Being a vegan in the U.S.A.?

[LionSpirit]

How do you manage it? Virtually nothing even says 'vegetarian' on it, and yet it could have BHT from an animal source, sugar refined with bone char etc etc etc

[fiamma]

Nothing in Italy says Vegetarian or Vegan either. I just read the labels, and try not to get hung up about whether sugar has been processed with bone char and so on... I do my best. I think those from the UK are very lucky; I don't think the rest of the world is so tuned in to vegetarian/vegan issues... Germany maybe.

[Panzer]

In my part of the USA all I can do is read the labels and not purchase anything with animal products in it , Of course BOCA and MORNING STAR FARMS is your friend but still read the labels just to make sure. For milk we have SILK which tastes excellent. I dont think the USA is cashed in yet on the possibilities of vegan fare.

[phact0rri]

you should always read labels no matter what the package says. There are obvious things you can't get away from, like soil with bone char and blood meal. You do what you can. The thing is how far you want to get into the vegan boycott. for example SILK is subsidiary of Dean foods, who are the largest manufacturer of Cow's milk.

[wendy]

I am not to difficult. I really don't take in account if sugar is whitened with animal produkts , I just do my best. Otherwise you might as well stop eating

[RubyDuby]

I'm lucky that the largest chain of grocery stores around here has caught onto the idea and label their animalproduct-free store brand items "vegan". A few years back Wegmans (http://www.wegmanscruelty.com/) was targetted for inhumane treatment of chickens and a video swept the web. I'm guessing that helped in the new vegan awareness there. :thumbsup:

Whole Foods Market and Trader Joes also label some of their items in the U.S. (none of those around here, unfortunately) and, as others have mentioned, there are specific brands that you can always count on to label, such as Amy's, Gardenburger, Boca, Morning Star, etc.

With anything else I agree with Fiamma and what others have said. It comes down to trying your best, reading ingredients, and not getting hung up on things that you can't be sure of. It's more about the intention to do no harm. Being ridiculously impossible just makes life hard, doesn't really help the animals, and it looks really difficult to go vegan for anybody else considering the option.

[Panzer]

I am not to difficult. I really don't take in account if sugar is whitened with animal produkts , I just do my best. Otherwise you might as well stop eating
Very good post Wendy , This is what I do I do my best to keep any animal products out of my diet , but I dont go into minute detail because it would just be counter productive and Id starve. :dizzy:

[LionSpirit]

I am not to difficult. I really don't take in account if sugar is whitened with animal produkts , I just do my best. Otherwise you might as well stop eating

Or try to encourage manufacturers to copy the U.K. labelling :-)

[LionSpirit]

I'm lucky that the largest chain of grocery stores around here has caught onto the idea and label their animalproduct-free store brand items "vegan". A few years back Wegmans (http://www.wegmanscruelty.com/) was targetted for inhumane treatment of chickens and a video swept the web. I'm guessing that helped in the new vegan awareness there. :thumbsup:

Whole Foods Market and Trader Joes also label some of their items in the U.S. (none of those around here, unfortunately) and, as others have mentioned, there are specific brands that you can always count on to label, such as Amy's, Gardenburger, Boca, Morning Star, etc.

With anything else I agree with Fiamma and what others have said. It comes down to trying your best, reading ingredients, and not getting hung up on things that you can't be sure of. It's more about the intention to do no harm. Being ridiculously impossible just makes life hard, doesn't really help the animals, and it looks really difficult to go vegan for anybody else considering the option.

But then in reality it IS difficult to go vegan in the USA - so why pretend otherwise? I heard that beet sugar is not made with animal stuff, dunno. And found ONE expensive cereal that didn't have BHT. No bread though, apart from one that didn't look nice.

Saying you might as well not bother about whether a product has any animal stuff in it is like saying as a vegetarian, when buying fries, you might as well not bother asking whether they're cooked in animal fat - and if you're not going to bother about whether something is vegetarian or vegan or not, how can you possibly say you're a vegetarian or vegan? And if it IS difficult to know whether food has animal products in it, then it is difficult ot be a vegan - so telling people it isn't difficult is just lying.

[Mahk]

How do you manage it? Virtually nothing even says 'vegetarian' on it, and yet it could have BHT from an animal source, sugar refined with bone char etc etc etc

Living in the US using strict vegan standards is impossible unless one privately imports all their food from the UK or other labeling countries and only eats that. Obviously that's tremendously expensive and not very eco-friendly considering the carbon footprint of the transportation costs.

