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Vegan cheese has quietly but steadily infiltrated mainstream supermarket shelves

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Re: Vegan cheese has quietly but steadily infiltrated mainstream supermarket shelves

#151

Post by nerdponx »

jjcon wrote: post #2

> Vegan Cheese Is Ready to Compete With Dairy. Is the World Ready to Eat It? I’m vegetarian and my partner is vegan - I’ve tried every vegan cheese on the shelf. The answer is no because it’s not even close to ready. It might pass an initial taste test where you say, that’s not so bad, but then you pick up on all the things it’s missing. Sometimes the aftertaste is terrible, sometimes the texture or versatility. Mayb…

Vegan cheese is junk food. When you bake it into mac & cheese or melt it on a hamburger it does a great job. When you want to actually enjoy some cheese it's not even close to equivalent.

It also has approximately zero nutritional value, although the nut-based cheeses I guess have some fat and protein.

It's not really meant for regular people to enjoy. It's meant for vegans, people with dairy allergies, and other people can't or won't eat cheese to have the ability to enjoy the memory and suggestion of cheese.

I personally am very very deeply grateful for the existence and excellence of Daiya in providing me with a melty cheese-like food product that reminds me enough of real cheese that I can have fun eating it. But I'm not about to suggest that vegan cheese is and equivalent for real cheese made of milk from a cow, goat, sheep, etc. It's a substitute.

It's like Impossible meat. Yes, it makes a good burger, but you aren't going to get an Impossible Steak any time soon, and no it doesn't really taste like beef. It's still just chunks of soy protein (and it sits in your stomach the way you'd expect chunks of soy protein to sit).

Re: Vegan cheese has quietly but steadily infiltrated mainstream supermarket shelves

#152

Post by mumblemumble »

willcipriano wrote: post #132
mumblemumble wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious, which brand was it? Can you find a picture of the packaging? I'm morbidly curious to see what this alleged train wreck looks like. I've honestly never noticed a brand that I thought was hard to identify. They usually prominently feature language like "alternative" or "-style shreds" or whatever. I'm not even sure why one of these companies would try to make the nature of the product well-hidden. Their go…

Looks like they updated the package: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Plant-Based-Mozzarell... The one I had that plant based logo was a quarter of the size and it did not have leaves like that on the front. Also that white plant based text was a few shades lighter than the background (that was previously sky blue) making it hard to read. Admittedly I should've seen the "style" part and looked further, also I s…

Ha. Even the current packaging isn't that hot.

Leave it to Wal-Mart to screw that up. I bet they were so focused on sticking to the "Great Value" graphic design manual that they ended up deciding that clearly conveying all the critical information on the label would have ruined their branding consistency.

For what it's worth, I can tell just by the ingredients label that that stuff is gross. Potato starch, coconut oil, and some unspecified "natural flavor" that's somehow more than 2% of the ingredient bill? No thanks.

Re: Vegan cheese has quietly but steadily infiltrated mainstream supermarket shelves

#153

Post by Mediterraneo10 »

mesh wrote: post #50
CarelessExpert wrote: post #17

There's something unexpected about this aspect of veganism, which is often embraced by those wanting to lead a healthier lifestyle, resulting in the development of more and more advanced food processing technologies designed to synthesize the experience of foods being excluded from the diet. Basically, in the quest to return to a more healthy, natural diet, some folks end up moving to foods that are more and more pro…

In my experience, the vast majority of people go vegan out of concern for animals, and not primarily because they want to be more healthy. Doing a quick search seems to support that, but perhaps the trends / reasons are changing as veganism in general becomes more mainstream. https://vomadlife.com/blogs/news/why-people-go-vegan-2019-gl... https://vomadlife.com/blogs/news/why-people-go-vegan-2019-gl...

Note that the The China Study book a few years ago (and its accompanying cookbooks) brought some people to adopt a solely plant-based diet, but without necessarily referring to themselves as "vegans". Of course, people following such movements may still be a minority of all plant-based-diet eaters, but they are out there if you search beyond fora calling themselves specifically vegan fora.

Re: Vegan cheese has quietly but steadily infiltrated mainstream supermarket shelves

#154

Post by auiya »

jjcon wrote: post #2

> Vegan Cheese Is Ready to Compete With Dairy. Is the World Ready to Eat It? I’m vegetarian and my partner is vegan - I’ve tried every vegan cheese on the shelf. The answer is no because it’s not even close to ready. It might pass an initial taste test where you say, that’s not so bad, but then you pick up on all the things it’s missing. Sometimes the aftertaste is terrible, sometimes the texture or versatility. Mayb…

>I’m not saying it’s all terrible

I'll say it then - it's all terrible. There's so many great vegan foods out there, fake cheese is not one of them.

