❓What is gelatin made from, and which foods should vegetarians watch out for?

Gelatin is made by extracting collagen from animal skin, bones, and connective tissue (most commonly pork skin or beef bone) and hydrolyzing it — it's a genuine animal product, and a lot of vegetarians overlook it. Foods that commonly contain gelatin: gummy candy, marshmallows, some yogurts (used as a thickener), jelly and pudding, some capsules (medicine or supplement shells), some ice cream (for smoothness), some beers and wines (used in the filtering process — the finished product usually doesn't retain any, but the process itself uses it), and some mousse cakes and cream-based desserts. On packaged food, the ingredient list usually just says 'gelatin' outright, which makes it fairly easy to spot. If the label uses a vaguer term like 'gel' or 'gelling agent,' it's worth contacting customer service directly to confirm the source. For alternatives, look for clearly plant-based thickeners like agar, carrageenan, or pectin — more and more gummy and dessert brands are proactively labeling products 'plant-based gelatin' these days, so keeping an eye on the packaging will save you a lot of guesswork.