Is Yeast Vegan?

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Today I’m continuing my series on misconceptions around veganism. In this post I’ll answer that common question, “Is yeast vegan?”

When I was a kid, there were always stacks of old comics around the house. Little Lulu, Archie, Richie Rich…

And in the back of the comics was my favorite part – the advertisements.

In my fantasies I’d shop amongst those last pages buying X-ray glasses, hand buzzers, Sea Monkeys, and a machine that you could use to make your own money.

That one seemed the most useful. After all, with that, I could buy everything else on the list.

There were just two problems.

One, these comic books were very, very old, and most likely, they weren’t even selling those items anymore.

Two, my mom wouldn’t give me any money to buy my own dollar-making machine.

Didn’t she understand you have to spend money to make money? Without the extra cash, how could I hope to raise a small Sea Monkey family of my own?

I made my pitch. For only $1.25 I could raise a barrel of… crustaceans.

For a mere 50 cents more, I could get them rushed to me in case I was suffering from a Sea Monkey-related emergency.

I’d feed them a steady diet of spirulina and eagerly watch their antics, but my mom wouldn’t hear of it. Even showing her the well-accessorized mom, dad, and two adorable kids depicted in the ad didn’t help.

Coincidentally, do you know what else they put into the Sea Monkeys’ food packet, in addition to spirulina? Yeast.

That brings me to today’s question, which surprisingly enough, does not involve brine shrimp. It is instead…

Is yeast vegan?

Perhaps it is dreams like my childhood one involving Sea Monkeys that confuses people where yeast is concerned.

Maybe they imagine getting a little packet of yeast, adding some food of sugar and warm water, and watching the contents come to life.

“Surely,” they say, “there are some microscopic Yeast-A-Beasts down there wearing tiny red bows of their own.”

But unlike Sea Monkeys and their crustacean brethren, yeast is from the fungus family, like mushrooms.

Even though when yeast is given sugar and warm water it looks like they’re throwing an impromptu foam party, it’s just an illusion.

They don’t even have a central nervous system, let alone the ability to put together a good dance mix.

While most cooking mavens refrigerate food to prevent fungus growth, when a baker is using this fungus for bread, warm water is best.

Yeast feeds on sugar, producing alcohol and carbon dioxide. That carbon dioxide makes the bread rise.

Cooking destroys the alcohol and yeast, and the bubbles that are left behind make the bread soft. Yeast gives bread part of its signature flavor and delightful smell.

In addition to bread-making, yeast is also used in fermenting beer, wine, and soy foods like tempeh and miso.

Of course, nutritional yeast flakes (an inactive form of yeast) are a staple in many vegan kitchens.

(What is nutritional yeast? And is nutritional yeast vegan? <—— Read this post to find out.)

For those among you who are still dreaming of a little plastic home for your Yeast-A-Beasts, you could build a Sea Monkey-style dwelling for your microscopic fungi, but I think they just call that a terrarium.

This series on misconceptions around veganism continues with: Are Vegans Privileged And Out Of Touch?

Comments

Abby says
April 3, 2013 at 7:16 am

That’s something I’ve never really thought about, most likely because I never make my own bread or baked goods. Ezekiel bread is basically the only bread I buy and I love the stuff, but I’m also aware that many others contain eggs or butter at times (hence, I adore Ezekiel bread not only for the taste, but for the security.) It’s worth the extra money to me.

Look forward to your next post!
- Cadry says
  April 4, 2013 at 6:17 am
  
  I don’t make my own bread either. I picked up a bread machine at a garage sale a couple of years ago with the thought that I might start. Instead, it’s hanging out in my hall closet.
  
