• starbucks adds vegan food to their menu

    55
    July 13th, 2011quarrygirlLA restaurants, starbucks

    although starbucks outlets in the UK have catered to vegans for years (the falafel panini doesn’t suck!), the stores in the united states have always been lacking in animal-free food options…until now.

    according to the starbucks website, they currently offer a “sesame noodles bento box”. while the meal doesn’t explicitly say “vegan” on it, the ingredients are posted and they all check out. have a look…

    i’m posting about this bento box without actually trying it because, the fact is, i will NEVER try it. it contains bell peppers, which i find abhorrent and won’t go near, especially in pre-packaged foods. you can’t even pick the peppers out, because the other foods have been like marinating in them for hours and absorbing their stench.

    anyways, if anyone tries this, let me know how it is! it’s great to know that starbucks at least has an option for us now. what’s next, vegan baked goods at the bux? i can dream!

    special thanks to the people on twitter who brought this to my attention: @veganinla, @veganavenger, @bryanxvx

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49 responses to “starbucks adds vegan food to their menu” RSS icon

  • This has 25% more calories and fat than a McDonald’s hamburger. Not only that, but Starbucks coffee is vile. The only place I’ll consider drinking it is at an airport when there are no other options.

    Irony: McDonald’s coffe is actually better tasting.

  • You hate for bell peppers is refreshing. Everyone acts like I’m crazy for wanting to ban onions! They are food ruiners!

  • It looks gross, and probably tastes like play dough :c. Is a muffin so much to ask for with my coffee?!

  • why, thank you! i promise to never feed you onions.

  • This makes me so happy! I worked there and as a vegan, I had little options. Sure it may not be a perfect meal but if you’re traveling it’s a decent breakfast to have a plain bagel, soy latte and banana. But for an afternoon snack this would work.
    ps who cares what the nutrition facts are compared to a hamburger? A balanced diet has healthy fat in it, and calories are needed based on your daily needs. That is an invalid argument.

  • are their bagels vegan? i thought most bagels where brushed with egg…

  • you really need to get over this whole bell pepper hatred thing you have… they are so good for you. full of Vitamin C and Anti- oxidants. My suggestion is to give them another try! I think what happened is that you were eating the green ones, which turns out are just unripe red peppers and are Not supposed to be eaten anyway because they are bitter. Go to the farmers Market and get an Organic Beautiful Red One and just take a bite – I bet you will like it if you give it another chance!

  • Nice! I’ve been told their organic blueberry oat bars are vegan too 🙂

  • I’m actually thrilled by this. While I am not a fan of boatloads of preservatives in a daily diet sort of way, this is one of the healthiest options I’ve ever seen for fast-food.

    Boring as it may be, I do wish they also had a salad option that didn’t include tuna or some other non-vegan item.

  • PS I won’t go near McDonalds for anything, including coffee.

  • I don’t know about Quarrygirl, but I’ve tried bell peppers over the years, just to see if my tastes have changed (as they have with a few other things, like onions). Nope. I still hate all bell peppers with the heat of of a thousand suns.

    Sometimes our taste buds just hate what they hate and there’s no reasoning with them.

    That said, while I probably won’t get this, it’s an encouraging step. Here’s hoping Starbucks starts carrying vegan baked goods (I’m not a fan of their coffee, but sometimes Starbucks is all that’s available when traveling).

  • okay, to answer my own question (if anyone else was curious) according to their website:
    their “hawaiian bagel” (which looks like a plain bagel to me) has milk and egg. their multigrain bagel, however is vegan 🙂
    the blueberry oat bar has milk and egg…

    i rarely go to sbux but it’s nice to know ahead and not have to play 20 questions!

  • This is a great move for Starbucks to make! I’m not sure, though, why they didn’t go with something more simple, like hummus and pita with fresh veggies and/or pretzels. My hunch is that more folks would buy the hummus than the noodles (and I would hate for them to discontinue vegan options if this one failed due to the flavor of the food rather than the vegan-ness of the offering).

