Why Vegans Should Think Twice About Snacking On Takis

When it comes to accommodating a vegan diet, things can get tricky, but taking on a staunch animal-free approach to meal prep certainly isn't an impossible task. Of course, searching for vegan-friendly snacks and recipes does require an awareness of ingredients. Shoppers may need to look beyond names of snacks to determine whether purchases will fall into the made-without-animal-products category. While some snacks and food items may appear to be animal-free at face value, looks can be deceiving. Unfortunately, such is the case with Takis' portfolio of snacks.

Though many of the brand's offerings are indeed considered vegan-friendly, a few of the varieties of the spicy, crunchy treats might give practicing vegans pause. On some of the snacks' packaging, the ingredient lists contain animal products like milk, whey, carmine, and gelatin. If you are trying to avoid animal products entirely, you'll want to leave the brand's Hot Nuts and Crisps on the shelves. Additionally, avoid other Takis flavors like Guacamole, Pop Fuego, and the Kettlez Jalapeño Typhoon, as they too contain these non-vegan items.

Other vegans may choose to circumnavigate foods that are made with cane sugar, as one way of processing the ingredient involves what is known as animal bone char. Since food labels don't always note exactly how the sugar is refined, this ingredient can pose a bit of a gamble for some stricter vegans.

For those who don't count sugar as an off-limits ingredient, Takis offers a lineup of snacks that generally fit into an animal-free diet, including Flare and Fuego Stix snacks, Pop Caramel Crunchy, Fuego and Habanero Fury Kettlez snacks, and other Takis flavors like Fuego, Blue Heat, Crunchy Fajitas, and Nitro. However, vegans should take note that many of these Takis that are traditionally considered vegan, including the Dragon Sweet Chili chips, contain a disclaimer that the snacks may contain milk or egg, despite not being listed in the ingredients.

Alternatively, if you can't be bothered to remember which snack is vegan-friendly and want to pair crunchy, flavorful chips alongside an ultimate vegan smash burger, you can make your own version of Takis' spicy Worcestershire-flavored chips at home using tortillas. This way, you can control which ingredients are used to make the crunchy snacks. If this sounds like too much work, simply pay attention to the ingredients list on a bag of Takis during your next grocery store run.