  My local co-op has a stellar bakery, and so it’s easy to get fresh bread there without any clean-up or baking required on my part. The majority of the bread they sell is vegan, and so that makes it easy. However, Ezekiel used to be our go-to brand, and we’ll still get it on vacations and whatnot.
  - Somer says
    April 5, 2013 at 1:25 pm
    
    You “knead” to break that baby out! Making homemade bread with the bread-maker is so ridiculously easy that it puts going to the grocery for a loaf to shame 🙂 🙂 🙂 I have a one hour whole wheat loaf recipe somewhere. I’ll shoot it your way if I find it!
    - Cadry says
      April 10, 2013 at 11:29 am
      
      Please do! The one and only time I made bread in it, the recipe turned out less than perfect. I’d love to try your go-to recipe!
Sarah says
April 3, 2013 at 8:38 am

My husband always teases me about yeast and says “isn’t it alive?” Ugh!

Thanks for a cute post 🙂
- Cadry says
  April 4, 2013 at 6:20 am
  
  You’re welcome! Thanks, Sarah! 🙂
Andrea says
April 3, 2013 at 1:20 pm

You scared me for a minute — I always thought yeast was vegan but was afraid I’d overlooked something! And by the way, my brother got the sea monkeys, and I can tell you you didn’t miss anything.
- Cadry says
  April 4, 2013 at 6:23 am
  
  I’m somehow not surprised that the experience wouldn’t have measured up. I’ve seen actual pictures of brine shrimp, and it’s clear that the artist who drew the Sea Monkeys took some significant liberties. 🙂
An Unrefined Vegan says
April 3, 2013 at 2:24 pm

I had no idea that anyone thought yeast was some kind of living (albeit a seriously dried-out) creature. Wow.

Thanks for bringing back memories. We also had an ancient stack of comic books that I could contentedly read over and over again. We kids were able to convince our mom to let us buy the Mexican Jumping Beans…
- Cadry says
  April 4, 2013 at 7:53 am
  
  Maybe some of the confusion comes when people say that you can “kill” yeast with water that is too hot. You can kill plants too, but people think of using that term more often with animals.
  
  That’s sweet that you also had an ancient stack of comic books you’d read again and again!
Bianca- Vegan Crunk says
April 3, 2013 at 2:29 pm

Thanks for addressing this! People ask me all the time if yeast is vegan, and I say, yes….but then I can’t really explain why. Now I can just send them this blog post!
- Cadry says
  April 4, 2013 at 7:54 am
  
  I’m glad to hear that there’s someone else out there getting this question, Bianca! I was beginning to think I was the only one! 🙂
luminousvegans says
April 3, 2013 at 3:36 pm

Yeah, I’ve gotten that question a lot….”what about yeast..isn’t it ALIVE?”. So, what exactly are sea monkeys? I had those as a kid too.
- Cadry says
  April 4, 2013 at 7:58 am
  
  I learned a lot about Sea Monkeys while I was writing this post. They’re brine shrimp. In the packages, they sell the eggs, which hatch. Then the shrimp can mate, and the female can either lay eggs or give birth, depending on her health.
Bobbie {the vegan crew} says
April 3, 2013 at 6:01 pm

Who wouldn’t go for a yeast-a-beast? They look so much more friendly and snugly than the sea monkeys!

Yeast is a new one for me, but I get the “is this vegan” question all the time, so I’m sure it will come up soon. The questions usually come from a good place, but I often have to suppress a laugh. In the last few days someone asked me if tofu was vegan and another person found my site by asking whether “peanut butter and banana for breakfast” was vegan. I sure wish I knew who they were so I could warn them that it’s only cruelty-free after three 😉
- Cadry says
  April 4, 2013 at 8:01 am
  
  Yes, if there’s one thing you can say about Yeast-A-Beasts it’s that they love to cuddle! 😉
  
  Wow, someone asked if tofu was vegan? That seems like the quintessential vegan dish in so many people’s minds.
  
