Read the Labels

When my husband and I began our veggie way of living we didn't know much about the foods we were eating. At the time there wasn't much in the way of vegetarian foods available in Brantford. I worked in Hamilton/Ancaster at the time and we soon discovered a store in Hamilton called Goodness Me! This store still exists, one on the mountain, the other downtown Hamilton. I've not been in the one downtown. The one on the mountain is on Upper Gage. They carry a variety of foods including organic fruits and vegetables. The store is not vegan or vegetarian as it does sell dairy and meat products. It does, however, carry vegan and vegetarian food items as well as cruelty free products. One of the first purchases we made at Goodness Me! was a copy of Food Lover's Companion by Sharon Tyler Herbst. Google Goodness Me! for other store locations. Another great store to check out is WholeFoods in Oakville - it can be a little pricey but has a great deli and a assortment of vegetarian and vegan foods and products.

Food Lover's Companion - The version I have is an older publication from the one pictured here on my blog. I noticed that Chapters in the Meadowlands in Ancaster carries it. You can also purchase it online.

The books purports to be contain comprehensive definitions of over 3000 food, wine and culinary terms. It delivers.

When you read a food label some animal products are easy to identify. Others....not so much. I had a conversion today with a guy I know who thought that all margarine was dairy free. Not so! Most margarines contain whey. That's where this handy dandy book comes in. Whey comes from milk. Fleishman's and Earth Balance (see natural food section) are dairy free.

Book excerpt:

whey (HWAY; WAY) The watery liquid that separates from the solids (curds) in cheesemaking.

If you want to be vegan, knowing what's in your food is half the battle. Once you get a hang of it you start to know what foods might contain animal products. This helps when out at restaurants or when you're a dinner guest in someone's home.

Read labels often. Even if it's a product you've purchased before. Companies sometimes change their ingredients.

As a vegan, I also don't eat honey. That's for the bees. They make it 'cause they need it. Look for honey in breads, crackers, cereals...

Strangely enough, dill pickle chips often contain animal products (modified milk ingredients) and roast chicken flavoured chips do not. Go figure.

Ingredients/foods to remember:

albumen = egg white

albumin = protein from egg white

lactose = milk sugar

gelatin = protein derived from beef/veal bones, cartilage, tendons and other tissue

lard = pig fat

If you don't have this reference guide...always check out ingredients by using Google or you can look them up on the dictionary site of www.m-w.com. Educate yourself. You'd be amazed at some of the stuff we put in our mouths without even looking at a label!

Yes, many of us like jelly deserts like Jello. Jello contains gelatin (see above). Every now and again I come across a vegan version of this giggly food. It's better than eating the results of boiled animal bones.

Many vegan products in the natural foods section of the store contain organic ingredients and none of these things with long names that you couldn't possibly pronounce or even begin to know what they are!

You don't have to shop in just the natural food section, though. Have a look about the whole store. I find, sometimes, that the less expensive a product is, the less likely it is to contain animals products - see cookies for instance!

Speaking of cookies -when I bake I use an egg replacer. It's a powder that contains things like guar gum and corn starch. The brand I use is Paneriso's Kingsmill Egg Replacer. Baked goods often contain eggs as an ingredient to hold everything together. This powder does the trick. I can use this powder in any baked good recipe...cookies, banana bread, cake...With Paneriso's you just mix 1 tsp of the replacer with 2 tbsp of water...that's it...that's your 'egg'. Another egg replacer is soy lecithin but I find that it can change the flavour of your final product and it's kinda gooey to deal with.

I'm not a vegetarian for health reasons. That's why I'm not super skinny. That's also why these recipes are what they are - comfort foods! I do it for the animals. I come second. I tell ya though, when I became a vegan, man oh man, did I feel better! I recommend it to anyone!