Not everything is as it seems…
A co-worker of mine named Greg, who is the founding father of http://www.rivegan.com; a restaurateur extraordinaire, creator of Man Soap, and overall super nice guy, decided to make a pilgrimage to meet with the owner of a new vegan bakery that opened in Arlington, MA called Totally Sweet . [Note: I had blogged about this back in October.] The reason Greg wanted to meet with the owner is to find out if in fact her goods were truly vegan; turns out, they are not. Evidently, the owner uses monoglycerides (diglycerides) in her baking, which is a derivative of animal fat and is found in margarines, cake mixes, candies, other foods etc. it is even found in some cosmetics (yuck!). When Greg questioned her about it, she didn’t seem to understand that her items cannot honestly be labeled “vegan” if she’s using said ingredients. This truly is a pity because Greg and I were soooo looking forward to trying some of her vegan doughnuts.
Further into my conversation with Greg, I learned there is an App (natch!) that I can download which is basically an encyclopedia of all non-vegan ingredients that could be lurking in your so-called vegan pre-made foods (like Monoglycerides). This app is called Animal Free Now mind you, I think it’s safe to say that most of us vegans eat whole foods and generally do not partake in something pre-made, prepackaged; however dot. dot. dot. sometimes some of us vegans like to nosh on things from our non-vegan days – this is why we often find substitutions for foods from our past. It is also the reason why some vegans make painstaking efforts to veganise (is this a word?) some of their favorite desserts. Heck, even GiRRl_Earth likes to a little something-something to nibble on that isn’t exactly the best thing for her which is why when the mood strikes and I need something sweet and sinful, I will pick up a dessert at Whole Foods from Candle Cafe or Moo-Cluck — as those desserts are vegan.
Hey, what can I say, contrary to popular belief (kidding) I am not perfect. M-kay?
😉
Girl for Animal Liberation 