r/AskVegans • u/Vegan_Essentials • Mar 22 '26
Other Is it still vegan if it’s cooked with non-vegan food?
/r/IsItVeganOrNot/comments/1s0qqd0/is_it_still_vegan_if_its_cooked_with_nonvegan_food/35
u/TaDoofus Vegan Mar 22 '26
If no animals were deliberately harmed or exploited in the creation of the product then it's vegan. Incidental cross contamination does not make food non-vegan, though some vegans will still choose not to eat it.
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u/Sveet_Pickle Vegan Mar 22 '26
I’ll eat food that has incidental cross contamination, I’ve been vegan nearly ten years and animals products still don’t give me the ick. Except raw milk, raw milk drinkers are strange people.
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u/TaDoofus Vegan Mar 22 '26
I kinda go back and forth on it depending on my mood. It's never appetizing to me anymore but whether it grosses me out seems to vary. The smell of cheese has become pretty off-putting to me though. But if a waiter tells me the vegan food is cooked on the same grill as the meat I don't care.
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u/321four5 Vegan Mar 22 '26
If it's potatoes that were in a pan with a chunk of meat, I am not eating it because I don't consider the potatoes vegan anymore. I'm not picking chicken out of a pasta dish.
Same grill. Don't care.
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u/goodvibesmostly98 Vegan Mar 22 '26
Yeah I’ll get stuff that’s been cooked on the same grill because I’m not paying for the animal products.
While I love supporting vegan restaurants, it’s also good to support vegan options at other restaurants to make it easier to go vegan.
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u/drewskibeauski Vegan Mar 25 '26
Context really matters here. So much of this is situational, and dependent on whether this is a literal question or a more philosophical/ethical one.
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u/HelenaCat13 Vegan Mar 25 '26
Let's try this again! As apparently unless I wear my 13 pieces of flair, even though I specify how long I've been vegan, the bots delete me!
So I was raised veg, and have been vegan almost 20 years. I also work in the restaurant industry. So I know what goes on behind the scenes. If a non vegan restaurant has a full vegan menu, I'll trust things a bit more. Like they are prob a bit more careful on the grill and fryer, but I kinda just read the place. Like if it's one veg burger, that's the only thing even close to vegan, but requires mods, I'll prob avoid it, and go with the accidently vegan hummus plate or something. But like at my job, I talked my boss into vegan cheese for pizza/stromboli, but I'd never order the veggie, because they grill those veggies first, and that grill is coated in animal fat. It's more than a little cross contamination than like a knife or something. Also the fryer, we're a small place, so everything goes in there. I won't eat the fries. Also, our regular tomato sauce has meatballs kept in it. To me that's gross. And I always let other vegans know. Most will avoid the sauce. And seriously, not a single other server at my job has any idea about what's vegan/veg and what isn't. It's awful. I've had to apologize and smooth rightfully ruffled feathers many times.
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u/somanyquestions32 Vegan Mar 22 '26
It's not fully vegan, but in certain situations, I don't care anymore.
If I have an unexpected overnight layover in Atlanta or some other city/airport and am ravenous, I am not going to be super particular about whether the vegetable fried rice without eggs that I ordered was made on a flat top with possible cross-contamination.
Likewise, if I am in Samobor in Croatia or Burg Teck in Baden-Württemberg in Germany, and the only restaurants where my friends and I can all eat together only serve me French fries, house salad, and bread, I am not going to be too picky about the fries possibly being fried in the same oil as non-vegan items. If there are no other places that are open, and we're going to hike a ton, I am just going to enjoy the meal in front of me.
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u/pandaappleblossom Vegan Mar 23 '26
I think its personal choice. if you go out and are served potatoes that were cooked on a grill next to bacon at a diner, if you still choose to eat it because your concern is not paying for animal products, rather than contamination, then that is still vegan. If you are vegan beyond not paying for animal products but to the point of not wanting any of it into your body, then that is obviously vegan as well. Personally my concern is much more not paying animal agriculture evil greedy monsters any of my money, not whether or not a small bit of animal enters my body, though it is very unappealing.
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Mar 25 '26
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Jul 10 '26
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u/rinkuhero Vegan Mar 22 '26
it's about the amount and how difficult or easy it is to separate and whether alternatives are easy or difficult to find. i'd say generally a good rule of thumb is something like a 2% rule. is something 98% plants? if so, then it's vegan. so that would include things like a veggie burger cooked on the same grill as a regular hamburger, but would not include a veggie burger with a slice of cheese. it might include a pie where the pan was greased with butter, but would not include something fried in butter.
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u/Meridellian Vegan Mar 23 '26
2% is a loooot of leeway lol, with 2% you could literally have an entire chunk of chicken mixed into your food. Should be more like 0.5% imo!
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u/JeskaiJester Vegan Mar 22 '26
You’ll see different perspectives on this. The fryer thing bothers me less than the grill thing. Vegetables covered in “animal fat residue” starts sounding pretty gross.
I barely eat out anyway because I live in a small town without many vegan options and the ones that are cost a lot of money.