misleading on purpose??
i'm so mad! i was at whole foods today and sort of in a rush. i was in the frozed foods section and saw a package of whole foods brand ravioli, labelled very obviously as "Organic Spinach and Cheese Ravioli with SOY Ricotta."
i grabbed it without even checking the ingredients and went home. as i was putting it away, i looked at the label and realized it contained the aformentioned soy ricotta PLUS two different kinds of cheese!!
why would anyone make a ravioli with soy ricotta and then go ahead and ruin it with dairy (not to mention the eggs that were in the dough)? that's like making soy icecream with "swirls of dairy," or tofu soup with chicken broth. it's not even like they were selling the addition of soy as some kind of protein boost or something. i'm so confused by the purpose of that labelling. does this happen to anyone else?
i guess it's my own fault for not checking labels more carefully, but i do rely on typical "vegan" code words to decipher what's in a product... now i've had one of the most reliable - dairy-replacement terminology - torn out from under me, and at whole foods, no less.
that is quite odd, however this post makes me want tofu ricotta stuffed shells with a mushroom sauce for dinner. haha, sorry 8)
aw man, that is soooo lame. I defintely see your point on that. I've gotten into this sort of neurotic habit of checking labels on everything, as I'm very picky about the products I buy. But, yes, the advertisement of SOY ravioli is definitely very misleading.
I just bought a tube of lemongrass yesterday. I live in a rural area and can NOT get lemongrass w/o a lengthy car ride so I was very exited to find a product I could use for Thai cooking. When I was putting it away I looked at the ingredients and there it was whey. WTF, why in the world would they put whey in a tube of lemongrass?
Yeah, my parents bought that lemongrass-in-a-tube stuff for a Thai dish they made the other day. I'm glad I wasn't there, explaining that one would have been tricky.
It does seem strange that they don't mention the dairy, except in the fine print. Maybe they're playing to the "eat more soy for your health" crowd and not the "don't eat dairy so I use soy instead" crowd. It's kinda like the soy cheeses with casien (sp?)...
It think the soy cheese with casein is for the dairy-allergy crowd. Casein isn't one of the more common allergens in milk products (for the most part; though I think some develop reactions to it as well), so they add it just to make the cheeze melt better. It makes me sad, because Veggie Shreds (one of the brands that contains Casein) are widely available all over, but Follow Your Heart (my vegan brand of choice) is only available at Whole Foods and every once-in-a-blue moon, Dierbergs. But it's crazy expensive, even when they do have it.
Oh, and those Amy's Soy Cheeze pizzas aren't vegan either, or at least the old ones weren't. (Now they have one that is, it's the one with the rice crust.) That confused me when I first saw them too. I think they also make a non-vegan mac n'cheeze, and a few other bummer products. :( At least they've gone halfway in the right direction-- maybe if we badgered the company enough, they'd leave out the casein?
i came across those same frozen-food finagles myself in whole foods. im not vegan, but i prefer to eat that way, and there is no telling if their cheese has rennet or not....
more and more, i feel like whole foods is just catering to the yuppies....or people who are more concerned w/ fortifying their foods and not addressing the eating animals/ animal product issue.as usual, it makes for alot of label reading. grrr.
that is quite odd, however this post makes me want tofu ricotta stuffed shells with a mushroom sauce for dinner. haha, sorry 8)
Hell yes, that sounds awesome.....can you post a link or recipie for that???please
That's why when I shop I read everything. If it's something I have never purchased before I always read the label. I never really look at fat content or calories (I do look for trans. fat), really just the full ingredient list. When a product has a "natural flavorings" ingredient....sometimes I just skip it. It's not like I'll ever run out of great stuff to eat....my biggest problem is that 90% of the time I go food shopping.... it's on an empty stomach and I buy WAY more then I need for myself. Instead of buying the things I need, I buy every single thing that looks tasty and that i want to open up and start eating on the spot!! :D
-bet I'm not the only one........
Good News! Rice Slices now makes vegan versions of all their cheeses. Not sure if they are switching over completely or just offering the alternative. I have tried the American Flavor. It is not that good plain, but I really liked it on my avacado-tomato-veganaise sandwich. I am trying to get my son to switch to it from Tofutti (hydrogentated oils) but he is reluctant so far. I like Follow your Heart too, but I found that it turned green on me after a day or two and I guess I just don't use it enough.
I don't know whether or not Whole Foods is "just" catering to the yuppies, but we have to remember that vegans are way in the minority. I think they're just trying to be all things to all people and have something for everyone. Caveat emptor. We're just going to have to read labels (I've been doing it so long, it just comes naturally) until the rest of the world becomes vegan. :D ;D ;)
This reminds me of those products that are should be 'accidentally vegan' but the addition of one or 2 unnecessary ingredients ruins it; much like Kashi's Go Lean cereals which contain honey. If we pressure these companies, as many did with 8th Continent due to its dairy-derived soy milk, we can make a difference in the long run!
my biggest problem is that 90% of the time I go food shopping.... it's on an empty stomach and I buy WAY more then I need for myself. Instead of buying the things I need, I buy every single thing that looks tasty and that i want to open up and start eating on the spot!! :D
-bet I'm not the only one........
uhhh, yeah, I do this all the time and end up with too much food and too much $$ gone from my pocket ::)
I love to eat at places like Whole Foods or Earth Fare, so I always go hungry... which means they get more of my money.
Personally I like Vegan Rella... It's the first soy cheese I've liked. I've read and re-read the ingredients list, but it's so tasty (and so like dairy cheese) that I -know- it can't be vegan. :D What am I missing?
And to whoever said they've read ingredient lists for so long it's second nature - cheers! I have to giggle in agreement... I never buy or eat anything without checking to see what I'm putting in my body.
Freshgal: I've never tried this, but it's sitting in my recipe box for that magical day of "free time": http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=4675 (Ricotta and Spinach Suffed Manicotti)