Let’s say you make some vegan chocolate chip cookies. (I looked a recipe up for the sake of this post). These cookies are made with almond milk.
You have a friend that you’ve known for a few months now, and you think it would be nice to surprise them.
So, you offer them one of the cookies. You don’t tell them they’re vegan. As far as your friend is aware, they’re made with cow milk and chicken eggs.
Your friend takes one bite, and a few minutes later you’re using their epi-pen on them and calling 911.
See, what just happened is that your hypothetical friend here has a nut allergy that you didn’t know about, and the almond milk in the cookies was enough to put them in the hospital.
You could have avoided this whole situation by informing your friend that they’re vegan, thus prompting the question “It’s not made with almond milk, is it?”
This doesn’t just apply to cookies. While I’ve never found one, if you happen to know of a vegan fake meat that’s not made with soy and looks and smells exactly like the meat version, don’t serve it to someone and not tell them until after they eat it.
“But I, a vegan, would never do that!”
Great, then this post isn’t about you. This post is about the people who post shit like “when you give your friend vegan food without telling them and they like it *insert gif here*”, and it’s also about the thousands of people who reblog it.
- Avery
And some people have dusgestive issues or health issues that conflict with some vegan ingredients too
Soy and wheat are used in a lot of meat replacements, and are also 2 of the top 8 food allergens.
And, as mentioned before, peanuts and tree nuts are two more–so, half of the most common food allergens are the things used as vegan substitutes. (Which is also why a lot of people can’t be vegan.)
Vegan substitutes also tend to have a considerable amount of gluten which is a pretty common allergy.
Basically, don’t feed people if they don’t know what’s in it.
