Veganism and chocolate

As it’s Veganuary, this week we’d like to explore what one of our first known vegan predecessors, the giant panda, can teach us about taste while also thanking Veganuary for highlighting a few of the more dubious techniques of mass-produced chocolate to explain why “not all dark chocolate is suitable for vegans (or the lactose intolerant)”.

So if you want to know more about the link between one of the the only other mammals that has ever gone from being carnivorous to being herbivorous/vegan (the giant panda) and our basic tastes, and why a bit of umami is a great addition to craft chocolate and many other vegan dishes (especially lentils, pulses, etc.), please read on.

And if you’re giving Veganuary a go (or in it for the long haul), please do factor in craft chocolate. Every dark bar in our library, with the exception of a few with non-vegan inclusions, is dairy-free and vegan, and many craft chocolate makers now have at least one vegan “m*lk” bar (note: This is NOT the case for many supermarket dark chocolates, which have lots of non-vegan additives). Our tastings, both in-person and virtual, have vegan options, so if you read last week’s email and are looking for a way to share craft chocolate, gifting a tasting to your vegan friends and family is a great place to start!

And if you’d like to savour some amazing vegan dark craft chocolate bars, plus some outstanding vegan m*lk craft chocolates, crafted from oat, coconut, and other m*lks made from sources other than “lactating mammals”, (and if you want to know why we’ve ‘misspelt’ “m*lk”, please read my previous post about this; basically the dairy industry has managed to protect the word “milk”, limiting its use to lactating animals), please do use Veganuary as yet another reason.

Veganism, the giant panda, and umami

For the giant panda, even Pythagoras was behind the curve. Their switch from being carnivores to herbivores and veganism, is now thought to have occurred over 2 million years ago, and resulted in their development of a “thumb” (or more like claw) to strip bamboo canes.

At the same time, the giant panda also lost the capability to detect the taste sensor of umami, as part of its move to veganism. Umami is that taste often described as “deliciousness”, and for example, is produced when meat is roasted. Umami can also be generated by adding parmesan to pasta (although this isn’t vegan), and also for example, adding fermented beans to e.g. lentil and pulse dishes (and if you want to try some great examples of this, please try Pulse Kitchen’s range of vegan dishes). And as a general means to spice up your vegan foods, it is worth considering how to add some umami, as many plants, fruits and nuts are relatively light in umami (although many do contain umami, like tomatoes, corn, asparagus, broccoli, seaweed, kombu, etc.).

Cacao and 100% chocolate contain chemicals that stimulate at least three of our basic tastes; bitterness, sourness, and sweetness (even 100% chocolate has some sugar in it). But there is no salt in cacao, and, similar to many other plants, cacao contains no umami.

Why are so many mass-produced dark chocolate bars not vegan?

Another chocolate combination; that of milk; has an even more dramatic impact. Milk chocolate is wonderfully delicious and moreish, and was key in catapulting chocolate into a $100Bn industry over the past century.

But milk chocolate’s role in the history of food and deliciousness is often overlooked and underappreciated. Back in the late 20th century Howard Moskowitz helped kick off the ultra-processed food revolution with his discovery of the ‘bliss point’; the combination of sugar, salt, fat, and some texture such that human beings just can’t resist that next Dorito chip or Pringle. Arguably, Daniel Peter and Henri Nestlé had ‘discovered’ this almost a century before with their commercial launch of ‘Chocolat au lait Gala Peter’ in 1887 (although the Germans do claim to have beaten them to this). And if you look at most mass market confectionery snacks on the supermarket shelf or in a vending machine, you’ll see that the vast majority are made with milk chocolate.

Ultra-processed foods are designed not just with “scoffability” and “gobbling” in mind. They are also designed to be as cheap as possible (hence the problem of commodity cacao). And this also explains why many supermarket and mass-market dark chocolate bars are also not suitable for vegans. Cacao, even commodity cacao, and cocoa butter are both relatively expensive; so many mass-produced chocolate bars use the likes of whey powder, buttermilk, milk fat, milk solids, and other animal fats as bulking agents that also help mouthfeel, AND reduce costs. So this Veganuary, and for anyone considering going vegan (or anyone looking for quality ingredients), please do check the ingredients list of your chocolate; all too many supermarket dark chocolate bars are NOT suitable for vegans, see these for example:

This drive for “scoffability”, addictiveness and low-cost also explains why the primary ingredient in so many mass-produced chocolate bars (both dark and milk) is sugar, especially given how cheap it is.

The alternative …and dark craft chocolate bars that are vegan

One way to avoid gobbling and scoffing is to focus on flavour, which lingers and develops, rather than simple tastes (like sweetness), which are all about immediate taste hits. And this is where craft chocolate really focuses and excels.

Sadly this is something that our vegan friend, the giant panda, can’t appreciate as they have a ‘transverse lamina’, so, unlike humans, they cannot detect aromas via what scientists call ‘retronasal olfaction’ (ie smelling, or detecting flavours, in your mouth). Do come for a tasting to hear more on this!

Or just try some great craft chocolate dark bars, that clearly are vegan and delicious!

Explore vegan dark chocolate →

…Plus some great vegan m*lk and wh*te chocolates too

Craft chocolate makers have also experimented with so-called “alternative m*lks” (like coconut, oat, etc.) to make delicious and flavourful craft bars; and some, like Neary Nogs and Karuna, even managed to create some extraordinary alternative “wh*te” bars.

Happy Veganuary!

Thanks as ever for your support.

Keep savouring!

Spencer

p.s. See below for some of our upcoming special tasting sessions, including an experimental tasting where we’ll play with language and memory, a collaboration with Square Mile to compare and contrast craft chocolate with speciality coffee, and a celebration of the harmonies of craft chocolate and Scotch whisky.