Since coming to University I’ve stopped eating meat and slowly turned from a pescetarian into a vegetarian last Christmas. During this transfer from being a meat eater, I’ve learnt so much about the amount of normal foods that contain animal products especially gelatine and rennet!
1. Some Cheeses
For example: Parmesan & Edam. Normal parmesan cheese (Parmigiano Reggiano) contains beef rennet. Make sure you check whenever you’re eating out at any restaurant that don’t clearly mark what is vegetarian on their menu. You can however buy “Italian-style hard cheese” which is suitable for vegetarians. This, however, leads us on to number two…
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2. Pesto
Normal pesto contains Parmesan and nearly all shop bought pesto contain this. The only exceptions I have found so far are: Sainsbury’s Roasted Pepper Pesto and Sacla Organic Vegetarian Pesto- just make sure you look out for the vegetarian symbol on the jar!
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3. Some Wines and Ciders
Always worth checking the label for this but most ales need fining which is done by adding isinglass (fish bladders) and some ciders are made using gelatine.
4. Yogurt
For example Müller light yogurts contain gelatine which they claim is used to give the yogurt a “creamier, richer texture.”
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5. Orange Juice
Most orange juices that claim to be “heart-healthy” or products that contain Omega-3’s are likely to be from fish oil. Also, vitamin D in some juices are derived from lanolin (Sheep’s wool). So maybe stick to just eating oranges!
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