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	Animal Ingredients A to Z by EG Smith Collective 99 pages

Animal Ingredients A to Z
Third Edition
Originally complied by the EG Smith Collective
99 pages

Is cetyl myristate vegetarian? What about arachidonic acid? What beers are safe to drink as a vegetarian? Does kosher mean vegan? These are just a few questions this book will answer for you.

I wish I had this book when I first became a vegetarian. It is an indispensable guide to have on hand for all vegetarians and vegans. The book is small and referred to as a pamphlet a couple of times in the book, but it does contain much important information. Because of space constraints, they kept the information to a minimum, providing only what they felt to be the most essential information, much of which is about food rather than the entire industry. I like that the book is small and contains only the essentials because it's less intimidating to read, especially for the new vegetarian/vegan, and allows that person to have a quick handy reference, making the information easily accessible and easy to understand.

Definitions of the most common animal ingredients can be found in this book and how these ingredients are derived. A section is devoted to alcoholic beverages, as there are many with questions about the refining process and the products used in that process. They have noted only the most popular brands of alcoholic beverages that are vegan, as providing a complete listing of all of them would be a daily task because of the number of companies introducing new products every day. It also includes a listing of ingredients that could possibly be animal derived and here it is recommended that products containing these ingredients be avoided.

You will find basic nutrition information, a brief explanation of where the term “vegetarian” came from, information about waxed produce and what you can use as an egg substitute. Included in the back is a listing of sources for their information, resources you can use on your own, and contacts for more information. This information comes in the form of addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and book names and authors. Further research is, of course, recommended by the publisher.

I was disappointed to find an error in the book, however, and although it is a minor error, it may take the researcher a little extra time to find the right information. The McDougall Program is improperly spelled as The MacDougal Program. This particular piece of information did not seem to have been researched as thoroughly as the other information in the book. In addition, when waxed produced is discussed they recommend calling the Food & Drug Administration to find out more information on the rules and regulations that the FDA has set for this practice. However, they did not include a phone number or an address. I don't mind doing the research for this on my own, but the new vegetarian/vegan may not know where to begin. I would have liked to have seen a phone number or address included.

Despite the two minor complaints I have about the book, I believe this is a book every vegetarian/vegan should own, worth every penny of $9.95 cover price, as it helps to answer those questions we all have about what ingredients are vegetarian and what are not. They have kept it simple and easy to understand. I think that this is an invaluable resource for every veg*n, so my rating for this is 3 V's.

VegPeople Rating:

3 (out of 4)

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