Converting recipes is highly rewarding. It makes a great career expanding step, or simply a fun personal or school project. A deeper understanding of animal-free cooking broadens the horizons of caterers. Cooking for vegans, vegetarians and the dairy and egg intolerant is daunting no longer.

There are thousands of fantastic vegan recipes on the Internet, and many vegan recipe books; but you don't have to use them to make tasty vegan food.

You can make dishes you've always made. Simply convert your old recipes. This page shows you how.

Where to buy the alternatives in the UK is indicated, and most are widely available. "hfs" stands for health food shop, and includes whole food shops and organic stores.

For caterers in ski resorts, refer to our ingredients page for what can be bought where.

In cooking you are unlikely to taste the difference. As stand alone items they may taste different, and whether they taste better or worse is down to conditioning and personal preference. I bet you can't tell dairy-free ice cream from the real thing!

direct conversion

vegan dairy

Where to look when shopping: next to similar dairy products (both fresh and long life), and in "Free From" and organic sections in supermarkets

item	context	vegan version	comments
milk	cold and in cooking	soya milk, rice milk, oat milk, nut milks	any supermarket or health food shops (hfs) in long-life and fresh milk sections
milk	in hot drinks	soya milk, rice milk, oat milk, nut milks	note that soya milk curdles in hot coffee, but not tea
butter	to spread and in cooking	vegan margarine, olive oil, avocado oil	e.g. Pure; big supermarkets and all hfs
butter	in cakes	vegan margarine or 2/3 the weight in sunflower oil	supermarkets etc
butter/ghee	savoury cooking & frying	vegan margarine, olive oil (healthiest), vegetable ghee	supermarkets etc
single cream	cold or cooking	Soya Dream, and soon an oat based one that also whips	any supermarket or hfs
sour cream	Mexican dishes and bagels	Granose soya cream (or other make & corn flour) and lemon juice	whisk / blend
cheese	cold dishes	Cheezly, Scheese, Tofutti	health food shops (hfs), Tesco
cheese	melting	super melting Cheezly, Tofutti mozarrella slices or home-made cheezy sauce	Redwoods direct, independent health food shops
Parmesan cheese	sprinkling and cooking	Parmezano	big supermarkets and hfs
cheese flavour	sprinkling and cooking	yeast flakes	big supermarkets and hfs. Well worth finding these tubs
cream cheese	snacks and sarnies	Tofutti and other brands such as Swedish	hfs and Tesco
cream cheese	in desserts	silken tofu, soya cream/yoghurt and lemon juice	blend with a hand blender or liquidiser
yoghurt	cold and cooking	soya yoghurt (Alpro Yofu, Sojasun)	plain and fruit flavours. Supermarkets and hfs
ice cream	desserts and smoothies	dairy-free ice cream, e.g. Swedish Glace, Tofutti. Also most sorbets	supermarkets and hfs
custard	desserts	vanilla Soya Dessert by Alpro or Granose	Some supermarkets and hfs

Annoyingly, some apparently vegan dairy replacements are not, though this is more a problem in the new world. Rice slices and Rice parmezan are not vegan or dairy-free, as they contain casenates, which are milk-derived. That's nuts, I know!

egg and honey alternatives, and chocolate

Where to look: next to similar products, and in "Free From", Asian and organic sections in supermarkets

item	context	vegan version	comments
egg	baking	egg replacer or 1tsp baking powder	big supermarkets or health food shop (hfs). See also cake conversion
egg	scrambled	mashed tofu	fry with herbs spices and chopped veg for extra taste
mayonnaise	sandwiches, salads and dips	egg-free mayonnaise, e.g. Plamil	big supermarkets and all hfs
salad cream	sandwiches, salads and dips	some low-calorie brands	supermarkets
honey	cold or cooking	maple syrup, agave syrup, other syrups	any supermarket or hfs
chocolate	as it is or in cooking	most high quality dark chocolate bars, such as Llindt Excellence, Green & Blacks	any supermarket or hfs. Avoid chocolate with milk products or unspecified lecithin. Cocoa butter is vegan

meat alternatives

Where to look: next to similar non-vegan products, in the chiller, vegetarian sections of freezer cabinets, and in "Free From", Asian and organic sections in supermarkets