Re: Vegan cheese has quietly but steadily infiltrated mainstream supermarket shelves

#155

Post by mtlewis »

pmoriarty wrote: post #78

Is there a good vegan substitute for hard, sharp cheddar cheese, or for blue cheese or gorgonzola? I've never seen anything that comes even remotely close.

Here in the UK, there’s a product called Veganzola made by a small company called Honestly Tasty. It’s incredibly close to the cow’s milk version.

Re: Vegan cheese has quietly but steadily infiltrated mainstream supermarket shelves

#156

Post by ThaDood »

subculture wrote: post #136

There's certainly a trope of "...but I can't give up cheese" and as someone who went from vegetarian to vegan: Yeah, cheese is hard to replicate. But also: your body and tastes adapt. After a few weeks off of dairy our memories of those old textures and mouth feel start to fade and are replaced. Humans don't like changes in patterns, but at the same time are relatively quick to adapt to new ones. There's real addicti…

This is a great point. My evidence is anecdotal but I became a vegetarian about 5 years ago. I used to hate all of the meat substitutes as the tasted "off". Now, after a few years of not eating meat, I could not tell you what chicken or meat would taste like and I have grown fond of some of the alternatives.

Re: Vegan cheese has quietly but steadily infiltrated mainstream supermarket shelves

#157

Post by delecti »

barbazoo wrote: post #106
Accacin wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm vegan, and probably not. I've heard that most vegan substitutes are processed heavily so not really more healthy (and probably less healthy than non-vegan options). However, I do still eat them on occasion. Sometimes after a 30km run, all I think about is burgers so when I get home and sit and have vegan burger with vegan cheese. It may not be as good as the 'real thing' but it hits the spot :)

After 2 years or so of eating vegetarian I don't think that meat burgers are actually better. First of all, a burger is all about toppings and condiments. And vegetarian patties have come such a long way, texture and flavor wise, it blows my mind. Compared to the boring and ever the same taste of meat it doesn't even come close for me.

Agreed. I've accidentally gotten a few beef burgers since I stopped intentionally eating meat, and at this point I prefer impossible burgers over beef. I still haven't found a sufficiently satisfying ham (always just tastes like bologna) or breakfast sausage (too dry) yet though.

Re: Vegan cheese has quietly but steadily infiltrated mainstream supermarket shelves

#158

Post by izgzhen »

CarelessExpert wrote: post #17

There's something unexpected about this aspect of veganism, which is often embraced by those wanting to lead a healthier lifestyle, resulting in the development of more and more advanced food processing technologies designed to synthesize the experience of foods being excluded from the diet. Basically, in the quest to return to a more healthy, natural diet, some folks end up moving to foods that are more and more pro…

A related question I always had is why many vegan people are pushing so hard for a substitute product just to simulate the flavor of flesh —- many Asian food like Tofu are vegan and natural. Why not embracing and inventing more types of naturally plant based recipes rather than pushing for fake meat?

Re: Vegan cheese has quietly but steadily infiltrated mainstream supermarket shelves

#159

Post by mtlewis »

Here in the UK there’s a number of small companies making some really delicious vegan cheeses, and some of them are starting to show up in organic supermarkets. Anyone based in London who’s interested in exploring what’s available should make a visit to La Fauxmagerie in Shoreditch - they have all the best stuff. Otherwise, some brands to try are Honestly Tasty, I Am Nut OK, Kinda Co, and Tyne Chease, all of whom I believe have online stores.

These companies are all getting extremely close in terms of flavour, but I’ve not personally tried anything that replicates a stringy melty mozzarella to top a pizza. That’s the holy grail for me.

Re: Vegan cheese has quietly but steadily infiltrated mainstream supermarket shelves

#160

Post by captainredbeard »

ccmonnett wrote: post #127
xdennis wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your objective is terrible. The ability to eat as much animal products as you desire is synonymous with living in a first world country. A future where we can no longer do that is backwards.

Your ability to eat as much food as you desire is synonymous with living in a first world country. The ability murder as many animals as you want is not the desired state I look for when thinking about the world in which my child to grow up. A future in which that is synonymous with status is backwards - to me.

Well, you can choose to not contribute to animal-based agriculture. Similarly, I do not want mine to grow up in a world with forced veganism. Who wins in this conflict? I would say you keep your morals in your court for such contentious issues, to do otherwise is maliciously aggressive.
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