All the vegetarians out there have to be extra cautious when it comes to food. Starting from the restaurants you choose to the food you order, everything has to go through a series of checking and re checking just to make sure that you don’t end up eating something non vegetarian. Well, this article might make things a little more hard for you, cause here we are going to list some of the food items which you thought were vegetarian but they actually aren’t.
1) White sugar
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You might not know this, but if you are consuming white sugar then you are also consuming animal bones. Sugar is not naturally white, and in order to make it white it is bleached in a process where “bone char” charred cattle bone is used to polish the sugar. Confectioner’s and brown sugar are no better because they are also variations of white sugar.
2) Cheese
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This might be a sad news for many. Some variety of cheese are made with an enzyme called rennet which is derived from calf stomach. Before all the vegetarians start cursing themselves for loving cheese, not all cheese are non-vegetarian. You could look for cheese made of liquid vegetable rennet and soy and rice alternatives.
3) Naan
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Yes, your favourite naan may not be just flour. Most of the authentic naan recipes use egg while kneading the dough to keep the dough soft and elastic. So next time you go to a restaurant, just make sure to confirm with the chef once before you order naan.
4) Packed Orange Juice
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Orange Juice comes with a lot of vitamins and minerals and are a healthy drink to have. But many packed orange juice these days add omega 3s in order to market the product. Omega 3s is derived from fish oil (unless the omega are synthetic). Even the Vitamin D found in some juices comes from lanolin, a substance derived from sheep’s wool. However, this is not true for all packed orange juices in the market.
5) Jelly
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Those yummy gummy bears have been a childhood favourite of many. Before you go and have the next one, read this. The main ingredient of jelly is gelatine which is an animal derivative. For your safety, these days gelatine is being replaced by starch and other similar food products.
6) Doughnuts
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These colourful doughnuts might not be the same for you after you read this. Doughnuts contain an enzyme called L. Cysteine which is made from made from duck feather and pig trotter. It is used for conditioning the dough. So next time you crave for a doughnut, just beware!
7) Chewing Gum
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Just like jelly, chewing gum also contains gelatine which comes from the skin, tendons, ligaments and bones of pigs and cows. So all the vegetarians out there, you might just want to avoid chewing gums.
8) Chocolate
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How can chocolate be non-vegetarian? Few chocolates use whey powder which might contain the enzyme called rennet. As stated earlier, rennet is extracted from calf’s stomach. Better read the ingredients before you indulge in some chocolate.
9) Bananas
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How can a banana be non-vegetarian? According to science daily, a compound known as Chitosan is being used as a preservative to increase the shell life of bananas. Chitosan essentially comprises of shellfish. Its time you shift to eating organic bananas.
10) Vanilla Ice cream
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Ever seen the added natural flavour sign on you ice cream pack? This natural flavour might actually be beaver’s butt juice. Castoreum is the technical term for it and is used to give food a musky, vanilla smell. The best option is to stick to vegan approved ice creams.
Shocking, right?
