[Bruce Achterberg]

Originally Posted by Andrew Brunelle

Being vegan is something I will definitely do very soon. Fruits and vegetables are what I eat mostly anyway, and some nuts/seeds. Meat is unnecessary in a diet, so is dairy. I hate dairy products and can always find an alternative snack/drink. Herbal tea for drink, or simply plain water, possibly spiked with lemon. Chocolate is my only vice. It is too good. Maybe I should find vegan chocolate, made with nut milk or rice milk. Not soymilk, though. I'm not a big soy fan. [...]

I rarely buy chocolate, but if I do, I buy the chocolate bars from Sweet Williams. As far as I understand it, they aren't made with any soymilk. The ingredients list on their "Original" (plain) chocolate bar is as follows:

Ingredients:

• Cane sugar
• Cocoa butter
• Soy flour
• Cocoa mass
• Emulsifiers (Soya lecithin, 476)
• Flavour

[...] May contain traces of almonds. Trans fatty acid free. GMO free - supplier certified. Suitable for vegan.

Nutritional information is as follows (I won't list everything, just the more important ones... and since I live in Australia, everything is in metric measurements -- just whip out an online conversion table [scroll down to the brown table for weight measurements] if you want conversions):

Serving size = 50g = 1 bar

• Fat- total = 18.3g. DV = 28%
  • Saturated = 10.0g. DV = 50%
  • Trans = 0.0g
  • Monounsaturates = 6.2g.
  • Polyunsaturates = 2.1g
• Cholesterol = 0.0mg
• Sodium = 7mg. DV = 0%
• Protein = 5.3g. DV = 11%
• Lactose = 0.0g
• Cocoa solids content DV = 38%

* Percentage Daily Values (DV) of Percentage Daily Intake is per serve, and is based on a diet of 2000 calories (8350k). Your daily intake may be more of less depending on your energy needs. Nutritional values based on average.

* Natural fats are from soy and cocoa.

You can check out their product range (ie. the range of flavours/types the bars come in) here.

In terms of taste/texture, I think they are pretty good (which is saying something, since I used to buy mostly high quality "gourmet" type chocolate when I was not vegan and don't really like low quality "candy" type chocolate that is used for just about everything). Since they aren't made with any dairy products, they have what I would describe as a "smoother", "cleaner" taste that isn't as milky as normal chocolate made with dairy. I actually prefer it to normal chocolate, as to me, the flavour is more intense and higher quality (although I do miss Guylian chocolate sea shells). Personally, my favourite flavour is the Original flavoured bar. I don't like the Tangerine flavoured bar (it just doesn't go well with the chocolate flavour, in my opinion) and I haven't tried their sugar free bars, chocolate spread, or Easter/Christmas products due to lack of availability

In terms of availability, I live in Australia, and these are the only vegan chocolates available in my area (as far as I know). You may/may not be able to get them in your area. For more information, check out the Sweet Williams International Sales and Enquiries page.

Update10/January/07:

While browsing Steve's blog archives, I found a comment where Steve gave a link to a website where you can find gourmet vegan Belgian chocolates. It seems to be something available in the USA, so those in the USA shouldn't have much trouble with availability since they offer delivery options (not sure about those outside of the USA, you'd have to either contact them and ask or try it out yourself... although they seem to offer options for international delivery in their ordering process). You can find the website here:

Rose City Chocolatier's Vegan Chocolate Selection - No dairy or milk products used.