...because that's what vegans would give trick-or-treaters, right? A handful of snow peas perhaps? Or maybe some baby carrots and a travel container of organic hummus?
Hardly!
It's almost Halloween, and people are getting ready to celebrate in style around my neighbourhood. Houses are decorated with pumpkins and enormous spider webs, there are gravestones dotted around peoples' font lawns, and in just over a week, herds of small humans decked out in costumes will go frolicking from house to house in search of candy. Rest assured that you can stick to your vegan ethics this holiday without ending up as "THAT neighbour": the one who hands out apples or other reviled healthy alternatives, no doubt earning them a solid house-egging.
Whether you're taking your own kidlets out to trick-or-treat, or getting snacks ready to hand out to the ghouls visiting your home, there are certainly ways to ensure that the treats you're doling out
(or eating by the handful yourself) are vegan.
Chances are that 99% of the chocolates you'd buy at your local grocery store are made with milk, so it's probably best to scrap those unless you have a solid source of vegan chocolate at hand. The same thing goes for most jelly candies, as the gelatin used to make them is mostly derived from bones and tendons.
There are, of course, many vegan options out there, so you can ensure a cruelty-free Halloween for all. PETAkids has a great
list of vegan candy that you can check out, but I'll also go over some of the basics here:
- Good news: most plain potato chips are vegan! More often than not, the only ingredients are potatoes, oil and salt. If you're going for flavoured chips, just check the ingredients thoroughly for things like milk ingreidents, lactose and natural flavors.
- Oreo cookies! I had a housemate who lived almost entirely on hummus and Oreo cookies, and though that's far from the healthiest of food choices, as least they were veg.
- Hubba Bubba bubblegum
- Salted sunflower seeds
- Raisins
- Twizzlers licorice
- Sweet Tarts
- Sour Patch Kids
...just to name a few.
Of course, you could also eschew doling out candy entirely and give out stickers or dollar-store toys instead, but that's up to you.
If you're putting together a Halloween party, remember that candy apples are vegan, but most caramel apples are not. Snacks like Tostitos tortilla chips with salsa, spiced popcorn, and veggies with vegan dips are all-time favourites.
Vegweb.com has a great list of
spooky snacks that you could serve to a group of ghastly ghouls, and activities like bobbing for apples, bashing pinatas filled with candy, and pumpkin-caving competitions never go out of vogue.
(Don't forget to save the pumpkin innards for muffins, pie, or stew.)
Speaking of costumes, if you are planning to don a costume for this marvelous holiday, why not dress up as your favourite vegan celebrity? Woody Harrelson and Alicia Silverstone are two of the most well-known vegan celebs, but there's quite an
extensive list to choose from, including Erykah Badu, Moby, and Ellen DeGeneres.
How will you celebrate Halloween in vegan style?
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