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Whether you’re a die-hard vegan, veggie-curious, or totally indifferent to the idea, the fact remains that veganism is on the rise. Chances are, you’ll need to do some label-checking for friends, family or customers at some point in the near future. And you’ll find some surprises on the back of many boxes.
Keep reading to find out about some basic supermarket foods that are vegan-friendly, and some that, unfortunately, aren’t.
Sweet snacks
There’s a whole range of biscuits and cookies that I assumed contained at least dairy, if not eggs too. But it turns out, many of them don’t.
Despite the creamy, seemingly milky filling, it turns out Oreos are, in fact, vegan. Same goes for many Baker’s brand biscuits, including Ginger Nuts, Romany Tartes, and Digestives. Lotus Biscoff (both the biscuits and the spread) are happily plant-based too. This is great news if you’re making a vegan biscuit base for a pie, or looking to jazz up vegan cupcakes.
Woolworths hot cross buns are another unexpected plant-based win. Perhaps most bizarrely, Ouma condensed milk rusks actually contain no condensed milk whatsoever, nor any other animal product. Who knew?
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Salty snacks
A surprisingly good variety of chips are available to the vegan consumer. Doritos Sweet Chilli, Original Pringles, most Kettle Chips, Simba Fruit Chutney and a few Lay’s flavours (including Classic, Salt and Vinegar and Thai Sweet Chilli) are all safe.
And for the big surprise in this category – Flings. Despite their “cheesy” flavour and appearance, they actually don’t contain cheese or dairy at all.
Sauces
My favourite secretly vegan product in this category is Flying Goose Sriracha Mayo. This is the classic sriracha brand you’ll find on most supermarket shelves. Despite traditional mayonnaise being made from eggs, this “mayo” does without. I recommend keeping it on hand for an effortless veggie burger sauce.
Pesto Princess, one of my favourite local brands, has a few varieties of dairy-free pesto, none of which I even realised were vegan until researching this article. The Basil and Chilli Pesto, Red Pesto, and Coriander and Chilli Pesto are all plant-based.
And now for an unfortunate non-vegan surprise. Worcestershire sauce, which for many years I simply assumed was at least vegetarian, actually contains anchovies. This is good to keep in mind when ordering a Bloody Mary for your vegan friend.
Gravy and stock powders
While, as a chef, I can’t really condone the use of gravy powder, making a vegan gravy can be quite a challenge. Luckily, there’s another local brand to the rescue. Ina Paarman’s Brown Gravy Powder, as well as their chicken and beef stock powders, are all completely plant-based, despite the names.
Please do note, however, that the liquid stocks in the same range do contain animal products.
Cereals
While I personally can’t stand the stuff, I was surprised to learn that the South African breakfast classic Pronutro is dairy-free. As are Coco Pops, Strawberry Pops and Fruit Loops. Thanks Kellogg’s! Of course, the fact that these are vegan isn’t a health claim.
Often removing eggs or dairy is a cost-saving technique, and sometimes these ingredients are replaced with less healthy alternatives such as palm oil and chemical additives.
Drinks
Alcoholic drinks are a bit of a dodgy area for vegans. Many beverages use animal products in their production process. In the case of wine and beer, gelatine or isinglass (a collagen derived from fish) is sometimes used as a clarifying agent.
The trickiest part is that the animal derivatives usually aren’t specified on the labelling. But don’t panic! An excellent website, www.barnivore.com, provides a country-specific guide to most well-known liquors and their vegan status, or lack thereof.
Figs
This is a bit of a strange one. Fun facts: figs are not actually fruits but rather inverted flowers. The inside is a collection of small buds. When fig wasps pollinate the flowers, they crawl into the small opening at the large end of the fig. Unfortunately, the opening is so small that this damages the wasp’s wings and they are unable to get out. The trapped wasp lays her eggs in the fig and dies. The hatched wasps then make their way out but the mother remains, and is eventually absorbed into the fig itself by plant enzymes.
I apologise if this somewhat gruesome story has had the effect of deterring some non-vegans from eating figs too!
On a separate note, honey is a product that non-vegans tend to forget is taboo. Insects are animals too!
In general, while I’m not particularly health conscious, I find checking the ingredients on food packaging a pretty eye-opening task. Things are often not what they seem, especially in the world of processed foods, and I’m often surprised by items on the ingredient list. It’s worth a look!
Hi Chef Caitlin. Thanks for this list. I do however have one question that I’d like to verify. I learned recently that cereals contain some kind of sheep derived fat called lanolin. This is the ingredient that would appear on the cereal box as a source of vitamin D. Please fact check me. But just want to make sure I’m not using any animal derived products as much as I possibly can.
Hi Vuyo, thanks for getting in touch, and for bringing this to my attention. My understanding is that products containing vitamin D3 are animal-derived, commonly from lanolin, whereas vitamin D2 is plant-based. It seems that some cereals do, as you say, contain D3 (or an unspecified vitamin D). Most Kellogg’s cereals in the USA do seem to contain vitamin D3, but none of the cereals mentioned in the article contain any vitamin D at all in South Africa, according to their South African website. It’s a minefield out there! I guess your best bet on the lanolin front is to stick to vitamin D2, or avoid any products with vitamin D that don’t specify which type. I hope that helps!
It’s the Ouma condensed milk rusks that are vegan, not buttermilk 😊
Hi Rox, thanks for pointing that out! I’ve corrected the info above. The Ouma buttermilk rusks do, indeed, contain cow’s milk.