Is there a good Vegan Cheese?

[Jeff]

I bought some Follow Your Heart brand vegan "cheddar" from Rainbow last week. One little slice into this rubbery, gelatinous mess and i knew I was in trouble. By itself it tasted gross! Kind of like a really bad nacho cheese sauce. I used it in some vegan enchiladas with onions, zucchini, and black beans, and it was somewhat better. Is there actually a "good" vegan cheese (sans casein of course)? If so, please tell me what it is, and tell me other ones to avoid.

Jeff

[tammy]

I only know of two vegan cheeses - one from the people that make Vegan Rella and the other is the one you mentioned, Follow Your Heart.

In my experience/tastebuds (and from what others also say), Follow Your Heart is the better of the two. Vegan Rella doesn't melt at all whereas Follow Your Heart will.

So... maybe you should check out the "Uncheese Cookbook" by veggie cookbook author extraordinaire Joanne Stepaniak and really just try making your own vegan cheezes. I think the key to remember is that these "alternatives" or "substitues" will not taste like their animal-based counterparts.

But, over time, they will get better because of a combination of products improving as technology and recipes improve and you will also forget what aniimal-based cheese tastes like

[Carl]

Thanks Tammy, I'll check out that book. I've been using nutritional yeast in place of cheese when it works, but sometimes it just doesn't work. Making my own cheese-like (I resist calling it "fake cheese or fake anything) sounds like a good idea.
When I consider replacements for animal products, I almost never want it to taste like "the real thing." Considering "the taste of meat" actually churns my stomach. However, something chewy/juicy goes into my choice of vegi dogs, for instance. Words to describe the subtle nuance of flavors is difficult. Anyone out there have skills in this area of words? Having a language to describe flavors that don't also require naming animal products would be valuable in my cooking and writing skills

[LHLisavegan]

Jeff & Carl,

I haven't found any vegan cheeses that I enjoy, although some people do enjoy them.

Cheesy or cheese is ok as a term in any recipe. Just as milk doesn't mean it comes from an animal source (cow's milk, goat's milk, etc.), but can be made from soy, almonds, rice, etc. and can still be called milk, cheese made from non-animal sources is cheese, not fake cheese.

In order to avoid confusion, you can give it an adjective, such as vegan cheese, soy cheese, rice cheese, whatever. As far as adjectives to describe flavor, it would depend on the recipe. I personally have learned to live without cheese and cheese-like flavors even though when I was an omnivore and a lacto-ovo vegetarian sharp cheddar cheese was one of my favorite foods.

I find most of the recipes in the original and revised UnCheese Cookbooks by Stepaniak to be too complex and with too many ingredients that I wouldn't use for other dishes so I haven't tried any, but if you like to cook I know a few vegan cooks who really enjoy some of those recipes.

I also think that eventually vegan cheeses will be available that taste more like the ones of animal origin.

Until you find vegan cheese that you like, I hope that you enjoy the plethora of vegan foods available.

[veganrebel]

Raw Vegetarian make cheese that aren't bad. These cheeses are nut or seed based and generally creamy. . Try out cheese at a local raw food restaurant in the area and if you like it, you can make your own cheese from recipes on the internet or rawfood recipe books.

[Guest]

I was gonna say the same thing..Ive had some really yummy raw vegan cheese! They actually make cheese from a culture..just like dairy cheese is made...so therefore its not a buncha chemicals trying to mock cheese...
speaking of which I had the most delicious to die for piece of raw vegan cheesecake at cafe grattitude the other day. It was probably the best piece of pie/cake anything Ive ever had!!! I highly reccomend it!
John

[cafeganesha]

I'm not a fan of vegan cheese either, at least not the ones I've tried. They were soy cheeses, but I noticed "rice cheese" one day when I was at Bob's Red Mill in the Portland area (my hometown). I found this interesting, but didn't buy it or check the ingredients. The other day I was at Whole Foods and found a brand of rice cheese slices, but they contained caesin so I didn't get any. I was wondering if anyone has tried rice cheese? And if there are any vegan brands of it?
_________________
Save the whales. Collect the whole set. Turn them in for valuable prizes.