item	context	vegan version	comments
roast meat	roast dinners	vegan roasts	health food shops and some supermarkets (NB Quorn is not vegan)
bacon	frying and cooking	Redwood's rashers, sliced smoked tofu/tempeh	hfs, mail order, supermarkets
bacon bits	cooking and salads	"bacon bits"	check ingredients, but usually vegan anyway
sliced ham, pepperoni, chicken, turkey, beef	cold and hot dishes	Redwood's Cheatin' Ham etc	can be eaten out of the packet or heated; from hfs or mail order
sausages	cold or hot, BBQ-ed	vegan sausages, e.g. VegiDeli, Biona, Taifun, SosMix	supermarkets, mail order and hfs
meat chunks	kebabs, stews, curries and stir fries	TVP chunks, plain/smoked/braised/marinated/fried tofu, tempeh, gluten (mock duck) and seitan	supermarkets, hfs, east Asian stores
burgers	grilled, fried, BBQ-ed	vegan burgers, e.g. Goodlife, Beanies, Fry's	hfs, and sometimes big supermarkets
mince	in chillies, shepherd's pie, moussaka etc	TVP mince, VegeMince, Fry's mince; or cooked/tinned lentils	supermarkets and hfs
fish fingers, scampi and fish cakes	quick meals	Making Waves and other brands of Fishless Fingers, Scampi-style pieces and Fishless steaks	hfs and mail order
tuna	quick meals, salads and sandwiches	Redwood's Making Waves tuna-style	hfs and mail order
fish paste	sandwiches	Redwood's Making Waves salmon-style pate	hfs and mail order
meat stock	cooking	vegetable stock, miso	anywhere

NB Quorn and some Linda Mccartney products are vegetarian but not vegan. Quorn contains eggs and the mince used in some L McC products is manufactured using dairy products.

surprisingly vegan

If you are new to vegan food, you'll be surprised what else in a standard store cupboard is vegan. Some major examples are given here.

staples

item	context	vegan version	look out for
pasta	Italian dishes	most dry pasta is egg free	avoid egg pasta
bread products	sandwiches, toast, etc	most are vegan	avoid the few containing whey, buttermilk, lactose, honey or milk
rice, polenta, quinoa, cous cous, Ebly, potatoes	background to many dishes	always vegan	put olive/avocado oil rather than butter in as necessary
filo pastry and some other pastries	from samosas to strudel	often vegan	check oil/fat used is vegetable based

other common items

Many other easily available items are vegan, beyond the massive range of fruit and vegetables out there. Here are some commonly found even in the most unadventurous larder:

• peanut butter
• yeast extract (e.g. Marmite)
• hummous
• nearly all tomato ketchup, BBQ sauces, mustard, pickles and chutneys
• herbs, spices and curry pastes - nearly always vegan
• salsa
• baked beans
• chips (fried in vegetable oil)
• cocoa

For examples of key and extra ingredients to think about, take a look at the list we give ski companies to help them out.

to be wary of

There are a few things it is better to steer clear of without the help of a vegan friend or the Animal Free Shopper guide. The major ones are:

• wines and beers - many are clarified with bones, egg and fish products. The big supermarkets and off licence chains have lists of which ones are vegan if you ask
• sweets and jellies - many contain gelatine, which is made from animal bones. Health food shops and big supermarkets sell vegan alternatives which tend to be high quality.
• cakes - usually contain eggs, though they don't need to

putting all this into practice

You can experiment by converting your favourite recipes. See how close you can make them to the real thing. They may taste a lot better too, and not be so hard on your stomach.

For examples of converted dishes which you would not think of as vegetarian let alone vegan, see our skiing catering recipes, which include pancakes and cheezy sauces.

links to more veganising food pages

For a more detailed eye opener on which vegan foods you might already have at your fingertips, and how to veganise recipes you already know, try reading this Vegetarian Resource Group document on ingredient substitution.

For supermarket shelf foods that happen to be vegan often unintentionally, see the small subset of these on the PETA listing. There's a bigger list of examples, 14,000 in fact, at the Animal Free Shopper website.

For more catering ideas and further details on dairy and egg replacement, refer to the Vegan Society.