I had lunch at Panera Bread, a favorite of mine and as always I got the you pick 2. I went with the black bean soup and the mediterranean veggie with the whole grain bread. I kinda felt a little shorted without the meat and cheese, which provides a few more calories I certainly could have used. I had food back at the office to chow down on since I knew I was still hungry, and as expected I ended up eating a whole lot more back at the office, but that is not the point.
I visited Trader Joe’s to restock office snacks and had another lesson in being vegan. I started reading the labels of the cliff bars I get and read “May contain traces of dairy”. There was also chocolate in most of the flavors they had in stock and I didn’t know if that is vegan so I avoided them. As I was being rushed, I picked up a few Cliff Mojo Bars as they seemed the safest bet…although they had “May contain traces of dairy”. Afterwords, I consulted my vegan elders and got word that I can ignore the “May contain traces of dairy” which made me very happy as I chowed down on 2 bars immediately. I did some web research back at the office and found this (from http://www.veganrepresent.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5543):
Clif Bars are vegan-safe, and they rock!
I think they do have the “may contain traces of ___” disclaimer for the benefit of allergic people… to me, that’s on the same level as “a bird may have shat on that apple you’re eating, so there may be a trace of an animal there”.
I love it!!
April 2, 2010 at 9:12 pm |
“May contain traces of dairy” is an allergen warning. Basically it means that although no dairy is listed in the ingredients, the machines which process the food also process dairy and so it is possibly that dairy could have fallen into the product. You will often see this warning for peanuts, corn, and wheat as well.
April 3, 2010 at 10:11 am |
So glad you finally gave up the goods and shared the blog. Now I know about your veganFAIL and can hold it over your head for the rest of the month. But, all the more reason to quit eating crap processed foods and focus on whole foods: fruits, veggies, kale, quinoa, hemp, maca, chia seeds. One big green salad a day. Your energy and performance will skyrocket. I can take you shopping…or give you websites. I do my shopping on the Al Gore-invented interwebs. I don’t have a fancy leather-lined car….
April 3, 2010 at 8:28 pm |
According to Clif (http://www.clifbar.com/food/did_you_know/), the bars are vegan except mojo bars, which have honey, and a couple of drinks, which have dairy I guess. Vegans sometimes differ on whether they will eat honey, but there you are.