Cost of being Vegan or Vegetarian

[Nidan Melbourne]

This is geared towards Vegans & Vegetarians.

How much does it cost you per week on average to buy all your food?

We know Vegans will avoid foods that contain animal products and the extreme vegans will not use any product that is produced by animals at all.

Now to those who are vegan, do you consume Honey or use/wear silk? Because this is a controversial issue among vegan groups around the world. Since silk comes from insects and honey from bees.

Do you have any health concerns or problems? what is your psychological status like?

Recently among my friendship group we discussed veganism, vegetarianism and being omnivorous. I consume both meat and fruit + vegies, 2 of my friends are vegan and 2 of them are vegetarian. Now one thing was starting to become very heated; we were consuming chocolate and lollies at the time. I mentioned to the 2 that are vegan that they were actually consuming animal products and they were trying to argue that they weren't.

Now the chocolate we were eating was Cadbury Chocolate; it contains Milk Products and also were eating rocky road which contains gelatine (Collagen derivative).

I was the one that bought and brought the choccy to our mates place. I did remind the guys prior to eating any chocolate to read what was in it to ensure that they weren't eating any animal products. So they read what was in them, but when they ate it i had to tell them that gelatine was in the products which is in fact an animal by-product.

Now there are gelatine substitutes that are suited towards who can't consume animal products like Agar. BUT companies will list it in the ingredients list.

I respect my friends enough to tell them to double check to see whether there is any animal product in the food prior to consuming anything. And if I am cooking anything i will tell them exactly what is in it.

[mazzybear]

Like you I'm not vegan or vegetarian, but I have friends who are vegan and are on the "extreme" side. They won't buy hardback books due to the glue in the spine being made from horse products and certain hairsprays because the have prawn shell in them (who knew???) It's actually quite astonishing the amount of everyday items that contain animal by-products. So it's not only about the cost of veganism but the time and effort that goea in to researching what you can and can't use or eat.

M.

[DWx]

Like you I'm not vegan or vegetarian, but I have friends who are vegan and are on the "extreme" side. They won't buy hardback books due to the glue in the spine being made from horse products and certain hairsprays because the have prawn shell in them (who knew???) It's actually quite astonishing the amount of everyday items that contain animal by-products. So it's not only about the cost of veganism but the time and effort that goea in to researching what you can and can't use or eat.

M.

You'd be amazed what contains animal product or where a lot of ingredients are sourced. For example, take a look at what they coat food in: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_coating#Coating_ingredients

- Shellac (from insect secretions), beeswax, gelatine & starches, fats etc. all from animal sources. Many vegetarian foods are still glazed in beeswaxes etc. (e.g. Haribo Funny Mix) so aren't entirely suitable for Vegans even though they don't contain gelatine.

Or take something a look at this list: http://www.veggieglobal.com/nutrition/non-vegetarian-food-additives-no-e.htm

Even if you aren't eating it chances are you will own at least one product that contains one of those chemicals. Carbon black for example is the black pigment in most things: coatings (inks, paints..), plastics, rubbers (tires, belts, hoses..), for conductive / antistatic applications like adhesives, coatings, plastics etc. etc. I digress...

I would take that list with a pinch of salt though as I'm a little skeptical. In most cases I would say a lot of those products would be rarely produced via the traditional animal methods and more likely by a commercial synthetic process. Also, for the carbon black I mentioned above, as a food additive / cosmetic ingredient it is derived from plant matter and given the E number E153 so can be consumed by vegans, vegetarians etc.