We were out shopping recently and stopped in at the closest coffee shop to grab some much needed java. The closest place available was Starbucks, so in we went. Olive is quite partial to yummy holiday flavors of any kind. She inquired about the Caramel Brule Latte to see if when ordered with soy milk it was vegan friendly. We shockingly found out that the holiday flavors as well as some others were pre-made with milk products.  The Starbucks associate was very knowledgeable and said that the classic syrups are dairy free.  He made a creation with the classic syrups to imitate the holiday flavour and it was great! Just in case you are curious the beverage know for sure that are not vegan friendly even when ordered with soy milk are: Caramel Brule Latte, Pumpkin Spice Latte, White Chocolate Mocha, and Peppermint Latte, so avoid these.

This latest experience led us to ask what other items might surprisingly not be vegan. Over the last few months we have uncovered quite a few things that surprised us but we decided to do some research of our own and see what else we may uncover.


Before we get to the list that we have compiled we both agree that it is important to mention we don’t want this list to scare you away. When veganism was first introduced to us we both felt it seemed too extreme. I think part of the reason for this was that the individuals we had met were all or nothing. There was no room for learning or a grey area and we have discovered it is next to impossible to live in our modern society and not use something that contains animal products without becoming a hermit.

Our view on being vegan is simple, avoid as many animal products as you possibly can and minimize your impact on the earth and our animal friends.  Unfortunately there are things that we have been unable to avoid. For example we both drive or take public transit and there are animal products in the tires of cars and bikes but we have not found a way to avoid this yet. However, we are aware of it and whenever possible will choose to walk.  If ever we find a good alternative you bet we will be some of the first to jump for it. 

If your thinking about becoming a vegan, we recommend starting off slowly by replacing your products as you run out of them, otherwise it can be a very expensive and overwhelming endeavour. This is also a great way to ease your family and friends into your lifestyle change. So without further ado here is our list of things that are surprisingly NOT vegan:

· Plastic grocery bags (a form of animal fat is used to prevent them from not sticking together)

· Gel cap medications (gelatin is used which is derived from the bones of animals)

· Cigarettes (…okay I know you shouldn’t have these anyway but this is shocking, some brands use PIGS BLOOD! Eeew as if cancer wasn’t enough, QUIT NOW!!)

· Dryer sheets (some contain animal fat)

· Laundry soap (some contain animal fat)

· Fabric Softener (some contain animal fat)

· Dish soap (some contain animal fat)

· Some cleaning supplies (some contain animal fat)

· Refried beans (most contain lard)
   
· Starbucks holiday beverages even when ordered with soy milk (see above)

· Orange Juice (most contain fish oil)

· Some bagels (Bird feathers are used as a dough conditioner, weird eh?)

· Some brands of packaged nuts (coated in gelatin)

· Worcestershire sauce (contain anchovies…don’t worry there are Vegan versions too)

· Soy Cheese (some brands contain Casein which is a milk derivative so read the labels)

· Caesar salad, antipasto and some tapenade’s (contain anchovies)

· Enriched Breads (usually contain fish oils)
        
· Vegetarian Ethnic foods like Thai (often contain fish sauce so talk to your server)

· Some wines and beers (use fish bladders during the filtering process)

· Some white and brown sugars (use bone char during filtering process) *Redpath sugar in Canada is safe. 

· White Vinegar (use bone char during filtering process)

· Sun blocks (beeswax and other less then desirable products)

· Floss (coated with beeswax)

· Toothpaste 

· Some brands of contact lenses and solutions (Alcon seems to be the only umbrella company that is free of animal products)

· Condoms (casein, milk derivative)

· Personal lubrications

· Bedroom toys

We know this list may seem overwhelming but as we’ve said before take one step at a time and do your own research too. Don’t despair Vegan replacements are available for all of these items! A lot of them can be found at your local health food store or sometimes even regular grocery stores. Below are some links you may find helpful:

Vegan Wine and Beer Guide

The Vegan Sex Shop

Vegan Essentials

Vegan Alcohol

Vegan for Beginners



Here’s to getting Vegucated,

Olive and Button

In our transition to becoming Vegans we started off focusing on a balanced vegan diet. After our food was under control we moved onto other important aspects of a healthy vegan lifestyle, skin care!  Caring about what we put into our bodies has naturally led us to think about what we are putting on to it, which as it turns out is essentially the same thing.  Okay, I hope you are sitting down to prepare yourself for a few shocking facts:

· Your skin is the largest organ in the body and approximately 70% of what you put on it seeps into your bloodstream!