  • I think the multigrain bagel is vegan, but I haven’t checked in a year or so.

  • It’s nice to see an effort being made by such a ubiquitous company to accommodate vegans. I probably won’t try this bento, though, just because I go to Starbucks very rarely. And just curious: Is the lactic acid listed in the ingredients vegan? I thought it is sometimes animal-derived…

  • Wait, never mind. I looked up the lactic acid question just now (guess I should’ve done that first) and apparently it is a vegan ingredient. I found an explanation here, if anyone’s interested: http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/faqingredients.htm#lac

  • I f*ing hate bell peppers, all colors, but especially red. Keep them outof my noodles and away from my hunmous. I eat kale raw, I dont NEED bell peppers, I eat lots of things id rather not for healths sake. I hate hate hate them. Your right about the flavors marinating, its awful!

  • Plain and multigrain bagels are vegan. Plain ingredients: flour (wheat flour, malted barley flour), water, sugar, contains less than 2% of each of the following: salt, degerminated yellow corn meal, yeast, guar and xanthan gum blend, inactive dry yeast, soybean oil, ascorbic acid added as a dough conditioner, enzymes. Multigrain: flour (wheat flour, malted barley flour), water, cracked wheat, sunflower seeds, sugar, rolled oats, whole wheat flour, raisins, degerminated yellow corn meal, contains less than 2% of each of the following: sesame seeds, salt, yeast, guar and xanthan gum, inactive dry yeast, palm oil, soybean oil, ascorbic acid added as a dough conditioner

  • I just saw this last night at Starbucks … and got it! I was cheated … there was no dark chocolate bar in mine. 🙁

    Anyway, it was decent. Too much lettuce as filler at the bottom, not enough noodles!

  • Umm, it has sugar. 0_o

  • Upon second glance, this isn’t even remotely healthy.

    We shouldn’t be supporting this awful corporation – PERIOD.

  • It may have more calories than a normal McDonalds hamburger but it is also 250 grams, a hamburger being 100 grams. So the burger has more calories and less nutrition per gram. The bento also has your sides (you can’t get any french fries at McDonalds for such few calories)and your dessert.

  • Gauri Radha गौरी राधा July 13th, 2011 at 11:06

    Good news! Vegan options being made available anywhere is a positive step in my opinion.

  • Their oatmeal is vegan.

  • Holy crap! Here I am in Starbucks enjoying my soy latte catching up on my blog feeds and I see this. I used to grab lunch and a latte at Starbucks most work days before I went vegan. I make my own salad now but it will be nice to have a fast food option out there.
    I do hope more mainstream places start offering vegan options.

  • Oh dear, like I need another reason to fuel my caffeine addiction. 🙂

  • I don’t know how they managed to get about 30% of the calories from fat. I wonder if they slobber the veg oil on it already or if I can actually eat that w/o the dressing…

    QG, bell peppers do have some stale dishwater funk to them. You’re not crazy.

  • Thanks for the update, Quarrygirl! I rarely visit Starbucks unless I’m traveling or have a gift card, but the fact that such a huge corporation would start carrying an animal-free meal option speaks volumes about the growing movement toward more compassionate/healthy diets.

    Also: It warms my heart to know I’m in good company when it comes to the whole bell pepper thing…can’t stand them either!

  • They sell raw food grawnola at SBux too. Quite nummy. 😉

  • This is going to be a fucking GODSEND when I’m traveling. I go to conventions a few times a year with a group of people and every time, breakfast = stopping at Starbucks, and I just stand there like an idiot all hungry. Not the best way to start your day of being inside some of the most vegan UNfriendly places in the world: convention centers.

  • i like s’bucks coffee. i won’t eat that because it has glute which i can’t eat, but i wanted to point out to the other normal intestined vegans that peet’s has a shit ton of vegan cookies. i can’t remember if there are muffins though.

  • I see lactic acid on the ingredients list… Do we know if that’s derived from an animal source?

