Question!

[apocalypsos]

I have a character who's strictly vegan. She doesn't do a lot of eating over the course of the book, but the three things she does eat or drink (other than water) are:

-- Champagne
-- White rice
-- An apple turnover

Would any of those be a problem with a vegan lifestyle?

EDIT: Gotcha. Swapping out the champagne and the turnover, then. :D

Comments

[rosaleendhu.livejournal.com]

The apple turnover could be. It would depend on how the crust is made.

[wheeple.livejournal.com]

More than likely, there would be milk and eggs and butter in the turnover. Unless it's a specifically vegan turnover.

[eilonwy.livejournal.com]

champagne isn't vegan-- there's bone char in the stuff they add to make it sparkly.

[dimethirwen.livejournal.com]

Doesn't champagne require yeast? Do vegans eat things made with yeast?

[ladyelaine.livejournal.com]

The turnover, because of the crust. You'll probably want to either change that, or specify that the crust is a vegan recipe.

[eilonwy.livejournal.com]

In fact, most alcohol isn't vegan 'cause it's clarified with fish bladders or gelatin. I know you can *get* vegan booze, but I don't know about champagne.

(And yeah, what wheeple said about turnovers using egg and butter in the pastry, although you can get vegan turnovers. You can make a regular pie style crust without egg or milk, easily, but it's not flakey enough for a turnovers, so I dunno what they do for those.)

[Also, I'm vegetarian, not vegan, so don't depend on my answers!!] :)

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

http://www.veganchef.com/wwturnover.htm suggests vegan turnover pastry is possible to make.

Wines are problematic for vegetarians (and thus vegans) - they're often filtered using isinglass, or egg whites. However, name a type of wine and there are vegan brands available (at least over here, I have no info about anywhere else) - IIRC Moet & Chandon is vegan, though I wouldn't bet my life on it.

[clex_monkie89.livejournal.com]

Vegan wine guide, white rice appears to be okay for vegans, and here's a vegan apple turnover recipe.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. Would sparkling cider be okay?

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

The same applies to beer and cider, but again, vegan brands are available. I personally wouldn't be thrown out of a story by a vegan character drinking wines or beers as long as a specifically non vegan brand wasn't mentioned, I'd just assume she'd picked some up at a wholefoods store. But that's from a British perspective - I have no idea if Whole Foods Market or local shops also stock these things, assuming your story is set in the US.

There's a list of brands here:
http://www.barnivore.com/wine
http://www.barnivore.com/beer
http://www.barnivore.com/liquor

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

Addendum: again, British knowledge only, but getting vegan alcohol is not ONLY possible at wholefoods places - more and more supermarkets and brands are specifically labelling whether their products are vegan friendly. Being vegan doesn't stop you drinking any particular type of alcohol by any means, you just have to watch out.

[treelines.livejournal.com]

I have a vegan friend who drinks really cheap, mass-produced beer (e.g. Budweiser) because it's made without any animal by-products. Really! That might be a funny thing to have in the story.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Eh, it's easy enough to handwave it as organic and vegan in the scene. It's at the party and the hosts are attentive, so I think I can swing it.

I could probably let it slide, but I'm at the point in editing where I'm fixing every little thing that pings in my brain so it doesn't bother me later. :)

[maryavatar.livejournal.com]

Yes, because yeast isn't an animal or an animal product, it's a micro-organism. And it's impossible to avoid eating, drinking or inhaling micro-organisms.

[lots42.livejournal.com]

There's bones in my booze? Well, fuck.

[eilonwy.livejournal.com]

I'm sure there are vegan brands, I just don't know what they are. Stoopid peoples, puttin' aminals in everything. >.

[sabra-n.livejournal.com]

My experience is mostly in pie crusts, but my understanding is that you get more flavorful crusts using butter, but more flaky crusts by using shortening. So maybe a turnover using vegetable shortening? (Pie crusts don't use egg at all, so I have no clue about that.)