[michaeloa]

Tofutti (Cream Cheese) and Soyco (Galaxy Food - a whole line of block,slice, shredded cheddar, swiss, mozz, etc) make alt. chesse, both of which I have found to be pretty good. We carry Follow Your Heart (Cheddar), Tofutti and Soyco (Sour Cream and Cream Cheese) as well as Rella where I work and prefer the Soyco Tofutti.

[tammy]

This isn't a fake cheese per se, but we made this INCREDIBLE cheeze-like sauce from "The Saucy Vegetarian". It was sooo yumm.

"I Can't Believe It's Not Cheese Sauce".

I love nutritional yeast gravy and thought this might be something along those lines. I was pleasantly surprised to find the primary ingredient in this was tahini, and white miso also gave it a slightly sharp, aged taste. Chris and I both thought it very yummy. Oh, Chris did think it had a cheddar-y taste, but -- disclaimer -- neither of us have had cheese in over a decade.

It also was a great dressing on a sandwich, too, with some tofurky slices and spinach.

Here's the recipe:

"I Can't Believe It's Not Cheese Sauce"
3/4 cup water
6 tbsp tahini
2 tbsps nutritional yeast flakes
2 tbsps fresh lemon juice
2 tbsps chopped onions (*)
2 tbsps sweet white miso
1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt

(*) used 2 green onions

Place all ingredients in a blender and process until creamy and smooth.

Author Stepaniak recommends this for elbow macaroni and lima beans; whole-grain toast points with sliced tomatoes; yukon gold potatoes and collard greens.

Try it, and let me know what you think!

[jaigopalkaur]

Jeff,

If you're anywhere near Santa Cruz, or if you ever visit Santa Cruz, stop by Staff of Life. In the "dairy" case near the salad bar and the bakery, you'll find something called "Richard's Dairyless Cheese." It's pinkish in color and is soft and creamy and amazingly good. It's made from cashews and lemon juice and spices, with a hint of roasted pepper. Good luck on your cheese quest!

Andrea

[tammy]

Vegan cheezes have gotten alot better in the nearly 2 decades that I've been vegan -- Follow Your Heart actually melts and makes a great pizza! But that's actually the only way I like the cheeze -- cooked. I don't like it in its natural state, just out of the package.

Anyways, I've heard for awhile that the vegan cheezes in the UK are much better, but I wasn't really too concerned. (After all, I'm here in California; where am I going to find European cheezes?) Well, after quite a few people told me about them, Sheese and Cheezly, I was curious.

These 2 products are both made in Scotland, and come in multiple flavors. I had an opportunity to taste the "extra cheddar" flavors in both brands.

Both Scottish vegan cheezes tasted good enough to be eaten straight out of the package, much better than the U.S. vegan cheezes.

I'd have the cheeze just sliced, out of the package, on a toasted bagel and it was delicious. The texture/taste reminded me of cheddar (except the color wasn't orange like the dairy-based cheddar I ate in my pre-vegan life), and it made awesome sandwiches when I'd pile in Tofurky slices, lettuce, avocado, cucumber, etc. If I had to pick a winner, it'd be Sheese, by just a narrow margin.

Unfortunately, these 2 brands aren't carried locally and I only bought them while visiting in the UK.

But I understand from reliable sources that you can get them mail-order through the typical places that sell vegan foods ... so, just thought I'd share in case anyone is having a cheeze craze or wants to start lobbying local stores to carry them!

[Mark Hawthorne]

So far, the best store-bought cheese alternative I've had are the soy-cheese slices from Tofutti. They taste great in sandwiches, on burritos and, best of all, they really melt! They make awesome grilled-cheese sandwiches.

