Haribo goes vegetarian in time for National Vegetarian Week

People often ask me what I miss most about being vegetarian, expecting me to say something like bacon butties or pepperami pizza. 'Neither', I say, 'it's jellied sweets'. I spend hours scouring supermarkets and petrol stations in the hope that one of the big companies like Bassetts will have changed their mind about gelatine; beef, pork or any other kind of animal bone/skin that has been crushed up to provide a gelling agent for our confectionery.

Haribo, I always thought was one of the worst offenders. I have long given up confiscating my son's Haribo sweets which are compulsory in the goodie bags of any kid's party he goes to. But now I find out that they've just had their latest gelatine-free sweets approved by the Vegetarian Society. Not only that, they have sent me a packet for testing (well, eating) which I can confirm are delicious!

Related: The holy grail of gelatin-free marshmallows

The sweets that I tried were called Wummis and were delicious jelly snake things. But other veggie, and also Halal/Kosher, friendly sweets include Gummy Bears, Tropical Fruits, Cola Breeze and Sour Tongues. They all carry the Vegetarian Society logo which means they are free from meat, fish, ingredients resulting from slaughter and also aren't genetically modified.

National Vegetarian Week, 18th to 24th May 2009 is sponsored by Cauldron Foods.

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