· There have not been enough studies done for us to know the long term effects of the myriad of chemicals that are commonly used today.

· Many of the ingredients used today in lotions and cosmetics contain carcinogens (known to cause cancer) and are toxic.

· New studies have shown that the toxic chemicals that seep into your bloodstream also enter into your fetus through the umbilical cord while you are pregnant!

Are you panicking yet? We were! So let’s review what you should be looking for starting with animal products to avoid. Check out this list:

• Beeswax (contained in lipsticks and chapsticks)

• Placenta – AKA Hyaluronic Acid and Protein Hydrolysate (derived from animals and humans. Can I just say ewww!)

• Lanolin (a grease derived from wool)

• Shellac (crushed insects used in nail varnish)

• Bone marrow (usually from chickens)

• Civet (from anal pouch of civet cat) we didn’t even know what a Civet cat was. Seriously! Why?

• Musk (from male musk deer)

• Castoreum (anal sex gland of the beaver)… again eww why?

• Ambergris (Sperm whale digestive secretion used in perfumes)

• Carmine -AKA cochineal, carminic acid, or Chitin (from insects and crustacean used to get a red color)

• Keratin (protein from hair, horn, hoof and feathers used in shampoos, conditioners and skin care products)

• Tallow - AKA: Sodium Tallowate, Tallow Acid, Tallow Amide, Tallow Amine, Talloweth-6, Tallow Glycerides or Tallow Imidazoline (animal fat commonly used in soaps)

• Gelatin (from animal bones, skin and hide)

• Collagen  (fibrous protein usually derived from animal tissue)

• Elastin (from meat)

• Squalene (from liver of shark)

• Urea (waste nitrogen… also known as pee!)

• Honey (from bees)

• Propolis (bee glue used in toiletries and cosmetics)

• Stearic Acid - AKA: Stearamide, Stearamine, Stearates, Stearic Hydrazide, Stearone, Stearoxytrimethylsilane, Stearoyl Lactylic Acid, Stearyl Betaine or Stearyl Imidazoline (Saturated fatty acid from animals)

As if that wasn’t scary enough let’s not forget those pesky chemicals. Click here for a list of toxic ingredients commonly used in cosmetics:  The Dirty Dozen!

Now stand up!  We suggest you do what we did… go pick up your lotion, shampoo, conditioner, and deodorant, face wash, body wash etc. and read the ingredients, you will be surprised!  Not only are there hidden animal ingredients, they are loaded with toxic chemicals…disgusting isn’t it?

This is what made us realize we needed to take action and make changes for ourselves and our families.  Compassionate, safe, fun, and eco-friendly DIY body care was clearly the way to go! We wanted to keep it simple and use as few ingredients as possible to keep the cost down.  We started out making the following DIY items:

• Body wash

• Hand wash

• Avocado lip balm

• Dry skin cream

This is just the beginning of our Vegan DIY skin care and we will update and add recipes as we create and improve upon them.  All of the items so far have been a hit but our favorites are the body wash and dry skin cream. The skin cream has worked wonders on Olive’s eczema and Button loves it as an amazing after shaving cream!

All of the products took less than 10 minutes to make and are customizable with your own scents and skin care type. If you tried a new variation you enjoyed please feel free to share with us in the comments J

“It puts the DIY lotion on its skin or it gets the toxins again!” (A la Silence of the Lambs- haha!)

Until next time stay clean, compassionate, and creative,

Olive and Button

Seeing as we both love Asian cooking it only seemed natural to experiment with ethnic vegan creations. We decided to start with a Thai inspired night. As always, we needed to choose which recipes we were going to tackle. One thing we knew for sure was that after our visit to Seattle we wanted to create our own version of the Buddha rolls we enjoyed at the Wild Ginger restaurant.

