on those as they are sometimes seasoned with butter or cheese. The bread crumbs thing is definitely annoying, I've been there. I bought granola once that had milk in it, didn't think to read the label. Some soy cheeses have milk ingredients in them.

I do the allergy thing too.

Early on I remember being caught out by a carob mouse! I bought it thinking "oh, carob's what healthy vegan types eat, it's not as good as chocolate but maybe I better start getting used to it". Was halfway through munching before I thought to check the ingredients and discovered milk powder in there. I guess I was like those people who assume something gluten-free is vegan because it's 'special diet' but I didn't make that mistake again. Vegan chocolate forevermore!

Just a heads up, there are some vegan ingredients with like really miniscule amounts of cholesterol. It's a good red flag in general though.

Breadcrumbs are one of the hardest things to find vegan, it seems. Whole Foods brand is vegan, but I haven't been able to find any in a regular grocery store.

Wegmans might be vegan. They say they may contain a lot of crepe. The label is confusing.

Panko is vegan unless there is some weird brand floating aeound that isn't.

I've been using a tub of Trader Joe's soy protein powder for a couple months and just noticed today that it has D3 in it. That's stupid/annoying.

A lot of breadcrumbs here have fish oil, milk, and all sorts of things.. It's just bizarre! And so unexpected.

Yeah breadcrumbs are weird, they always have like a million ingredients. I stick with panko because it's almost always vegan.

I usually make my own bread crumbs, often out of home made bread. I try to keep some in the freezer all the time.

Fancy. Pants. ;)

Last year Trader Joes Brandy Beans were vegan. This year, they are not, which my partner and I found out after reading the TJ's thread here on the PPK...and after we ate all but ONE of the damned beans.

Reading labels is important.

I think most Dutch/Belgian and Czech beers are vegan, and all the Mexican ones I've looked into have been.. I'd worry mostly about British and Irish stouts.

Anyway, live and learn. Panko is usually OK. I remember seeing in this forum that someone accidentally bought bread crumbs with some kind of fish in it, so it could be worse! I mean fishy bread crumbs just sounds nasty.

German beers are vegan. As far I know, this is regulated.

Australian beers generally aren't vegan, either.

Knuckle-up Reinheitsgebot!

The whole D fortified thing really confused me. Still does. I didn't even realize than many items that are fortified with D vitamins (i.e. D3) come from animal products. Cereal is the biggest culprit of this. Some juices too. Even some soymilk (not Silk, which is what I buy, but some other brands).

The confusing part is, there are no animal products listed on the ingredients list. Just vitamin D. It's irritating. I have to look up stuff online to figure it out. But I don't eat much cereal anyway, so that's ok. Special K with strawberries is one of the few I like and it's vegan.

We have a couple of cereal threads that might be helpful
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=9582&hilit=cereal
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1531&hilit=cereal

Don't get me started on Orange Juice that has fish oil in it. I guess it might go well with the breadcrumbs that have fish in them.

Wine is a demon. Lot's of wines contain milk and/or eggs. I had to buy a bottle of wine the other day as a present for someone but hadn't internet access to go look for one that was vegan so I made do with a wine from the shelf. I try to avoid not vegan products even when I'm buying for others but laziness got the better of me Friday.

Over here it is impossible to get vegan olives. OLIVES!!! For crying out loud, what is with this world and adding lactose into everything?

Wha...? Eggs in wine?

Here olives contain lactic acid. Luckily, industrial lactic acid is made of glucose, not lactose.

Yes, they use egg whites somehow in the filtering process.

Never found vegan bread crumbs. I now just but regular bread in the toaster oven real low for like 30 minutes and then zip it in the blender. Use more bread than you think you'd need because it always makes less than you'd think!