Being a vegetarian is often like a journey down the yellow brick road. It's full of surprises, sometimes unpleasant ones. Take for instance when you're invited to dinner and after enjoying your scrumptious vegetarian green curry, the hostess proudly informs you that she only used prawn paste to flavour the curry.
By then it would be too late to enlighten your hosts that prawn is not vegetarian (especially if you're having dinner at your boss' house!). The lesson you take away from there is to always warn your hosts before hand what exactly vegetarians eat. Granted, things could go awry anyway but at least you know that you did all you could to prevent ingesting a dead animal.
The same rules apply when you're eating out or grocery shopping, vegetarians need to be extra careful when ordering food or checking food labels on processed foods. This part is tricky, there are so many foods that claim to be vegetarian, but often contain at least one ingredient that is of animal origin. If you're new to vegetarian living, you may just take for granted these foods are vegetarian because celebrity chefs or recipe books say they are so. Reality may be quite different, as Dorothy discovered during her encounter with the Wizard.
To help you along, I've put together a list of nine foods/food ingredients that are commonly thought to be vegetarian, but are not. For a more complete list of food ingredients, visit
http://www.vrg.org/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=8
1. White sugar
It's used in everything; fast food, soft drinks and desserts. White sugar is made from cane sugar, which should make it vegetarian. However, after being processed in the sugar mill, the sugar is sent to the refinery, where it is bleached using a kind of charcoal that contains crushed bone meal. Hence sugar made from cane sugar is not vegetarian. Beet sugar is not subjected to the same refining process, hence is vegetarian.
2. Red cochineal food colouring
This food dye is often used in jellies, cordials and desserts such as red velvet cake to lend the food a rich red colour. But did you know that it is named after its source: crushed cochineal beetles? Disgusting as it sounds, that's how red cochineal dyes get their red colour. So beware the next time you pop a piece of jelly or store-bought cake into your mouth: read the label first.
3. Marshmallows
This one is a no-brainer really; unless they're vegan, marshmallows contain gelatin. Gelatin is made from the fat of animals. Enough said.
4. Yoghurt
Some brands of yoghurt do contain gelatin. Read the label carefully before buying.
5. Cheese
Most cheeses contain rennet, which means they are flavoured in a calf's stomach. Think twice before you pop a slice of vegetarian pizza into your mouth, most fast food joints aren't discriminating about the cheeses they use in their 'vegetarian' pizzas.
6. Worcestershire sauce
Many people don't scrutinise sauces as much as they do solids, however Worcestershire sauce does contain anchovies, which rules it out for vegetarian dishes.
7. Jello
When I was in hospital many many years ago as a child, I couldn't get enough of this. Now I won't go anywhere near this gelatin-soaked snack.
8. Ramen noodles
Most ramen noodles in the market contain beef essence, which may or may not be stated on the food label.
Most ramen noodles in the market contain beef essence, which may or may not be stated on the food label.
9. Margarine
If you thought cheese was bad, table margarine often contains gelatin. Check the label carefully the next time you pick up a tub. Or better yet, avoid it altogether and choose butter or olive oil.
If you thought cheese was bad, table margarine often contains gelatin. Check the label carefully the next time you pick up a tub. Or better yet, avoid it altogether and choose butter or olive oil.
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