Question for Vegans...

I work for a company that makes yogurt. I received a couple of questions from our consumers about the yogurt saying they were vegan and wanted to know what kind of gelatin we used in the yogurt. They were wondering if it was non-animal gelatin because it's kosher yogurt.

The gelatin is beef and the Rabbi determines kosher status, but my question is this-why would a vegan care? It's yogurt-and there's no question of it being soy based (major brand). If they were curious as to the gelatin, that would be fine. I guess I don't see why they needed to add that they were vegan to their question. Just being curious seems odd-why take the time to send an e-mail or research it if you aren't going to eat it anyhow.

I have a friend who's vegetarian and she was as confused as I am. It's a head scratcher for this carnivore. I thought maybe someone could give an answer or their opinion. Or just make up an answer that sounds good. Either way, I'd be happy-I'm too nosy for my own good!

You don't understand why a vegan would wonder if your gelatin had animal products?

Is this a trick question with the hopes of entrapment? Some kind of democrat vs. republican trick question with a startling, ad hominem attack at the end, suitable for braggadocio at the local dive bar?

And every one of them literally asked you "I wonder if it's animal based since it's Kosher?" I can't believe vegans are that ignorant that they would assume Kosher means "animal-based".

The assumption may have been either 1) all kosher gelatin is seaweed-based; or 2) gelatin from cows mixed with milk-based yogurt would not be kosher because of the meat/milk thing.

But a vegan wouldn't be eating yogurt made from milk anyway.

Tucker

I thought it was weird. They were both e-mails similar to "I am a vegan and I see your yogurt is kosher. What is your gelatin made of?"

No trick-serious confusion! I found it odd because there is so much stuff a vegan has to know to eat processed foods-working in the food industry, I have figured that out! I couldn't imagine one missing that whole "milk" thing and knowing that gelatin is usually animal based (I never realized it was an animal source until I started working in the food industry).

I don't know how you folks do it-with product reformulations and what not, I'd go bonkers-the labels are damn near greek with the scientific names.

Unless there is a kind of yoghurt that isn't made from animal milk.

This isn't that kind of yogurt though.

There are stupid people of all shapes, sizes, colors, and creeds, even vegans.

There are vegetarian gelatins out there made from seaweed (and it's usually kosher). I'm guessing they just wanted to know if it was animal or seaweed.

Also, is the yogurt soy or dairy-based? You worded that part kind of weird. If it's soy, then it would make perfect sense for a vegan to ask if the gelatin was non-animal based.

First ingredient-milk. If they wouldn't have said vegan, I wouldn't have thought twice about it.

One person would have been different. Two was just odd.

Like I said, if they were vegetarian, it would make sense to see if the yogurt had vegetarian gelatin, but I don't know how a vegan could skip over the milk part. Most vegan restaurants are certified kosher, so maybe they got the idea there, but I don't know what the fuck they were thinking with the milk.

I work in customer service and realized a long time ago that people aren't that bright. That is probably the problem here. We were scratching our heads over this one looking for reason where there was none.

It does make me understand how Bush was elected, though. There are a lot of people out there who aren't the brightest bulbs on the Christmas tree. Is it sad-usually I expect more from the vegans-they tend to know their shit. That's why it was weird.

I've heard plenty of really, really dumb questions from customers. I've never met anyone calling themselves a vegan who thought dairy was okay. Bizarre.

are not mixed together? I don't see how the yogurt can be kosher with beef gelatin. So maybe these folks were Orthodox Jews?

IIRC, it has something to do with having been so subastantially changed that it "is" no longer meat.

Tucker

Yogurt is not a natural food that grows from Mother Earth. It is contrived, created, bullshit; laboratory created.

True Vegans eat that which occurs naturally on the planet.

Soy yogurt is vegan food.

And just where does soy yogurt grow on the Earth?

Laboratory concoction, no matter how you slice it.

It comes from cultured soy, which is grown on the earth.

You can even make it at home. No labratory required.

Cultured soy is not the product of Mother Earth. :)

Your little play on words failed.

I'm sure I know way more about what I'm talking about than you and the vegans here will back me up.

But that's okay with me. :)

then come back here and tell me you're wrong. Or go into the vegan group and inform them that they're all wrong about what veganism means.

Processed plant foods are still vegan. It's not as if I go out to the yard and pick spaghetti and tofu for dinner, either. Even a tomato sauce for pasta is a product of washing, then changing the texture and taste of the tomatoes with heat.

