Guides
Verify Veg blog
Hidden animal ingredients, dish questions, and shopping against your diet, at home and on the road.
Moving to Asia After 60: What You Cannot Read on Food Labels (and the Fix)
Older expats in Asia face two problems at once: a label in a script they do not read, and print too small to see. Here is what changes in the supermarket, which ingredients catch restricted diets, and the habits that fix it.
Vegan Grocery Shopping in Thailand: 7-Eleven, Big C, Lotus's and Hidden Fish Sauce
A shop-by-shop guide to vegan groceries in Thailand for people who live there: which chains to use for what, where fish sauce hides in packaged food, and what the jay (เจ) yellow flag really means.
Vegan at Trader Joe's: Hidden Animal Ingredients in Customer Favorites
Gelatin in gummies, animal rennet in cheese, carmine in red sweets, honey and lard: where animal ingredients turn up in the categories Trader Joe's shoppers buy most, and how to check a label before you buy.
No Beef, No Pork: How Hindu and Muslim Shoppers Read Processed Food Labels
Pork hides in gelatin, lard, pepsin and bone phosphate. Beef hides in tallow, suet, stock and beef-derived gelatin. Here is how to read a label for no beef and no pork, and what bebas babi does and does not tell you.
The Vegan Student's Guide to the UK: Supermarkets, Halls and Meal Deals
The UK is one of the easiest countries to eat vegan in, but the traps are specific ones. Here is what the label words legally mean, what each kind of supermarket is good for, how meal deals work, and how to cook in shared halls.
Vegetarian International Students in the US: A Grocery Store Survival Guide
A practical guide for vegetarian and vegan international students in the US: what each supermarket chain is good for, which hidden ingredients catch newcomers out, how US labels differ from the ones you grew up with, and how to eat on a campus meal plan.
Halal Shopping in Europe for New Expats: E-Numbers, Alcohol and Gelatin
Moving to Europe changes where halal meat comes from and which certification logo you can trust. Here is where certified meat is sold, which ingredients to check, and how alcohol hides as a carrier in flavourings.
German Food Labels for Vegetarians: 25 Words to Learn Before You Move
German ingredient lists hide animal ingredients behind about 25 recurring words, from Gelatine to tierisches Lab. Learn what each one means, and which ones mean the source is simply not printed.
Vegan at Aldi and Lidl (Germany): What to Buy and What to Scan
Lidl's vegan own brand is Vemondo and Aldi's is MYVAY. Here is what to buy aisle by aisle at German discounters, and the German label words (Gelatine, Molke, Lab) that decide whether a product is really vegan.
Halal Food for Students in Germany: Groceries, E-Numbers and Campus Survival
Where to buy halal food as a student in Germany, what the certification logos really mean, the German label words to learn, and how to handle a canteen with no halal meals.
The Vegetarian Student's Guide to Germany: Supermarkets, Mensa and Cheap Eats
German Mensas serve the cheapest hot meal of a student's week, and discounters price-match their vegan own brands against meat. Here's how the canteen labels work, which German words hide animal ingredients, and where the cheap protein is.
Your First Grocery Trip Abroad on a Restricted Diet: A Step-by-Step Plan
The first supermarket abroad is where most restricted diets go wrong. Here is a step-by-step plan: what to learn before you shop, how to read a label in a language you do not speak, and the traps to expect in week one.