104 VEGAN FOOD & LIVING OCTOBERT
he biggest concern for people contemplating a vegan diet
is almost always: what will I eat? There is a notion that
there are specialist vegan products only found on dusty
shelves in out-of-the-way shops, and that all the old favourites
must be relinquished. This is very far from the truth.
Take a look inside any omnivore’s kitchen and you’ll fi nd a
great number of everyday store-cupboard products that are
already vegan. They weren’t designed for vegans, but they
contain no animal products at all, and include items we eat
regularly, and couldn’t imagine living without. They include
peanut butter, Marmite, jams and marmalades, baked beans,
dried pasta, rice, almost all bread, many types of gravy granules,
vegetable stock cubes, chopped tomatoes, oven chips, coconut
milk, lots of curry pastes, many breakfast cereals, herbs, spices,
tomato ketchup and HP sauce, mustard and pickles, sugars and
sweeteners, olive oil and vegetable oils, soy sauce, fruit juice,
fi zzy drinks, tea and coff ee, lots of biscuits, crackers, crispbreads
and crisps, and of course fruit and vegetables – fresh, dried,
tinned and frozen.
Now, that’s not a bad start, is it?
Having so many everyday products already free from animal
parts means that we can make small, almost unnoticeable
changes to our existing diet that will transform it from an
omnivorous one to a vegan one. We can ease ourselves into
veganism with beans on toast (only need to change the
margarine) or a bangers and mash (just choose veggie sausages
and vegetable gravy), and it won’t seem like the world has
shifted beneath our feet. The meal is essentially the same; it’s
just a diff erent brand of the same product.
And there are thousands more ‘accidentally vegan’ products
out there. Take Jus-Rol, for example. This company produces
bake-at-home croissant, pain au chocolat and cinnamon swirls,
which can be found inside almost every supermarket. Allvegan. All delicious. Now, didn’t your Sunday mornings just get
signifi cantly better?
For the biscuit-dunkers who fear they will have to learn to
bake their own, there is no need to worry. Hobnobs, rich tea,
ginger nuts and bourbons are all vegan and you’ll fi nd those
everywhere. Admittedly, in terms of biscuit rankings, they might
be considered just a bit low-league when what you really want
is icing and chocolate and artifi cial colourings, right? So, load
up your basket with pink wafers, Fox’s Party Rings, choc chip
Hobnobs and Fox’s Dark Chocolate Chunkie Cookies instead.
And our own personal recommendations? The biscuits that
demand we eat the entire packet before hiding the wrapper
in the bin and denying all knowledge? That would be the twin
temptresses of Lotus Biscoff caramelised biscuits and Oreos.
There are plenty of other everyday sweet-treat products that
are accidentally vegan, including Mr Kipling’s Treacle Tarts and
Apple & Blackcurrant Pies, and the Co-op’s doughnuts, both the
jam and custard ones. The frozen strudels sold in most stores
are vegan, too. Apologies if the myth of the wholesome, my-
body-is-a-temple vegan just went out the window!
If you’re more salty than sweet, you’ll fi nd that many of your
favourite snack products are also already vegan. Let’s start with
Walker’s crisps. Choose from Ready Salted, Salt & Vinegar,
Worcester Sauce and Prawn Cocktail, but if you’re a lover of
Old Skool potato-based snacks you’ll be delighted to know
that Skips, Crispy Bacon Wheat Crunchies and Walkers Salt &
Vinegar Squares are all vegan, too.
Pringles labels which of its fl avours meet the animal-free
ethical benchmark. Currently, they are Original, Texas BBQ,
Paprika, Tortilla BBQ and the highly-addictive Smokey Bacon.
But if you want something posher than a Pringle, try the threeJane Land from Veganuary
(veganuary.com) highlights the
foods that happen to be vegan
without even realising it!veganveganvegan
Accidentally
he biggest concern for people contemplating a vegan diethighlights the
foods that happen to be vegan
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VFL17.AccidentallyVegan.indd 104 07/09/2017 10:17