For our main dish we decided to make our Thai Peanut Stew. Now, this recipe has some history dating back to the beginning of our friendship. It is an Olive and Button original and was one of the very first recipes that made it to our collection, and happened to all ready be vegan.

Although rice is typically served with most Thai dishes, we decided to make not only coconut rice but to also experiment with a Thai inspired biscuit. In our search for inspiration we found... absolutely nothing! However, Button recalled that her mom had a traditional biscuit recipe she used to make when she was a kid and thought it would be a great idea to use it as a base for our Thai inspired biscuits. With the base recipe in hand we veganized it by swapping out the milk with coconut milk and using vegan margarine in place of butter. All that was left was to add some subtle Thai flavors. We used lime juice to compliment the coconut milk, added some cilantro “butter”, and toasted sesame seeds on top.

Last but not least the final course would be a sweet, yet spicy dessert. We made Thai Rice Pudding with a strong cinnamon and ginger flavor.

This experiment was not nearly as labor intensive as the vegan Thanksgiving dinner but was equally as delicious. However, unlike Thanksgiving we all enjoyed each recipe equally but it ended up being a tie between the stew and the biscuits. How could we choose just one, they went together like bread and vegan butter!

If you’re new to experimenting with vegan cooking, Thai food is a great place to start. It is often already vegetarian and most of the ingredients are easily swapped for vegan friendly options. The sky is the limit with vegan Thai cooking and we have barely touched the tip of the iceberg. We look forward to sharing our future Thai-riffic creations with you again! Stay tuned for the recipes, they will be posted shortly.

Mmm nomm nommmmmm… oh excuse us! We can’t seem to stop munching… so till next time,

Olive and Button

We recently went on a girl’s weekend trip to Seattle, which we are just recovering from by the way, haha!  As newly transitioning Vegans we were eager to see what it would be like as Vegans on the go, especially in a foreign city.

So our plan of attack was to purchase snacks when we arrived in Seattle at a local grocery store, research the city for vegan friendly restaurants, and carry our happy cow ingredients list for easy access.

Conveniently there was a gourmet grocery store across from our hotel that happened to have quite the selection of vegan goodies. We were so shocked and thrilled by the selection. We found cookies, sour cream, cream cheese, chips, sandwiches, burritos, wraps, dips, granola bars etc.  Needless to say we happily packed our cart and off we went to the hotel.

As delicious as our new found snacks were we wanted to indulge in a nice sit down vegan meal. We did quite a bit of research before deciding on where we wanted to go. We chose a restaurant called Wild Ginger in the heart of downtown Seattle. It was an Asian inspired restaurant with an abundant wine list...again we were Thrilled! They had an entire menu just for Vegans which we were both impressed with. We ordered Buddha rolls for an appetizer, market vegetables, and Rama Setu which was a curry like dish with yams, eggplant and tofu. Every dish was to die for, our favorite being the Rama Setu. Wild Ginger has a great vegan menu, impeccable service, and a welcoming ambience. We highly recommend it if you find yourself in downtown Seattle.

After our short jaunt over to Seattle we immediately thought of how it could be a challenge to eat as a vegan while gallivanting across the globe.  That being said, here are our tips on how to eat vegan on the go.

1. Research the city you are travelling to (Google: "vegan restaurants in____")

2. Hit up a local grocery or health food store for snacks to carry with you

3. Connect with other Vegans (Google: "vegan blog _____")

4. If you are in a non-English speaking country know the lingo for Vegan phrases (for example "Soy Vegano"-means I'm vegan in Spanish)

5. Make it easier for yourself; try to pick menu items that can easily be vegan by omitting an item rather than asking them to creating a whole new dish

6. Talk to the locals when possible ask your local barista, grocery clerk or hotel concierge etc. 

7. Pack ample supplies of vegan toiletries as these can be the hardest to get!

In addition to the above tips we always like to use resources online such as PETA.org, Happycow.net, and circleourearth.com

To take a look at what Wild Ginger has to offer click below:  
Wild Ginger Vegan Menu


Happy Vegan Travels,

Olive and Button