I think we all (speaking about everyone all over the planet) have to make concessions for the environment we live in.

P.S. I'm not sure if you selected "BHT" as a random example of "chemicals they put in food in the US one would need to scrutinize personally if the Vegan Society or the store one was buying it from hadn't already done so for you", but to the best of my knowledge BHT is always vegan (http://isitvegan.com/blog/dan-linehan/vegan-ingredients/is-bht-vegan). The four main ingredients which would make scrutinizing American foods virtually impossible are sugar (may have been bone char filtered), salt (many brands such as Morton's have added dextrose which also may have been bone char filtered), the ubiquitous "natural flavoring" (which can be almost anything and may change week to week so emailing them is pointless in my personal opinion), and flour (which often contains mono and diglycerides, DATEM, stearoyl lactate, l-cysteine or other iffy compounds).

[missbettie]

It is so not hard to be Vegan in the USA. I think its a piece of Vegan cake :D

[residualvisuals]

It's super easy, until you want something like pre-mixed pancakes. But for the most part I'm happy with a basket full of stuff from the produce section.

If you want junk or don't want to bother cooking is when you run into any real issues. The easiest way to have junk is to eat the vegan chocolate chips by themselves, or make the cookies yourself. Or just avoid it altogether.

[wendy]

I think it is only difficult to be vegan if you make it difficult.
Who really benefits if you meticously investigate everything you eat?
I don't think that is a good example for other people and it discourages people to go vegan. Because who would want to live like that?
I personally think it does more bad then good to freak about everything you eat.

[burl]

I totally agree with residualvisuals. It is easy if you make it easy. Eat foods you know are vegan. I think it's amazing of how many of us rely on met substitutes and whatnot. Fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes and beans and whole grains. You can make a ton of stuff with things you know are vegan and really good for you.
And white sugar is terrible anyway.

[RubyDuby]

I heard that beet sugar is not made with animal stuff, dunno. And found ONE expensive cereal that didn't have BHT. No bread though, apart from one that didn't look nice..It's pretty easy to get vegan sugar on it's own. I think most of us were referring to sugar as an ingredient. Where did you have such trouble finding cereal and bread? The U.S. is pretty big... as I'm sure you know...


Saying you might as well not bother about whether a product has any animal stuff in it is like saying as a vegetarian, when buying fries, you might as well not bother asking whether they're cooked in animal fat - and if you're not going to bother about whether something is vegetarian or vegan or not, how can you possibly say you're a vegetarian or vegan? Who said "not to bother about whether a product has animal stuff in it"? It's just a few small ingredients at the bottom of lists of ingredients (which Mahk covered) and it's easy enough to A.) when possible not buy food with those items, or B.) when you do have to purchase one of those items that may or may not have a miniscule amount of animal product in it realize you're not contributing to animal suffering.

[veganwitch]

I find it really easy to be a vegan in the US. I don't buy a lot of prepackaged stuff though and the ones I do buy are natural, usually organic, and vegan. The bigger problem I've found is avoiding hydrogenated oil as that seems to be in everything, even some of the tofutti sour creams and cream cheeses.

[Panzer]

since ive found all of the uses of tofu and how versitile it can be its got alot easier for me. Between fresh veggies, tofu , and Boca products I can survive albeit with a smaller menue than when I was an omni. It all has to fit into my budget tho and I have to remind myself my main reason for becoming vegan was my health , secondly for the animals....So I live vegan and healthy and all is well with the world.

[sparklingsights]

I live in Canada but in matters such as this it's basically the same.. ha. I 100% agree with what fiamma said, this is pretty much exactly what my reply was going to be :

I just read the labels, and try not to get hung up about whether sugar has been processed with bone char and so on... I do my best. I think those from the UK are very lucky; I don't think the rest of the world is so tuned in to vegetarian/vegan issues...

Some products do have a 'vegan' label but it's not required by any law and it's really only from the companies that are really into supporting this niche market (dare I call it that). Who knows, maybe those products are even from the UK... I really have no idea.




for example SILK is subsidiary of Dean foods, who are the largest manufacturer of Cow's milk.
WOW, really? I didn't know that... yuck. Makes me glad I switched over from Silk soy milk to an almond milk months ago for other reasons... but now I'm thinking I'll have to research where my almond milk comes from!

