Finding out something wasn't vegan the hard way: Vegan MoFo #8 1/2

(photo stolen from the Rice&Oats website)

I'm not counting this as Vegan MoFo#9 only because it's a rant about food.

So I watched West Side Story at the Meralco Theater (loved it, in case you were wondering; Joanna Ampil is an awesome actor and singer) a few hours ago. During intermission out in the lobby, a bunch of concessionaires was selling food and giving out free samples. One of them was Rice&Oats, a "junk food" company that sells rice crackers in two flavors: lightly sugared cinnamon and veggie asparagus (I know, they need someone to come up with better names!). I've tried the cinnamon and it's not so bad. It's cinnamon Rice&Oats, Holy Kettle Corn, and Oishi's Pods that are the only "healthful" junk food that vegans here can eat that are not potato chips.

But wait! So the other flavor is called "veggie asparagus". For one thing, it sounds totally lame. As a vegan I wouldn't want my junk food to have the word "veggie" on it, unless it's a little note saying it's suitable for vegetarians. For another, I wasn't really thinking that it wouldn't be vegetarian since its name was, "veggie asparagus". After I popped the free sample in my mouth, I picked up the display box and, HORROR OF HORRORS. It had chicken flavor. WTF??! I know, it was stupid of me not to check the ingredients. It was 9pm and I didn't have any dinner. I knew that the next time I'd eat would be midnight-ish, and my grumbling stomach made me forget to check. I felt sick to my stomach after eating that shit.

Seriously folks. Why the hell would you name the flavor "veggie asparagus" when you put chicken flavor???! Might as well call it chicken for crying out loud! I know salt and vinegar chips have milk ingredients even though salt and vinegar's supposed to be salt and vinegar. But why veggie asparagus!?!! Why do bad things happen to good people?

What a disappointment. I think I heard myself chastising the promo girl. She didn't even know it had chicken in it. And I proudly told her I was vegetarian and that I was offended by the product she was selling.

Rice&Oats, if you read this, please seriously rethink the name of your snack. It's very misleading. It would be nice if you added a box saying, "not suitable for vegetarians and vegans". Or, make your veggie asparagus snack vegan. Since you're trying to sell healthy guiltless snacks, why not make it cruelty-free? Cruelty-free = guiltless. Sheesh.