Vegan vs Plant-Based
The two labels overlap but are not the same claim, and the difference matters when you read a menu or a packet.
What vegan means
Vegan describes a product that contains no animal-derived ingredients: no dairy, eggs, honey, gelatine, fish sauce or stock made from meat. It is a statement about what is in the food.
The word also describes a wider way of living that avoids animal products outside the kitchen, which is why some people read it as an ethical claim rather than an ingredient list.
What plant-based usually means
Plant-based is used more loosely. It often means the food is made mostly from plants, and it can appear on a packet that also contains a small amount of dairy or egg.
On a restaurant menu, plant-based may describe a dish designed to appeal to anyone reducing meat rather than one built for people who avoid animal products entirely.
How this site labels a recipe
We use the word vegan together with the seven dietary dimensions, and every published recipe carries a definite value on each of them. A recipe whose values are unknown is not published at all.
That is a stricter promise than the word plant-based makes on its own. When you see a dietary tag here, read it as a statement about the listed ingredients rather than a claim about how the dish was produced.
Reviewed on 2026-10-19 · Basis: Editorial review of the published recipe catalogue