  • I picked one up the other day and saw honey on the ingredients list. Maybe that’s just the ones here in Canada, but it’s odd that the list on the website is different than the one on the box.

  • I work there now and I can say it actually doesn’t taste horrible! As a vegan previously my options were limited to a bagel, oatmeal, or sometimes Food Should Taste Good chips (if we had them).

    And I hate the taste of bell peppers, as well as most other peppers, with a passion and for whatever reason, neither they nor the rest of the noodles taste pepper-y!

    I am pretty proud of the bux, especially considering customers and partners alike have been asking for a vegan option for a long time.

  • Someone has to like it, or Starbucks wouldn’t sell it. I often purchase vegan food from places just to encourage them to continue to provide more. We have to let them know there is a market for vegan food.

  • Gauri Radha गौरी राधा July 14th, 2011 at 14:53

    ^ Peet’s has vegan cookies?!
    I’ve walked into Peet’s Coffee a few times and asked if they had anything vegan to go with my tea and each time they said they definitely did not have anything.
    No idea if the counter folks were uninformed or if the locations I went into didn’t carry vegan cookies. I’ll check again though, that would be so convenient.

  • There are items there that are often “accidentally” vegan. I worked there for 5 years, and was surprised at how random items (like the organic blueberry bar) turned out to be vegan. But, they also have different suppliers for different pastries depending on the region, so it is a good idea to check out your local store too.

  • They had hummus and pita like 4 years ago. It flopped. No one bought it, at least not in Seattle.

  • I hate bell peppers and onions so I feel you both! I swear they are the only veggies I hate. I love everything else 🙂

  • Gauri Radha गौरी राधा July 15th, 2011 at 11:47

    “I often purchase vegan food from places just to encourage them to continue to provide more.”

    Yea me too. (Even just small items, so they aren’t discontinued.)

  • What’s the problem w/Starbucks? If they are willing to serve a vegan option more power to them. No one in my town does. I think I will visit Starbucks for some noodles and support the effort. Maybe it will lead to other options down the road which may spur other resturants/cafes to offer vegan food. My town is grossly lacking in veggie food dining period. And I DO like peppers, especially red and yellow ones. Onions too. Looking forward to trying their product and I like their coffee and tea too. So what!

  • I had it for lunch today. I approve.

  • Starbucks has a vegan cookie! The ginger-molasses cookie!

    Check it out: http://www.starbucks.com/menu/food/bakery/ginger-molasses-cookie?foodZone=9999

  • I actually work at Starbucks and I’m not a huge fan of much of any of their food but when this sesame noodle box came out, I personally could not find anything wrong with it. The sesame seed coated peanuts are extra crunchy, the cucumber salad is very refreshing, the noodles are great and yes there are more veggies in the noodles than actual noodles but i’m assuming it’s to keep the calories in the under 500 limit that they’ve decided that the new boxes need to be. The tofu is marinated really well, also. I would say that if you’re pretty adventurous and don’t mind eating certain veggies, go for it. You might be surprised! 🙂

  • Maybe you don’t realize that nuts are high in healthy fats. Well, they are. If you’re that concerned, just throw the peanuts and chocolate bar away.

  • You’re not alone. Checked out the ingredients at my local Starbucks (again Canadian) and the sesame peanuts on the the side do contain honey. Everything else is 100% vegan.

    I love soy strawberry and creme fraps without whip-delish! I don’t drip drink coffee cause it’s gross so it works for me whoever’s best.

  • There’s alcohol in it!!!!! what?????! Thats stupid!!!!

  • Its actually pretty tasty! I got it in September when there was nothing else around for me to eat for lunch, and enjoyed it.

    Also, select Starbucks in San Francisco carry vegan scones and muffins. I asked why they carry vegan items (they actually said “vegan scone” ..”vegan muffin” etc) and apparently each Starbucks location has the option to order what they want to be in their store. So really, its up to you to talk to your local store and have them order the vegan options…since Starbucks certainly doesn’t bake their pastries fresh right there unfortunately.

  • Are their holiday drinks Vegan at all?


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