Vegan chocolate: Can Vegans Eat Chocolate?

Have you decided to follow a vegan lifestyle? If you have, you are certainly not alone but you may be asking the question, “Can vegans eat chocolate?”. You will be pleased to know there are plenty of options of vegan chocolate available for you to choose from. Not only has ‘going vegan’ become increasingly popular in recent times, but the health benefits that come with it are also rather impressive, to say the least.

Is Chocolate Vegan?

If you are new to a plant-based diet it is confusing so let us help you to understand so you can continue to enjoy flavours you have become to love. Chocolate has to be one of the finest indulgences in life and one that most of us do not want to be deprived of. However, if a vegan lifestyle is what you have decided to adopt, you will need to make some changes as the chocolate brands you may have enjoyed before may not be vegan. You may need to discover new brands and types of chocolate.

What is Vegan Chocolate?

If you are thinking about all of those standard chocolate bars that tempt you every time you go into a supermarket or your local corner shop, these are usually not vegan chocolates. Most of the typical chocolate bars in the shops are packed with dairy milk, and of course, even people who are new to the vegan lifestyle know that dairy milk is not part of a vegan diet; it must be dairy-free.

Does this mean that you’ll never be able to kick your shoes off and indulge in a bar of creamy, dreamy chocolate? Not at all! Thanks to how popular the vegan lifestyle is, there are plenty of manufacturers who have established themselves as fine sources of vegan chocolate. In fact, you may even struggle to tell the difference with these great chocolate vegan dairy free options!

Vegan Chocolate Options

High-Quality Dark Chocolate

This is a great choice for vegans. High-quality dark chocolate with a cacao content of at least 50% is both indulgent and luxurious. If the strong dark chocolate taste is a little too much for you to start with, you could always choose from one of the dark chocolate ranges that include delicious additions such as almonds, dried fruit, mint and the list goes on.

Chocolates that are Vegan

Many of the dark chocolate choices will not be advertised as vegan, in fact, you may not see the word vegan anywhere on the packaging, however, the ingredient list soon tells you if that chocolate bar is good to go.

There are, however, chocolate bars that are advertised and labelled as being for vegans. These also make good choices to eat and often much effort has gone into these chocolate bars to ensure that they give that melt-in-the-mouth sensation that we all love about milk chocolate.

Taste Testing

When adjusting your palette from milk chocolate, white chocolate or your favourite chocolate brands, you should try a variety of vegan chocolate bars to see which best suits your tastes. No matter where the chocolate comes from you needs to make sure it is dairy-free. Dairy products do not fit with a vegan lifestyle and any product with dairy definitely is not vegan.

You should not only try a range of chocolate; dark, white chocolate etc, but also try brands. As with dairy milk, white and dark chocolate each brand has a different ingredient so should be tried until you find the brand, or brands, that you most enjoy.

Summary

Whether you are wondering about your own chocolate indulgence or you are planning to buy a gift for someone you know is following the vegan lifestyle the answer is a simple one. Being a vegan does not mean in any way that you need to deprive yourself of the luxury that is chocolate.

Whether you decide to choose high-quality dark chocolate or a bar that is labelled as being vegan-friendly, be sure to sit back, relax, and enjoy each and very blissful bite!