Things you would expect to be vegetarian that aren't!

[cricketmum84]

Off the back of my previous thread Things you never knew were vegetarian? http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/foodandd_recipes/3566566-things-you-never-knew-were-vegetarian

As suggested I am asking the reverse question!

What food items/products have you discovered that you would expect to be vegetarian friendly but aren't??

The Worcester sauce thing was a revelation to me, I already knew about cheese and onion crisps.

Having been veggie for over thirty years I am pretty aware of what is and isn't but the amount of yogurt / mousse type desserts that have gelatine in them is sometimes surprising!

French onion soup is beef stock. I recent left a cafe as there was only one veggie sandwich option and the waitress said the soup was so I asked her to check as I knew that traditionally it is made with beef stock and she came back and said I was right.

Obviously marshmallow and things that contain it aren't so a rocky road is out!

Fox's party rings didn't used to be but I recently saw that they are now

frosted mini shredded wheats

I always check crisps now, as most are but occasionally not (scowling at you, Pigs in Blankets Xmas Pringles!)

@AdventureTravelDreamer I'm a new veggie (apart from a year as a teen maybe 20 years ago) so nowhere near as aware as you are yet. I would never have thought to ask about french onion soup!! I'm being very careful checking labels but things are still catching me out.

I expected pesto to be veggie but then found out that proper pesto made with Parmesan contains rennet. On the lookout for some veggie pesto now though and I have a recipe to make my own with vitalife.

Sacla organic pesto is vegetarian and health food shops do vegan pesto, which I haven't tried, but might be alright.

Crisps are a nightmare these days ... When I was younger just about all crisps were veggie with artificial meat flavours. Nowadays many have gone down a natural flavours route and therefore have real meat in the "meaty" crisps. I used to love a bag of Smoky Bacon

I was actually really surprised when I was told Parmesan wasn’t vegetarian

Tesco do a free from pesto which is vegan / vegetarian.

Biggest surprise is that some wine isn't vegetarian as it's made with fish finings.

All the chip shops in Bridlington cook their chips in dripping

I must have walked in and out of every one of them. So DD ended up with a jacket potato instead.

Then I discovered that one of the amusement arcades on the front cooks theirs in rapeseed oil.

Yes I was surprised by wine too.

My husband brews his own and told me he was adding fish finings to it! Was like what now?!?!

Lots of beer and lager isn’t vegetarian.

Lots of fried chips

Asda do own brand free from pesto that we have as I've got veggie DD and another that can't have dairy

I Get cross amount of yogurts thickened with gelatine

Some of the fizzy drinks at Burger King have fish-derived bits in not envy!!

Peanut M&Ms! Gutted.

Wow had no idea about most of these!

This is what pushed me over the edge into a plant based diet. The number of things that definitely should not be vegan but are (loads of chicken flavoured things) and the number of things that should be vegan that aren’t.

No one ever believes you till you suggest they read the labels.

Some fruit juices.

www.google.com/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/marks-and-spencer-vegetarian-juice-beef-collagen-vegan-super-waters-protein-a8872866.html%3famp

I had a go at Aldi when their raspberry yogurt contained pork gelatine. Not just a problem for veggies but also some religions. No obvious labelling.

Peanut M&Ms!?! I did not know about this one and have eaten on many occasion

I had no idea about Peanut m&ms. The one that annoys me is Mr kipling pink fondant fancies/any pink Mr kipling cakes. 😡

Marks and Spencer's juices (not all of them)

Sorry @FuzzyPixel just saw your already posted those!

A lot of supermarket own brand pesto is ok. I expect they use a cheaper ingredient than proper Parmesan.

Carmine red (a food colouring) is made from crushed insects.