I Can't Believe It's Not Vegan!

When I made the choice to become vegan, I knew meat, eggs, dairy, and seafood would be entirely out, but there were some surprising foods that contain animal products.  Some of these foods, I had heard about, but didn't really know how or why they contained animal products, and some of them were completely shocking to me. 

Because they were shocking to me, they may be shocking to you, so I thought I'd share:

White Sugar:  White sugar is not vegan because during the final purification process it is filtered through activiated carbon (charcoal).  In the US, most of the charcoal is made up of animal bones.  So yes, animal bone char is what makes that lovely white sugar white.  Gag!

Gelatin:  Gelatin (Jell-o, jelly beans (excluding Jelly Belly, but they are coated in beeswax, so that's another possible cause for vegan alarm), and even some fruit snacks).   Why is this not vegan?  Because it's made from boiling the skin, bones, and cartilage of animals.  So that Jell-o dessert at the potluck is just a green, lime flavored skin and bone juice.  Yummmm.....makes you want to go have some more doesn't it?

Honey:  It comes from bees...bees are animals.  So if you're vegan, you need to weed out honey from your diet.  I happen to have a few jars of honey in my pantry, and I am not going to just get rid of it.  First of all, it lasts nearly forever, and I am not so worried about avoiding honey as I am meat and dariy.  I'm not vegan because I care about animals.  I am vegan because I care about my health, and I do not see raw local honey as a health-harming substance. 

Boca Burgers (and several other "meatless" foods):  They may not contain meat, but they often contain eggs. 

Go Veggie! cheeses:  They proudly show "Lactose free" on the front of the package, so you instantly think "Yay! I can get this cheese" but sadly, it contains milk, with the exception of the cream cheese alternative. 

Bread:  Most breads contain milk, butter, or eggs.  I thought MAYBE I could find a bread out there in the bread aisle that didn't, but no dice.