[RubyDuby]

since ive found all of the uses of tofu and how versitile it can be its got alot easier for me. Between fresh veggies, tofu , and Boca products I can survive albeit with a smaller menue than when I was an omni. It all has to fit into my budget tho and I have to remind myself my main reason for becoming vegan was my health , secondly for the animals....So I live vegan and healthy and all is well with the world.
with so many fruits and veggies, different grains, etc, out there your menu could be so much bigger! Unless you don't cook I guess...

[LionSpirit]

I think it is only difficult to be vegan if you make it difficult.
Who really benefits if you meticously investigate everything you eat?
I don't think that is a good example for other people and it discourages people to go vegan. Because who would want to live like that?
I personally think it does more bad then good to freak about everything you eat.

If you're not going to make an effort to be a vegan, you might as well buy chips (or fries) without bothering to check what they've been cooked in.

Tricking people into following an "almost-vegan" version of veganism does not make being a vegan any easier. If being aware of ingredients discourages people, then so be it. It's easy to be a vegan in the U.K., so it makes sense to say that. It's nigh impossible to be a vegan in Antarctica, so it makes sense to say that. And if it's difficult to be a vegan in the U.S.A., it makes sense to say that instead of making false claims.

By the logic that appears to have been used in your question about who benefits... meat-eaters are right when they say "who benefits if you stop eating animal products but loads of animal products still get eaten (by other people)?". In both cases, animals benefit - in the former case, in response to your question, animals benefit due to less animal products being demanded.


I totally agree with residualvisuals. It is easy if you make it easy. Eat foods you know are vegan. I think it's amazing of how many of us rely on met substitutes and whatnot. Fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes and beans and whole grains. You can make a ton of stuff with things you know are vegan and really good for you.
And white sugar is terrible anyway.


I do eat a lot of junk. Used to it in the U.K., as it's incredibly easy even if you don't shop at a supermarket that labels most vegan foods as vegan.


It's pretty easy to get vegan sugar on it's own. I think most of us were referring to sugar as an ingredient. Where did you have such trouble finding cereal and bread? The U.S. is pretty big... as I'm sure you know...

Walmart. Was trying to find out if the sugar used was refined with bone char - I would have to ask for each individual product. Also, didn't know that BHT is now usually vegan. The only other supermarket (or, due to the size of American things, probably a mini-supermarket) was Piggly Wiggly's.


Who said "not to bother about whether a product has animal stuff in it"? It's just a few small ingredients at the bottom of lists of ingredients (which Mahk covered) and it's easy enough to A.) when possible not buy food with those items, or B.) when you do have to purchase one of those items that may or may not have a miniscule amount of animal product in it realize you're not contributing to animal suffering.

The people who suggested that not being concerned about whether a product has an animal ingredient in it, essentially therefore said don't bother about it.

If it's "just a few ingredients", then by that logic surely it's O.K. to eat pizza with "just a bit of cheese" on it or spaghetti with "just a bit of meat in the sauce"?

By buying products that have animal products in them, I am contributing to the suffering of the animal(s) who were exploited to make those products.

[missbettie]

i don't think they were saying that they eat intentionally stuff that isn't vegan. they were saying that they do their best to be Vegan, which is all anyone can do.


And you know, not to be rude but don't you think the people that are actually living in the US would have a better idea of how difficult to live here as a vegan? And I think that most of us if not all of us find it pretty simple.

[RubyDuby]

I think s/he is saying it isn't possible therefore we aren't vegan... I wish I could find that thread Korn posted a while back about being a self-defeating microgram counting vegan... anyone know where it went? I can't remember the exact words used in the title.

ETA: found it. Here (http://www.veganforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11230&highlight=microgram)

[RubyDuby]

LionSpirit- you've made blanket statements about "America" in a couple of threads now making it very clear you are anti-American on a board that has quite a few American members. Are you intentionally being rude and looking for a fight or are you honestly asking a sincere question?

When I asked you where you were I meant where in America. If there was a Piggly Wiggly I'm assuming you were in the South? Either way, surely there was more than just a Wal-Mart and Piggly Wiggly to choose from. Did you not have access to the internet to look up a health food store?

[sparklingsights]

with so many fruits and veggies, different grains, etc, out there your menu could be so much bigger! Unless you don't cook I guess...
I hate cooking but I live in a hotel 5 out of 7 days of the week so it's pretty much impossible anyway. A surprising amount of yummy veggies can be cooked to perfection in the microwave, as I've had to discover. :D

[sparklingsights]

LionSpirit - Being vegan in North America is relatively difficult if you intend to survive on processed/pre-packaged food and snacks. If you make most of your own food from typical, raw ingredients - nope, not difficult at all!

Case closed? :D