Vegan Valentine's Day

"I am not a vegan. But I am vege-tarian with a pair of lactose-intolerant twins at home and a wife who abhors eggs. So, we tend to eat vegan by default. And this year, for Valentine's Day, I decided to get some vegan candy for my loved ones. The plan: head down to Rheb's Candy on Wilkens Avenue and put together a nice V-Day box. No meat. No milk. No honey. Just candy. Easy, right?

Crowded into the little store with other customers like truffles in a box, I took a number and window-browsed the glass cabinets full of chocolates filled with all varieties of fruit, cream, and nut. I've done my vegan homework, so I know that I've got to purchase sweet chocolate in the style it first hit the market in 1847--dark and milkless.

I had to pass on several of my favorite varieties of candy hearts and gummy sweets because they were made with gelatin. Baltimore's Vegetarian Resource Group (www.vrg.org) lists the ingredients of gelatin as: "bones, skins, hoofs, and tendons of cows, pigs, fish and other animals." Thanks, reality; now you've gone and ruined Jell-O."

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