We are serious chocolate fiends here at F&F, and it's a bit dangerous having a chocolate room only a few metres from our desks!
Here at Flora & Fauna, we’re so proud to support ethical vegan chocolate brands like Loving Earth, Pana Organic, Treat Dreams, and so many more. These brands demonstrate how vegan chocolate can be good for you, good for the Earth, and good for your conscience!
What’s the issue with Dairy Chocolate?
Here’s the thing — we don’t need milk from dairy cows to create delicious, mouth-watering chocolate.
Female cows are artificially inseminated, and after giving birth their newborn calves are often taken away immediately. The male calves are usually killed for veal.
The life expectancy of a dairy cow is less than a quarter of its natural lifespan. Female cows are repeatedly impregnated for 7-8 years until they can no longer produce milk, at which point they are slaughtered. As many vegans already know — dairy is scary. Dairy cows are kind, intelligent, gentle creatures, and they can live for 25 years or more. We don’t believe that dairy cows should suffer and die to produce milk for us, especially when almost three-quarters of adults lack the enzyme to properly digest cow's milk!
Environmental Impact of Dairy Farming
Every day, over 278 million cows are milked to produce dairy products for humans. As demand for dairy grows, so does its environmental impact. Raising dairy cows requires a massive amount of water. In fact, the dairy industry uses 10% of fresh water in Australia, and 1020L of water is required to produce just 1L of milk. Plus, unsustainable dairy farming and feed production can lead to the loss of forested areas, important habitats and healthy biodiversity.
Waste — in the form of manure, pollution and emissions — is clearly the biggest problem with dairy farming. A dairy cow typically produces 57L of manure each day, which can permanently pollute nearby water sources and soil. Dairy cows and their digestive processes also produce methane, which is an extremely potent greenhouse gas. Collectively, these unsustainable aspects of dairy farming are placing pressure on our natural resources and contributing to climate change. That’s why here at F&F, we choose to avoid all dairy products — including milk chocolate!
Here’s Why Vegan Chocolate is Better!
First and foremost, vegan chocolate does not contain dairy, therefore your money is not funding the unethical and environmental problems associated with the dairy industry.
Vegan chocolate, depending on the brand, is made from plant-based mylks such as soy, oat, almond, coconut, cashew, hemp and more! Typically, vegan chocolate contains fewer ingredients than your typical mass-produced stuff on the supermarket shelves. These ingredients are often higher quality and sustainably sourced.
Vegan chocolate is not automatically ‘healthier’ than milk chocolate, but many of the ingredients are less processed and more wholesome - there’s usually less sugar, too! Vegan dark chocolate is surprisingly healthy; cacao, the primary ingredient, can actually help lower blood pressure, improve heart health and provide us with a boost of antioxidants.
Top Vegan Chocolate Brands
Choosing to support vegan chocolate brands is an awesome decision for yourself and the planet. Here at F&F, we have a wonderful range of ethical brands that create delicious chocolate all year round. Let’s take a look!
Loving Earth
‘We are an ethically-driven company that believes food is sacred. We make healthy indulgence in a way that is good for the planet.’
Loving Earth's vegan chocolate is absolutely delicious, innovative, and certified organic. With compostable packaging and a very transparent supply chain, we love everything that Loving Earth is about.
Loving Earth makes chocolate from cacao which has been grown by the Ashaninka community in the remote forest at the source of the Amazon River in Peru; the place where cacao originated. They work with the growers to ensure everyone is paid fairly and you get the best chocolate!
Pana Organic
‘Love Your Insides. Love The Earth. That's what we live by.’
Pana creates a delicious range of chocolate bars/blocks and sweet spreads, which are all made right here in Australia. When Pana says that they create chocolate for everyone, they really mean it. All Pana Chocolate is vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, refined sugar-free, and packed with antioxidants, amino acids, vitamins and minerals.
We love that all Pana Organic ingredients are sustainably sourced: hand-picked cacao pods from Bolivia, coconut from the Philippines, cold-pressed cacao butter from Peru, coconut nectar from Indonesia, dark agave from Mexico, wild carob from Spain, and organic cinnamon from Sri Lanka — just to name a few!
Treat Dreams
'Our focus is maintaining the rich, decadent tastes of non-vegan treats, and replacing animal ingredients with plant-based ones.’
Treat Dreams is a gorgeous Australian brand that creates delicious, rich, creamy vegan chocolate; it all started with a craving for a vegan cream egg, and now their vegan cream egg is their hero product!
Our favourite is the 6 pack of Easter Bunnies, which contains two of each flavour: freeze-dried passionfruit + toasted coconut, freeze-dried strawberry pieces + crispy rice puffs, and freeze-dried sour cherry pieces + toasted almonds. Yum!
We have so many other wonderful chocolate brands like Bonvita, Plamil ‘So Free’, Loco Love, Vego Chocolate and iChoc. Make sure you check them out!
Vegan Chocolate Recipes
Before you go, take a look at some of these decadent chocolate recipes on The Eco Hub: