The vegan bible (Animal Free Shopper) (The Animal Free Shopper)

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Product:	The Animal Free Shopper
Date:	02/08/00 (17 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent reference, Compact size for carrying

Disadvantages: Only contains known information, Things keep changing

As a vegan you learn that you need to check the labels on prodcuts. One of the most common ingrediants you will see is "flavourings". Ooh isn't that useful. It pretty much covers anything you can imagine, and probably quite a lot you can't too. You could write to the company asking whether the questionable product is suitable but by the times you've done that and receieved a reply the shop will have closed for the night, been renovated and charging by the euro.

The alternative is to buy the "Animal Free Shopper" which is published by the Vegan society and sold in near;y all the places which sell vegan, ethical, organic and cruelty free products. It lists everything that is known, at the time of publication, to be suitable for vegans or anyone else who does not use animal derived products for any reason.

The Vegan Society contact companies to ask what products are suitable and this is then compiled into the book. And if you are concerned about companies telling the truth, if there is reason to belive they are lying they will not be included. This is one of the places where the book falls down and fails to be as comphrensive as would be liked. With so many small companies not everyone will get included. Also not every company provides information. Boots being notable for their absence, is it because they didn't supply information or because nothing is suitable? All the major supermarkets and brands are included though.

Because the book only lists suitable products there is doubt as to whether things which haven't been included are actually unsuitable or whether they just didn't have the information at the time. Quite often there are products which you think should be suitable but are not in the book. Also as companies constantly change ingrediants whenever they find a way to save money, or improve the product - make your own mind up which, the book can become wrong. For this reason
the Vegan Society publish an amendments list on their web site which is usually updated monthly. It should therefore be pointed out that the book should not replace reading ingrediant lists, just help you know which products to look at.

It's not only food which is covered in the book but also drinks, soft and alocholic, toiletries and cosmetics, clothes, household products (washing liquids etc.) and there is even an home & office section! There is alsoa large contact section for companies and local groups etc. plus a listing of all ingrediants which are, or may be, animal derived.

Quick interesting fact - Walkers Beef & Onion crisps are vegan, Salt and Vinegar are not. I would never have guessed that without the book, in fact you would expect Salt and Vingear to be one of the few flavours which are suitable.

Physically the book is rather small, probably about 5" by 4", which is convenient for carrying around. You don't need this book but it is hard to live in this world (otherwise called the UK as that's all it covers) without it.

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