I have been Veg. for sixteen months. I recently found out that cheese, cream cheese, and cottage cheese all have rennet. (bovine stomach source.) Almost all yogurts have gelatin (bovine hooves.) Most soups have chicken broth in them, esp. in restaurants. My veggie life is one of continuous education; as I want to be a real vegetarian.
Cassandra (Sandee)

There are animal products lurking around every corner. My veg friends tell me that they especially have trouble at restaurants where there may be language barriers.  While the staff may understand that vegetarians don't want pieces of meat or fish in the food they may not understand that my friends don't want the food made with chicken stock or fish sauce. And don't get me started on Vegan marshmallows. Ugh.

Bwahahahahaha!  Unless you count the birth of my nephews.

Sunflower,

If you're in an area with a whole foods, I suggest looking for (or asking them to stock if they don't carry) Pavel's Russian Style Yogurt. There's no difference from the rest, except that there is less sugar, there are more cultures (which is super good for you), and there's not a single additive other than the cultures. No rennet. One of the cream cheeses they carry at the WF near me also has no additives. Not everything there is vegan, but they have plenty of options.

Good luck on your search for animal free food!! :)

One of the members of our co-op added that 1.) you should call whoever  is hostessing and RSVP by the night before and 2.) wear something with an elastic waist.

I didn't think of this on my own, my husband had to point out to me that you can't have milk without having baby cows and if you're going to have baby cows you're going to either have meat eaters or waste a perfectly good organic substance.

There's actually no way around this. No babies no milk. Period. So nevermind the renet in cheese, the milk itself isn't vegetarian.

For that matter all vegetables are part of a meat diet as well. You can't grow vegetables without adding fertilizer back into the soil and unless you want to use non-organic fertilzers that strip the soil of organic matter you need a source of organic fertilzer. The best source for that is animals.

So there is no such thing as a vegetarian. There is however a conscientious omnivore who eats vegetables and milk and meat that are raised at a scale and in a manner that is good for the people and the planet and who pay what it actually costs to produce such high quality products.

They boil animal parts and blood for use as an ingredient in bread.  I just recently learned this from a vegan friend.  Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate is the thing to watch out for.  From Wikipedia - "These products are derived from animal body parts that are boiled. The stearic acid is then extracted from the layers of other by-products. Stearoyl-2-lactylates are found in the majority of manufactured breads, buns, wraps and tortillas, and many similar bread-based products."  OroWheat and Roman Meal are two brands that are more friendly (but still check ingredients as some of the varieties still contain it).  Store brand organic breads (Safeway) are usually okay as well.  Just read the ingredients, I never thought to check bread...