The hidden ingredients

Vegetarians and vegans may be forgiven for not knowing that some drinks behind the bar are out of bounds. Ben McFarland investigates.If Adolf Hitler...

Vegetarians and vegans may be forgiven for not knowing that some drinks behind the bar are out of bounds. Ben McFarland investigates.

If Adolf Hitler had succeeded in his dastardly plan to invade this great isle of ours, he would have no doubt been disappointed at the lack of fellow vegetarians.

By the end of the second world war there were only 100,000 of them in the UK and eating vegetables was more of a necessity than a lifestyle choice.

Half a century later, however, the number of non-meat eaters has rocketed to four million.

Vegetarianism, no longer the butt of lentil jokes, has gone from comical to cool, from Neil in The Young Ones to Brad Pitt, Kim Basinger, Richard Gere, Lenny Kravitz, BB King, Michael Stipe (REM), Paul Newman, Dustin Hoffman, the lovely Liv Tyler and, of course, Paul McCartney among others.

Not only trendy, oh no, but big business as well. Burger King and McDonald's sell veggie burgers, Starbucks serves coffee with soya milk and the ever-increasing number of shops and restaurants serving vegetarian and vegan food are shifting perceptions of veggie cuisine from freak to fancy. Unsurprisingly, pubs have got in on the act and it is extremely rare to find a pub food menu without a vegetarian or, increasingly, vegan option on offer.

But while licensees are more than willing to cater for vegetarian and vegan diners, when it comes to drinkers there is a distinct lack of communication or commitment from the drinks industry.

There are plenty of drinks behind the bar that, some would argue, are not suitable for the more strict vegetarians and vegans out there.

Vegetarian drinkers must tread carefully when choosing their tipple as there are a lot of producers that use animal by-products for fining or clarifying their beer and wines after fermentation.

Typically these include gelatine or isinglass (the latter comes from fish bladders), neither of which is suitable for vegetarians, or alternatively casein (milk protein) or albumin (egg protein) which are not acceptable to strict vegans.

Marketing folk in the drinks industry are understandably reluctant to shout about the fact that fish bladders are used to make their products and, as a result, only a small proportion of drinkers are aware of the issue.

That may all be about to change if a controversial new European law is given the green light. A proposal currently being discussed in the European Parliament has included isinglass in a list of allergens that must be clearly labeled on packaging.

While the prospect has rung alarm bells among brewers and winemakers, the Vegan Society has wholeheartedly welcomed the proposal.

Tony Weston of the Vegan Society said: "I think it's fantastic as a lot of people are completely oblivious to what goes into the glass. I think both the beer and wine industry needs to make their labelling a lot clearer.

"If brewers are embarrassed about telling drinkers what's in their products then they shouldn't use them."

The prospect of labelling all beer packaging with the warning "contains fish products" has been dismissed as an unnecessary and misleading measure by Mark Hastings of the British Beer & Pub Association.

"Brewers have been using isinglass in beer for years and there's never been a single recorded allergic reaction," he said.

"It's a product that is used only as an agent in the brewing process to make the beer clear and it's not present when it's poured into the glass."

Whether there are minimal traces of isinglass in your pint or a great big carp flapping about is beside the point, according to the Vegan Society.

"It's not what's in the product, it's about whether any animals have been harmed in the process," said Tony. "If animals have to be chopped up in order to make the drink then it can't possibly be vegan."

There are plenty of beers and wines available that don't involve fish or fluffy animals meeting their maker, however. A full list is available from the Vegan Society.

The lion's share of lagers are chill-filtered and there are only a few that may involve using isinglass. Vegans can also be confident when choosing something from the back-bar as the number of spirits produced using animal substances are few and far between.

Wine producers, who used to add ox's blood to clarify their plonk until the practice was banned in 1987, differ from vineyard to vineyard.

It's on the ale front, however, where things get a bit cloudy (or not as the case may be!) as the vast majority of cask-conditioned beers use finings as a way of speeding up the clarification process.

The Marble Brewery in Manchester is not one of them. Opened in 1997, Marble is a totally organic and vegan brewery that is registered with both the Soil Association and the Vegetarian Society.

Head brewer James Cambell supplies a number of pubs and bars in and around Manchester with cloudy, vegan and tasty beers. "Brewing without finings really isn't that difficult," he said. "We have higher processing losses than other brewers but at the end of the day it's worth it as it gives vegans and vegetarians the opportunity to drink a decent British pint."

Pub companies and big brewers should take note, added Tony. "There is a big opportunity for someone to launch a drink that can be drunk by everyone," he said. "Ten or 20 years ago, people would have dismissed it but now it's different - it's now regarded as a sign of quality and purity."

The rise of meat reducers

Although it undoubtedly helps, you don't have to be a vegetarian to eat veggie or vegan cuisine.

A recent Datamonitor Report revealed an increasing number of consumers are choosing vegetables over red meats, organic foods over non-organic and premium functional food and drink with specific health benefits.

The report claims that in light of recent food scares such as BSE and foot-and-mouth the consumer is keen to reduce meat consumption, particularly red meat, primarily as a health measure.

The growth in so-called "meat reducers" is eclipsing that of vegetarianism, and is predicted to rise from 135 million in 2000 to 146 million in 2005.

By stocking and labelling veggie beers and wines, the Vegan Society's Tony Weston argues that licensees will not only attract the veggie population but also a growing number of so-called "meat reducers".

"Given the choice, people are increasingly taking the healthier option and would prefer to be kinder to animals and the environment," said Tony.

Vegan and Vegetarian Suppliers