The complete guide to vegan products you can find in supermarkets in Israel!
Israel is known to be a vegan paradise, and trust me, this reputation is justified. But, when you don’t speak or read Hebrew, finding vegan products in the supermarkets might be challenging.
And even if you can tell a product is vegan how would you know it’s a good one?
Rest assured, I’m here to clear everything up for you!
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Vegan Tip 1: you can recognize vegan products by this mark on the package.
Check out the Vegan Friendly website.
Vegan Tip 1: if you see any product that’s Parve- a kosher mark that means it doesn’t contain meat nor dairy- make sure it doesn’t contain eggs and that’s it!
Have you tried any new products that are not on the list?
Let me know so I can try them and add to this post!
Vegan stores
Most products can be found in conventional supermarkets like Rami Levi, Shufersal and more but there are some health stores that have many vegan items. Here are the main ones:
– Teva Castel (טבע קסטל)
– Anis (אניס)
– Nitzat Haduvdevan (ניצת הדובדבן)
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Dairy Substitutes
Dairy substitutes in Israel have to uphold to high standards since dairy is huge in Israel. With that being said they have to match Israeli flavor so you might not love them if you’re used to different products in your own country. you won’t find a substitute for American cheddar cheese for example.
Mama Q Vegan Cheese
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Mama Q (@mama_q_vegan) on Nov 24, 2019 at 2:40am PST
This new brand came out of nowhere and conquered Israel!
The ingredients are basic and healthy. The downside is that you have to eat it within a week more or less from the moment of opening. But trust me it’s worth it.
Price: 22 NIS in Super Yehuda and vegan Stores
Tnuva vegan light cream cheese
In Israel, we have our variations of cream cheese but it’s a very light one and called White Cheese (Gvina Levana). I would eat this cheese on a daily basis on the sandwich that I would take to school or with veggies and it was the thing I missed the most when becoming vegan.
Now, there are other vegan cream cheeses like Tofutti (which is not healthy) but they’re heavy and more similar to the American classic cream cheese (like Filadelfia).
This Vegan cheese is extremely light and for those of you that want to try Israeli cheese but can’t because you’re vegan, I would say it’s the perfect substitute.
Price: 5 NIS. It can be found in almost all supermarkets.
NOTE: purchasing vegan substitutes marketed by Tnuva is a controversial issue for some vegans since Tnuva is the largest dairy company in Israel.
Tnuva non-dairy Milk (soy or almond)
Boy, was I frustrated with the lack of non-dairy milk when I first became vegan. Don’t get me wrong, there were options but they all had this weird flavor.
When Tnuva saw the potential in the Vegan community of Israel they decided to market their own non-dairy milk and they did a great job with it!
They have 4 different types of milk you can choose from including Almond milk (red package) and my favorite: unsweetened milk (green package).
This is the only milk I found to be similar to its American counterparts- Silk and Almond Breeze that are absolutely phenomenal.
Price: about 5 NIS. Can be found everywhere.
Tnuva vegan yogurts
Tnuva vegan yogurts
Vegan yogurts are hard to find since they are normally sweeter than their non-vegan counterparts. I believe Tnuva did a great job with its variety of yogurts that are not sweet like the ones you will find in the market.
Tnuva offers two choices of yogurts: The first one is a more liquidy yogurt in a bottle (that you can take to go) in flavors: raspberry & apple (my favorite), banana & strawberries, and peach.
The second one is yogurt in a cup with the flavors: plain, fruit flavors, vanilla, and chocolate.
Price: about 5 NIS. Can be found in almost all supermarkets.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Violife Foods (@violife_foods) on Jun 14, 2018 at 12:08am PDT
Violife Feta Cheese
Violife Feta Cheese is my most recent addiction. The texture is amazing and the saltiness is on point! It’s a great addition to a veggie salad or slices of watermelon on a hot day.
Price: about 20 NIS. Can be found in Rami Levi or the Vegan Storage on Dizingoff.
Mashu Mashu salty cheese with herbs or ricotta.
Mashu Mashu is an excellent, completely vegan, company that rose to stardom with its variety of hard cheeses.
I have to say before I left for the U.S I in love with their cheeses but since then have tried better ones.
