Fancy a bloody falafel finger with almond fingernails for a vegan friendly Hallowe’en?
Trick, or more precisely, treating, is not off limits for vegans because of sweets made with animal-based gelatin. There is a growing choice of ‘spook-tacular’ food for people who do not eat or use animal products.
Sales of vegan and vegetarian food is soaring. Retailer Waitrose & Partners has recently recorded an 85 per cent rise in sales of vegan and vegetarian products, and has expanded its range.
And according to statistics from The Vegan Society, demand for meat-free food increased by 987 percent in 2017. Going vegan was also predicted to be the biggest food trend in 2018.
But what are the food choices for vegans right now, as Hallowe’en looms?
The Vegan Society has hosted a helpful blog entitled ‘How to have a spectacular vegan Halloween’.
In it you can learn how from leading vegan food bloggers how to make to make things like ‘bloody falafel fingers’. The recipe, from Vegan Richa, consists of baked chick pea split pea falafels with ketchup smeared on to make them look appropriately gruesome.
Other vegan treats for the witching season, include ‘apple bites’ from the blog Oh She Glows. The apple made mouths looks like something out of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas with their slivers of almonds for teeth and jam or nut butter for the tongue.
But what do you do if the children knock on your door and ask you ‘trick or treat?’.
Dr Samantha Calvert, head of communications at the Vegan Society said: “A lot of vegans feel they don’t want to want to give out things containing gelatin even though the child trick or treating children knocking on their door might not be vegans.”
She said it can be difficult searching product information in stores for sweets which don’t contain gelatin, which is usually obtained from cows or pigs.
But she highlighted natural sweet maker Goody Good Stuff, which uses a technology that eliminates the need for animal-based gelatin.
They make a range of gluten, lactose and gelatin free sweets from Sour Mix Match and Koala Gummy Beers.
Dr Calvert (left), who has been a vegan for 23 years, said pumpkin pie was also a good option as there is ready made pastry suitable for vegans in supermarkets, plus a choice of appropriate fillings.
She said while online bakers could make you vegan friendly pumpkin pie, your chances of buying a ready made one from a supermarket were pretty slim. She said making them yourself was the cheapest option.
The Vegan Society’s timely food blog states: “Halloween is steadily creeping up on us. There are enough ghoulish goings-on at this time of year without throwing additional animal exploitation into the mix, but a vegan lifestyle isn’t a reason to miss out on the fun.”
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