  So many times I wish that I could write people back who find my blog through random search questions! If only you could have warned them that PB&B is the Gremlins of the vegan world. Don’t get them wet and don’t eat them after midnight! 😉
Richa says
April 4, 2013 at 12:20 pm

those yeast-a-beasts have a permanent home in my house. i have 2 lb package in the freezer. I might have to look at it and see if there is party going on..
I looked this up long time back because i bake so much of my own bread. Even though i knew it, it was good to confirm :))
- Cadry says
  April 10, 2013 at 11:31 am
  
  Somehow I’m not surprised that your Yeast-a-Beasts get their own spare room! With all of the baking you do, you need the back-up! 🙂
Maggie Muggins says
April 6, 2013 at 3:48 pm

Ha! I used to love those ads, I use to dream about my very own sea monkey family too, until I found out they were nothing like the ad would lead me to believe. Talk about crushing some childhood dreams! lol
With all the beer and bread me and my husband make, I’m pretty sure our house is perpetually filled with yeast. I never really got the whole “yeast isn’t vegan” thing, but I have have been asked if things like coconut milk and peanut butter were vegan, so yeah, it doesn’t really shock me that someone would make that assumption.
- Cadry says
  April 10, 2013 at 11:33 am
  
  I’m sure there were many disappointed kids who were surprised at how very different brine shrimp look from the drawing on that ad!
Katherine says
November 5, 2014 at 2:30 pm

I was never really sure what yeast was made out of- but I did wonder whether it was being taken from some animal or plant or what it was made out of.. I recently also began baking and making goodies and next on my list was bread. I knew that there are many people who use eggs/milk in baking, therefore I had to find out first if bread was even vegan, and whether yeast was also vegan.. good to know that they both are 🙂 I bought some a few days ago… and will be baking some bread in the next few days! YummM! 🙂 I look forward to it!
June says
September 21, 2015 at 3:09 pm

I bought some amazingly good-tasting KAL Nutritional yeast a couple months ago, and I was using it on my salad and occasionally on pasta, but I started having second thoughts, because it hadn’t occurred to me that yeast(s) might be little critters. So I looked up stuff about yeast and although the general consensus is that yeast is okay for vegans to eat, my conscience will not let me eat it. Yeasts may not be of the kingdom Animalia, but they’re not plants, either. And “fungi” are a gray area, as far as I’m concerned. Yeasts have sex! with each other. Anyway, I may or may not be correct in my thinking, but I simply won’t take the chance on the possibility that yeasts prefer to NOT be used for food, etc. How do we know? How can any human being know for certain what a yeast feels – or doesn’t feel?

There are plenty of wheat products out there that don’t use or contain yeast: pasta, Wheatena, Bulghur wheat, some matzoh crackers, etc. These are perfectly alright with me, and I have been yeast-free for about two weeks now, and my conscience is pang-free. I realize I probably sound more than a little crazy, but as I said: I just can’t take the chance that I’m ingesting unwilling participants in the ‘food chain’. 🙂
- Cadry says
  September 25, 2015 at 11:05 am
  
  I’m vegan, because I don’t want to cause suffering in others when that is avoidable. Yeast doesn’t have a central nervous system, nor any type of demonstrated scientific capacity to experience pain. That’s enough reason for me to feel comfortable eating yeast. I also feel comfortable fighting the common cold, and tossing moldy bread. As to yeast having sex, the yeast that’s used in bread making primarily reproduces asexually through bud making or fission. It is yeast that’s involved in infections in the human body that can mate selectively.
June says
September 25, 2015 at 12:57 pm

Thank you for the reply! Yeah, I know all that stuff … I’ve looked up and read everything I could about this, because I was really struggling as I finished off my last canister of yeast. But the only thing I know for sure is how I feel, personally, about eating yeast (and mushrooms – yes, mushrooms). Fungi in general confuse me, for some reason. I know how crazy it sounds, I do, but I just don’t feel comfortable about eating anything that’s in that “gray area” (for me). Its just a gut feeling (no pun intended) that I can’t shake off, at least at this time.

PS I indented my previous comment, which didn’t turn out like I’d planned, lol. Could you possibly (please) fix or edit it, so it doesn’t look like some kind of weird rambling poetic effect? 😮
Jenn says
September 28, 2015 at 10:03 am

I got a little nervous there for a minute before I actually read the whole post. 🙂 Thank goodness!
- Cadry says
  September 28, 2015 at 11:25 am
  
  Ha! Sorry to scare you! 🙂