The only ones that I can still recommend are their Ricotta and their Salty Cheese with Herbs. The first one can be used for a variety of dishes in which you need a melting cheese and the second one pairs well with watermelon cubes.
If you want to see other variations and recipes using these cheese, their website has some great ones that I’ve tried in the past.
Please note those cheeses come in pretty big bulk and they go bad after about a week-10 days since they are natural, so consume them during this time period and always buy them with the latest expiration date.
Price: about 20 NIS. Can be found in selected supermarkets with an area dedicated to dietary restrictions or vegan shops.
VioLife Smoked Cheese
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Violife Foods (@violife_foods) on Jun 22, 2018 at 9:22am PDT
One of my recent discoveries is Violife Smoked pastrami that tastes more like smoked cheese. I avoided this company for a while after making several bad purchases but I’m so happy I gave them another chance!
Their smoked pastrami is excellent especially since it plays on our sense of smell and the smoky scent works every time.
Price: about 20 NIS. Can be found in selected supermarkets with an area dedicated to dietary restrictions or vegan shops.
Whipped Cream for cakes
One of those “accidentally vegan” products. This whipped cream is used for cakes by the entire population and not only vegan because of it’s kosher status- Parve.
Essentially it means you can eat this whipped cream of cake after eating meat (usually it’s un-kosher to mix dairy and meat and this one is non-dairy).
Coconut Cream
You can find a variety of Coconut creams in Israel, the two brands I would recommend are Aroy-D (the white box only) or in a can (smaller).
Whatever you buy, if it’s for the purpose of making whipped cream make sure your coconut cream has more than 17% fat in it.
Sweets
I’m vegan and I have a sweet tooth. So, of course, I had to find the best Vegan sweets in Israel. Most items in this list are necessarily made for vegans but for the entire population so you can purchase them almost everywhere!
Bamba filled with Nougat
Of course, I have to start with the most typical, classic Israeli snack- Bamba which is naturally vegan. This is a must to try when you get to Israel. I’ll say it again- you have to try it.
In recent years this beloved snack transformed with innovative variations. One of which, the one that I think is the absolute best, was nougat filled Bamba.
As far as I’m concerned, this is basically the hottest thing since sliced bread. You can find it in any store!
Black and White cookies
These new cookies by Elit are divine! Chocolate on the outside yummy vanilla cream fill, you just can’t go wrong. Careful they’re addictive!
Panda Chocolate bars
A few years back the cutest couple began a startup named Panda Chocolate and crowdfunded their new vegan chocolate.
They have amazing chocolate bars are and in the holidays they pralines and other goods.
My favorite flavor is the nougat filled chocolate or the one with hazelnuts. They also have white chocolate with cookies and salty caramel.
Chocolate Spread- Hashahar
View this post on InstagramA post shared by השחר העולה (@hashaharhaole) on Jul 22, 2019 at 12:57am PDT
Hashahar Chocolate Spread (השחר) is the classic Israeli chocolate spread.
It takes me back to my school days since so many kids would take a bun with this chocolate for lunch (in Israel you bring we don’t have cafeterias). I absolutely love it.
Note that only the one that is Parve (פרווה) the one with the yellow cup is vegan!
Hazelnut Spread Chocketa
If you are looking for a hazelnut spread just go for Chocketa. It tastes just like Nutella and is absolutely delicious.
The same note goes to this spread- only the one with the yellow cup is vegan.
Jaxx
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Jaxx Israel (@jaxxisrael) on Jan 27, 2016 at 8:06am PST
This is a relatively new sweet snack in the market. It has about 3 variations and only the one in the yellow package is vegan. You can tell by the letter P that means it’s Parve, or non-dairy.
Oreo
View this post on InstagramA post shared by OREO (@oreo) on Sep 8, 2015 at 8:04am PDT
Of course, this is one of the most obvious “accidentally vegan” snacks. A classic.
Note that only the original classic one is vegan.
Argaliot
This is another Israeli invention and you will not find it elsewhere. Some people will say it’s for the best because it not that good but I just love it. E
very time I lived abroad I asked visitors to bring me some Argaliot with strawberry filling. They go well with your tea or coffee in the morning and are not too sweet.
Dark chocolate bar (Elit/Vered)
One of my greatest challenges abroad (especially in Brazil) was finding dark chocolate that doesn’t contain dairy.
