It’s taken a while for the thought that Wonder Bread is vegan to sink in, and I still don’t completely believe it even though I got this bit of information from the Peta website, so it’s got to be true! I Can’t Believe It’s Vegan is a great article, infinitely helpful and surprising.
My favorite sandwich when I was a kid was 2 slices of very fresh Wonder Bread with a mound of lettuce in between and mayonnaise. I’m gonna get me some Vegannaise and see if I can revisit my childhood.
Wonder Bread, Vegannaise, & some of the new varieties of Tofurkey lunch meat: now *that* sounds like a good sandwich.
I must now research Tofurkey lunch meat, you will receive all the credit if it’s good. Really nice blog…http://cuttothechase.typepad.com/, Chase. Thanks.
but it contains mono and diglycerides, I thought those were animal derived???
I thought you’d want to know that peta does not really do enough research on ingredients, and that things like wonder bread and oreos are definetely NOT VEGAN. I was very angry and felt horribly decieved when I found out what “mono and diglycerides” are. Unfortunately, it’s very hard to find bread without this ingredient. Here is a list of ingredients for wonder bread, and my notes on what a couple of them are.
INGREDIENTS:
Whole wheat flour, water, wheat gluten, high fructose corn syrup, contains 2% of less of: soybean oil, salt, molasses, yeast, mono and diglycerides (ANIMAL FAT), exthoxylated mono and diglycerides (ANIMAL FAT PRODUCED USING PETROLEUM), dough conditioners (sodium stearoyl lactylate (MILK PRODUCT), calcium iodate, calcium dioxide), datem (ANIMAL FAT PRODUCT), calcium sulfate, vinegar, yeast nutrient (ammonium sulfate), extracts of malted barley and corn, dicalcium phosphate, diammonium phosphate, calcium propionate (to retain freshness).
Although some of the other ingredients are ONLY chemical compounds, I was not able to find out if there are animal products used in production.
BACK TO THE OREOS: peta has an admirable mission, but for such a prominent group they really need to do better research before they put their words to print. Oreos contain sugar. If you are not buying organic unbleached sugar, then you are buying sugar that has been bleached with a process that uses animal bone.
I’m sorry to lay all of this on you, and it really sucks because so many packaged foods contain mono and diglycerides and or sugar, and it can get a bit frustrating. However, once you find foods that work for you, it’s well worth the effort.
Hot take: Bone char is a processing agent that is used simply because it is a waste product of the animal industry & would not be used otherwise If not made so convenient by that fact, it’d be other processing types, which often currently fluctuate to and from bone char at the discretion of the distributors of most of these products. You are not providing demand for bone char by consuming sugar processed with it.
If you take issue with this take: Re-evaluate veganism as a whole since virtually all plant products use a processing agent that is made from animals, as a “waste” product. That’s right, Manure… Sugar is vegan, so are crops. Stop caring about inconsequential stuff and start advocating for actual systemic change as well.
Wonder bread isn’t vegan anymore. I was looking at some in the store today and all the packages of every kind of Wonder bread that the store had, the last line of ingredients said, “contains wheat, milk, and soy.”
Well I’v been looking for a vegan bread. can someone help me? T_T
sunbeam batter whipped bread is vegan
peta considers foods that have 1-2% animal products to be vegan because they dont want to send the message that there is no demand for those products out of fear the manufacturers will stop trying all together
your best bet to find vegan bread is to try in either a health food store or in a more health conscious corporate chain. There are some really good organic, very natural alternatives to wonderbread, merita, sunbeam etc.
consider what it actually takes to make bread: flour water and yeast. Look for an ingredients list that has fewer items and more things you can actually find in your own kitchen.
another great alternative is a bakery. they make it and they can tell you exactly what goes into each loaf.
i don’t know about you, but i prefer a fresh loaf compared to wonderbread anyday.
Do remember, guys, that every step you take to save animals is great. Don’t beat yourself up over mistakes. Also, don’t be so strict on yourself that you can’t eat anything! Just reduce intake of what has the bad stuff in it until you can find something better! Be optimistic.
Oh yeah, and there are plant glycerides, too.
Not all mono and diglycerides use animal fat. Some are and some are vegetable derived vegetable oils (soybean, canola or rapeseed, sunflower, cottonseed, coconut or palm oil) as the starting material.
Check with the company to be sure what source these ingredients are derived from….. “Not all mono and diglycerides are animal sourced.”