Earlier this week, I was standing in the grocery aisle holding two bags of Walkers. My vegan cousin’s coming over tomorrow, and I needed snack options. “Are these crisps actually vegan?” popped into my head. Didn’t trust random Google results, so I rolled up my sleeves to investigate properly.
Started With My Kitchen Cabinet
Grabbed three half-eaten Walkers bags from my snack stash: Ready Salted, Salt & Vinegar, and Cheese & Onion. Flipped each packet and squinted at the tiny ingredients list. For Ready Salted, it seemed clean—just potatoes, sunflower oil, and salt. Felt promising. Salt & Vinegar? Spotted “dried milk solids” right there. Cheese & Onion screamed non-vegan with “milk whey powder” and “cheese powder”. So far, only Ready Salted passed.
Supermarket Ingredient Hunt
Went to Tesco later to cross-check more flavors. Pulled these off shelves:
- Prawn Cocktail: Saw “fish powder” and “milk derivatives”
- Smoky Bacon: “Milk lactose” and “pork seasoning”
- Roast Chicken: Listed “chicken seasoning” and “buttermilk powder”
- Thai Sweet Chili: Here it got tricky—no dairy mention but had “flavor enhancers”
The Flavor Enhancer Trap
Thai Sweet Chili got me sweating. What even are “flavor enhancers”? Dug deeper on the packaging fine print. Saw “disodium inosinate” and “disodium guanylate”—learned these often come from fish or animal tissues. Emailed Walkers customer service later asking specifically about those. Their reply? “Sourced from fermented tapioca starch.” Vegan win! But almost missed that detail.
My Verdict After All This
Here’s the quick list from what I physically checked:
- ✅ Vegan-safe: Ready Salted, Lightly Salted, Thai Sweet Chili (Max version)
- ❌ Non-vegan: Salt & Vinegar, Cheese & Onion, Prawn Cocktail, Smoky Bacon, Roast Chicken
Massive lesson? Always check the actual packet because recipes change. That “flavor enhancers” nonsense nearly tricked me—thank god for customer service emails. Now I’m stocking up on Ready Salted for my cousin. Crisis averted!