In Israel, this is a staple product and everyone uses it especially for cakes.
You have several brands that have dark chocolate (called bitter chocolate in Hebrew) and as long as they have the P label (parve) you can trust its vegan.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Lotus Biscoff UK (@lotusbiscoffuk) on Dec 10, 2019 at 4:39am PST
Biscoff Lotus Biscuits and Spread
This is another “accidentally vegan” product. In Israel, you can get the luxurious biscuits that are absolutely divine or even purchase the caramel-like spread. I normally use both products for cakes.
Salty Snacks
And if you’re not all about the sweet things, hers a list of salty snacks that will make your day.
Abadi salty cookies
This is another Israeli classic. It’s basically a salty dry round snack. So many jokes have been written about how it’s so dry you might chock. So yeah, you better have it with tea.
Poof!
This is another new product on the market. Its slogan is “A great snack filled with great air” .
I recently bought it so that I can report back and I really liked it. It’s the perfect snack for a day at the beach. It’s light and not too salty.
Meat Substitutes
I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 16 but even before that I wasn’t such a fan of meat so it’s probably the thing I missed the least. But it’s always nice to have options.
Here’s what you need to know about meet substitutes- most of them will have the Vegan-Friendly mark so this will make your life easier. The leading company in vegetarian and vegan “meet” is Tivol (טבעול) and Zog
Here’s what you need to know about meet substitutes- most of them will have the Vegan-Friendly mark so this will make your job so much easier. The leading company in vegetarian and vegan “meet” are Tivol (טבעול) and Zoglos (זוגלוס).
Tivol Grilled Chicken Breast
My absolute favorite meat substitute is Tivol’s Grilled Chicken breast. It has the grill marks on top of it and the texture is great!
Tivol has other great products such as their beef, mini mushrooms hamburgers, and cauliflower snacks.
Hot Dogs
I’ve been eating vegetarian and vegan hot dogs for a long time. In reality, many people choose these hot dogs over the real industrialized products since we all know how those things are made. I can honestly say the flavor is extremely similar.
Many hot dogs you will find in the freezers in the supermarkets are vegetarian but not vegan (they include egg) so look for the “vegan-friendly” mark.
Rami Levi’s Thin Schnitzel
Shnitzel is a staple dish in Israel and one of the favorite lunch meals for kids is Shnitzel with ketchup. Some people eat corn Shnitzel that’s vegetarian.
Recently the Rami Levi Brand (belongs to the supermarket chain) released a new vegan schnitzel that is actually pretty great. Unlike the ones with corn or spinach Rami Levi’s schnitzel is thin, more similar to the real things. The texture is pretty good and the flavor is great since it has the same breadcrumbs around the “meet” that help imitate the real thing.
Others
Pesto
Pesto is one of those products that you would imagine would be vegan (I mean it’s just basil and nuts) but most Pestos contain dairy! The percentage of adiry in these products is so small it makes you wonder if they put in there just so it won’t be vegan.
In Israel, luckily, (mainly due to Kosher rules) you can find 2 Pesto brands that are vegan: one is Italian Pesto (by Olivia) and the other one is Classic Pesto (by Presko). I like the latter more since it has the classic taste of pesto with no “Italian add-ons.”
Tofu
In many countries, you would have to go to a health store or an Asian market but not an Israel. You can find tofu in any supermarket here and there are about 5 brands that sell it.
Recently, Tnuva, the “dairy queen,” or to be blunt, monster, has realized the power of the vegan community and released their own tofu in different flavors and it’s a huge success! My favorite is the Provance style tofu (purple package).
Ice cream
Cornetto (Tilon in Hebrew) by Strauss
In the past year, Strauss released the beloved ice cream in a cone in a non-dairy, vegan version!!! I’ve been waiting for this one for a long time.
For now, you can’t find individual vegan Cornetto in different kiosks but only in a pack of 6 in the supermarkets. Look for the purple or green package with the vegan-friendly mark.
Solero
Strauss also released the vegan version for the fruity Solero.
Fantasia
This ice cream cake is the coolest! So many layers of vanilla and chocolate cream and in between crunchy chocolate layers. It’s perfect for the vegan that has friends over and doesn’t know how to bake so instead serves them with a delicious vegan ice cream cake.
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