Food and recipes
What do vegans eat?
Vegans enjoy all kinds of foods, such as curries, pizza, casseroles, burritos, chocolate cake, lasagne, soups, risottos, spicy bean chilli, stir fries, falafel, cupcakes, samosas, bhajis, pies, sausage and mash, stews, paella, dhal, toad in the hole, pasta and pesto, quiche, pancakes, tagines, tortilla wraps, chocolate chip cookies, jacket potatoes, cannelloni, pad thai, noodle soup, stuffed pasta shells, spicy potato wedges, fruit crumble and custard, gnocchi, tagliatelle, salads, shortbread, spring rolls, panini, spaghetti bolognese, sushi, mezze…
All of these dishes and many more can be suitable for vegans, made using entirely plant-based ingredients and no ingredients derived from animals.
What is vegan food?
Vegans choose not to eat anything which is taken from animals, for example:
- No meat, fish nor other substances that come directly from killing an animal, such as animal fats and gelatine
- No dairy products such as cows milk, cheese and yogurt; nor goats milk
- No eggs nor foods containing eggs such as Quorn
- No honey
There are delicious vegan versions of all kinds of food products available from supermarkets, wholefoods shops and online shops: vegan ice cream, mayonnaise, chocolate, sausages, cheese, yoghurt, haggis, fudge, jelly sweets, custard, cheese sauce, chicken nuggets… the choices are endless. New and potential vegans may find that they don’t have to ‘give up’ their old favourites after all!
Animal-free food is also becoming easier to spot, as more and more companies adopt The Vegan Society's Trademark sunflower logo. To help you find foods that are vegan, but are not yet labelled as such, we produce The Animal Free Shopper - a guide to vegan products on sale in the UK, available to search online or as a handy pocket-sized book from our online shop.
If you’re a professional caterer, have a look at the Caterers section of this site, including our Vegan Catering for All guide. If you are a caterer working in the care sector, or simply someone who wants to provide nutritious meals on a budget, there is a complete menu plan in our Vegan Catering Guide for hospitals and care homes.
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