Hell, even raw foods people process thier foods extensively, by chopping them, soaking them, etc. The human intestinal tract doesn't do well on almost exclusively raw and unprocessed foods.

If it does not grow from dirt and/or water only, it is an unnatural, laboratory concoction. :)

Growing microorganisms in your kitchen is not the same thing.

scavenging wild berries and mushrooms in the forest.) The question is how un-natural is acceptable and whether or not a food is vegan. To be vegan it need only be of a non-animal origin and not the product of animal testing. Oreos aren't vaugely natural and they're full of nasty chemical crap, but they're vegan.

So, a Vegan can just eat nothing but processed cane sugar?

Helluva dietary theory.

Long story why.

Anyhow, yes, people can be junk food vegans if they really want. It's a hell of a lot easier now that there's a lot of junk food marketed toward vegans, back in ye olden days people had to make a lot more of thier food from scratch and deal with nasty powdered soymilk and stuff. No we have like 8 billion varieties of vegan ice cream and cookies and stuff like that. It makes it a lot easier to treat one's self every now and then.

Being a junk food anything is a bad idea though.

That's why I found it so odd. You are talking a serious life change when you go vegan. You'd think you would have the basics down?

(and I don't want to stereotype, but they tend to be young) who see being vegan as a bit cooler or more unusual than being vegetarian, who for whatever reason don't want to get the rules down or embrace the philosophy behind it. Eventually some of them get it and more move on, but it's annoying. I mean, what if they get somebody else conviced that some gelatin is okay for vegans or that dairy is? It makes it harder for the real vegans. I wish they'd just call themselves vegetarians if that's what they are. There's no crime in thier not being ready to go vegan yet, but diluting the term is potentially harmful, at least to those of us who have a hard enough time telling people what we eat.

I eat fish now, but I call myself a pescarian, not a vegetarian.

I prefer the terms "vegequarian" or, the best ever, "fish and chippocrite".

Hee!

Jean Louise

They're absolute crackheads and about as vegan as a Great White Shark.

Obviously anything with milk in it isn't vegan, no mater what the gelatin is. Gelatin is never plant-based anyhow (there are plant-based alternatives to gelatin, but they'll always be labeled as what they are and not as gelatin,) so I don't see how they'd even wonder if the product was vegetarian.

As an aside, I'm surprised that a beef-based gelatin is permitted in a kosher dairy product. Usually kosher gelatin is fish-derived, or at least that's my understanding.

I am so glad to have the answer-and now I will always equate Great Whites with vegans in a twisted way...

I don't get Jewish law-I refer serious questions to a Rabbi. It's good to have a basic understanding of what it means to be Kosher, but I have a hard enough time with my personal beliefs (a whole different issue-liberal Catholic trying to believe it's not an oxymoron). I do know that I dig Kosher pickles.

tell what foods are acceptable for me. It's nice when something is labeled parve, because a lot of ingredients that could be either dairy or plant based I then know aren't of dairy origin. Makes my life easier. I read an article once that was called interpreting kosher marks for vegans or something along those lines that helped out quite a bit.

There should be something marking food safe for Muslims, too. I would think that would be helpful for you folks, too. It'll take a while, but there are organizations who do the certifications now. It's just getting manufacturers to see the benefit of having the markings on the packaging. Too many Muslims look for the Kosher certifications, which is not always going to be the same.

I used to stop and get sandwiches at one back when I ate animal products. Very good food, both the sandwiches and the sides.

One nice thing about this town, we have a lot of ethnic grocery and specialty market kind of places for a medium-sized city.

Is crack vegan?

Anyway, the crackheads she's referring to are fake vegans, so it wouldn't matter if there's lactose in their crack.

Dairy yogurt is not vegan under any circumstances. I think you're right--every vegan knows that.

The people who asked about the gelatin are probably newer vegetarians trying to find out if the product is vegetarian. Maybe they just don't know the difference yet. I don't know any vegetarians or vegans that would eat anything with gelatin on the label--sure, there are things like agar or pectin that act as jelling agents, but they're usually labelled as such.

Sorry you have to deal with dufuses (dufi?) at your job! :hi:

Actually, the dufuses sometimes make the job more interesting...the stories I could tell-but probably shouldn't! Honestly, the job can be boring so things that stem an intellectual debate are always good. Even if the end result is that the person in question is a moron.

It would make sense that they were new to being a vegetarian it would make sense. They seemed quite proud of the fact that they were "vegan." It doesn't matter to me why someone wants to know about animal sources-I figure if it's religious or not, it's still important to that person. That's all that really matters-you have a right to know what's in your food.