What Cereals are Vegan?
Breakfast cereal has been the best go-to morning snack meal for everyone. It is not just easy to make but is also rich in taste and nutrients. But Breakfast cereal doesn’t always come from a vegan source. But, as a vegan, you can still enjoy breakfast cereal in a morning. This is why many brands have come up with several vegan-friendly cereals in their product bouquet.
Vegan breakfast cereals are a part of every person’s diet who wants to start a healthy life. Let us first understand why the majority of the cereals are not vegan.
What Makes Breakfast Cereal Non-Vegan?
1. Palm Oil
It is derived from palm fruit. This grows on African oil palm trees. Well, we may say palm oil is vegan, however many vegans choose to keep away from the oil. For them extraction of palm oil is done by causing harm to the animals and exploiting them. This is something not cruelty-free.
2. Vitamin D
Is vitamin D there in vegan cereal? Many food manufacturers decided to add vitamin D to their product range. This is because it is hard for many people in the not-very-sunny UK to get enough vitamin D, especially during the long winter months.
Vitamin D is not vegan-friendly as it comes from an animal-derived source which is sheep’s wool. Fortified soy milk, mushrooms like Oyster Mushrooms (understand how to identify them with us), fortified cereals, fortified orange juice, fortified almond milk, fortified rice milk, sunshine are the best source of Vitamin D for vegans.
You can cook delicious vegan recipes with these vegan ingredients. Dishes like Almond Milk fruit smoothie, Cereals vegan ice creams, pan Oyster mushrooms with this recipe, and many more. These dishes are tasty along with being healthy.
3. Lanolin
Lanolin is a waxy yellow substance. This is secreted by the glands of wool-bearing mammals. However, sheep are finally killed for their flesh. Consequently, lanolin is not cruelty-free. If you have decided to lead a vegan lifestyle, it is not literally impossible. There areplant oil-based vegan alternatives to lanolin that are used in vegan-friendly cereals instead of lanolin.
4. Honey
Adding a spoon full honey to your breakfast cereal is something common. As we go through the vegan cereal list, major cereals have honey as their component. Granola and oat-based cereals often contain honey. They make their product more natural and appealing with honey.
However, vegans try to avoid all forms of animal exploitation. Most vegans keep out honey from their diets because of its animal-derived source. Maple Syrup (Check its vegan status here), Brown Rice Syrup, Barley Malt Syrup, Sorghum Syrup are vegan alternatives to honey. You can use these alternatives in place of in several cereals and other dishes like Bubble Tea Smoothie using the recipe here.
Popular Breakfast Cereals Brands
| Cereal | Is it vegan? | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Frosties | No | Contains artificial vitamin D which comes from sheep’s wool. |
| Corn Flakes & Frosted Flakes | Yes | But, contains certain debatable ingredients you can check here |
| Rice Krispies | Yes | Some vegans consider it non-vegan, check the reason here |
| Fruity Pebbles | No | Contains non-vegan ingredients you can check here |
| Fruit ‘n Fibre | Yes | This contains all-natural plant-based ingredients and is vegan in nature. |
| All-Bran | Yes | Highly vegan and popular amongst the people who have gone towards the path of veganism. |
| Special K | Yes | This contains a vegan source of vitamin D which makes this a total hit amongst the vegans. |
| Cheerios | Yes | But, you must also look for some debatable ingredients in it which you can read here |
| Country Crisp | Yes | It is a plant-based cereal |
| Cap’ n Crunch | Yes | Its Peanut Butter Crunch flavor is Vegan (although not-so-healthy cereal) |
| Reese’ Puff | Yes | Prepared from peanut butter and chocolate, it a healthy vegan snack |
| Quaker Corn Bran | Yes | Completely natural and most popular vegan cereal |
| Natural Path | Yes | Its Flax + Pumpkin Flax Granola product is completely vegan |
| Lydia’s Organics | Yes | Its Grainless Apple Cereal flavor is vegan made from natural ingredients |
| Kaia Cocoa Bliss | Yes | This chocolate flavour is completely vegan with natural ingredients like Granola |
| Food For Life | Yes | Its Sprouted Whole Grain Almond flavour is vegan made with plant-based ingredients like Almonds, sprouted barley, etc |
| Kellogg’s Mini-Wheat | Yes | This Unfrosted Bites are completely vegan, prepared from natural ingredients |
Are Corn Pops Vegan? – Corn pops are not vegan. The primary reason is that they contain Vitamin D3 in a small quantity. And we are well aware about the fact that this vitamin D3 is derived from lanolin, the oil on sheep’s wool.
Conclusion
Vegan diet is a healthy one and is more suitable then it’s non-vegan counterparts in some cases. It not only helps you in losing weight but also incorporates a healthy lifestyle within you. Some people look for gaining weight, for them too, cereals play an important part. Also, they can incorporate vegan weight gainers too in their lifestyle like the ones listed here.
Various cereal brands claim to be vegan but are not certified. Best vegan cereals in the market are the ones that are certified by a registered authority. This is something which needs to be thought about at all times. You can check some Gluten-free cereals in this list.
If you are on a strict vegan diet, check for the artificial vitamin contents of any box and if it contains vitamin D in synthetic form, it is not vegan. Choose wisely and gather knowledge about what makes a product non-vegan.