The only market I've seen these in so far is Oliver's (in the North Bay), but I'm sure they're available in many other places. Here's the Web site: http://www.tofutti.com/cheese.shtml

Mark
_________________
www.strikingattheroots.com
See my new activism blog at https://strikingattheroots.wordpress.com/

[mike]

We have been having a wonderful time making pizza with a product made by Vegan Gourmet. After not eating "faux-cheese" for so many years I'm finally getting to play with it as a fun ingredient because I really like this product. Because: a.)It slices easily;B.)"melts" a little bit;C.)Taste's nice. It's a tofu based cheese with agar and irish moss mixed in. Good stuff. And I'd recommend it to everyone. Especially vegan pizza chefs like me!

[tammy]

For a quick minute there, I thought this was a new vegan cheeze I google'd and Vegan Gourmet is actually the product name of what is also commonly called "Follow Your Heart "

Since this thread started, there are TWO vegan cheezes now being sold locally in the Bay Area

The UK Sheese is available in SF at Feel Real (see http://www.bayareaveg.org/blog/2007/10/08/sheese-in-san-francisco ) -

Sunergia (which I keep wanting to spell Sungeria) has introduced a new vegan cheeze. Even the little health food store in Pacifica has it so they have a good distribution. I've also heard it's at Mollie Stone's in ... San Bruno or SF (not sure)

I always recommend to call and confirm with the store before making any special trips

I agree, it is fun having vegan cheeze to do fun foods with ...

[plutorobin]

This stuff is amazing!!!! Until a couple months ago, I had never ever had a vegan cheese that I really liked. I went to NY in May and there's a pizza place in Brooklyn that uses it, and it was the best vegan pizza I had ever had (even better than the pizza at Felinni - which was my favorite until now). So, the reason their pizza was so good is that they use TEESE. Teese is made by Chicago Soy Dairy, which also makes a mean chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream that I made a triple tiered ice cream cake out of for a friend when I was in Kentucky once. So, my partner just so happened to be visiting KY right after my Teese experience and I asked him to pick some up while he was there. It comes in these little red tubes, and even has the consistency and taste of cheese right out of the package. Upon calling the company to find out how we could get more of this living in CA, they said that it should be sold in Rainbow Grocery by the end of June, which is next week folks!!!! Woohoo. Vegans rejoice! Pizza parties galore.

P.S. If you do throw a pizza party, please remember that Robin told you about the Teese and should therefore be invited. Oh, also, the only restaurant in the bay area that I know of that uses Teese currently is a sandwich shop called Ike's.
_________________
Love Always,
Robin
¸..· ´¨¨))  -:¦:-
    ¸.·´ .·´¨¨))
  ((¸¸.·´  ..·´   -:¦:-

[tammy]

Hey Robin, thanks for sharing the news about Teese being at Rainbow. Have you tried the UK vegan cheeze? That's what I'd like to see, someone who has tried both and how they compare. Til now, I've thought the UK vegan cheezes are the best! Maybe there is a need for a homemade pizza party!

Tammy

[LHLisavegan]

I've actually grown fond of Follow Your Heart vegan cheeses. I didn't like one of those British versions: the one you liked the best Tammy and the one I bought at Food Fight Grocery. I guess our tastes all vary.

[Nym]

nutritional yeast is one of my much beloved recent discoveries. so good in everything
i look forward to trying the sauce suggested by tammy

[tammy]

Let me know how you like the cheese sauce

Oh, that reminds me!

Now that New Leaf community market has moved to Half Moon Bay, and I have convenient access to all these wonderful specialty vegan foods, I have been buying some prepared vegan foods that I would normally not buy -- like the vegan American Cheese slices .. and making huge sandwiches based on an idea from The Breakroom Cafe in Oakland.

Basically, a sandwich with an extra piece of bread in the middle that helps hold the sandwich's shape when ya stuff it full of stuff.

Here's what I do:

1) Bread, Nayonaise, About 6 Tofurky slices with vegan American cheese slice -- heat in microwave for about 45 seconds so both are warm, and avocado

2) Bread

3) fresh tomato slices and (optional) layer of spinach OR a few fresh basil leaves

4) Bread

Alternative -- substitute a layer of jalopenos in lieu of avocado

Cheers,
Tammy