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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

#171

Post by sova »

jl6 wrote: post #108

I have tried all the easily available vegan cheeses and have found them tolerable at best , except for one occasion where a food truck served a plant-based burger with smoked vegan cheese. I don’t know which type of vegan cheese it started as or how they smoked it, but they did achieve something that was more than tolerable. Just. Until the tech improves I will prefer to stick to burger toppings like sliced tomato, a…

In Colorado, there is a local company making small batches of vegan cheese that they also mail out for large enough orders. It's not going to melt like normal cheese, but it does a much better job than the other ones I have tried. Their cheddar is really good. It seems like a hard recipe to crack and this company is the closest to it so far in my opinion. https://www.peacefulrebelvegancheese.com/

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

#172

Post by La1n »

xdennis wrote: post #133
underseacables wrote: post #100

I’ve always found it interesting that vegan “cheese” is still considered cheese. Should it be cheese-food? or imitation cheese?

The EU has protections these sort of brand dilutions. You can't call it cheese if it doesn't come from milk and you can't call it milk if it doesn't come from a teat.

Which is weird to me, coconut milk has been "milk" for over 300 years.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coconut%20milk

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

#173

Post by ben_w »

xdennis wrote: post #161
ben_w wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They’re clearly using the word in the moral sense rather than the legal sense.

So in the wrong sense? This squeamishness is a product of the infantilization western culture seems to be going through recently. Hopefully immigration from 2/3-world countries (e.g. me) helps fix it.

It’s a perfectly legit use of the word. Words are not defined by God; they get their meaning though use, and Merriam-Webster records one such use is “to slaughter wantonly”.

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

#174

Post by css »

Pfhreak wrote: post #82
endisneigh wrote: post #6

Leaving aside for a moment the morality of eating meat and dairy - is there actually any (health) benefit to the heavily (and I mean heavily ) processed dairy alternatives compared to just eating regular cheese?

Milk has quite a bit of sugar, many of the milk replacements are higher in protein and lower in sugar, or have different macronutrient profiles. Also, I like the flavor and mouthfeel of things like oatmilk. I'm also not convinced that milk is not a 'heavily processed' commodity. You are just using a pregnant cow to do a lot of the processing.

> Milk has quite a bit of sugar

Sugar content without regard to glycemic index [0] is meaningless. Cow milk contains lactose, which has a very low glycemic index. Most milk replacements use maltose, which has almost double the glycemic load, making them significantly less healthy than actual milk (since they are all basically sugar and canola oil [1]).

[0]: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mnfr.201901082

[1]: https://every.to/almanack/oatly-the-new-coke-821556

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

#175

Post by stonesweep »

fooblat wrote: post #90
eatbitseveryday wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> stop thinking of certain vegan cheeses as substitutes for animal cheeses Why do we even begin with naming vegan food products after the items they are meant to represent? "Cheese" is made from milk. "Vegan cheese" as a label is specifically targeted at being "like milk cheese" and thus intends to replicate it. If you want > Why can't it just be treated as a food in itself? we should entirely dispense with imitating…

Where I live in the EU, a product cannot legally be labeled as cheese if it does not meet the official definition of cheese, which includes being made from milk. We also have lots of vegan "cheese" type products with funny names like "Keese" and "Cheez" and some are pretty good. I like keeping the names clear because no one gets confused and buys the wrong thing.

In the US it's the same, the FDA has regulations and all the (not real cheese) items have either a funny name ("cheeze") or have something like "imitation cheese product" or "cheese food product" (I've seen a number of different labels over my life) to indicate it's not real (milk) cheese.

https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFR...

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

#176

Post by whynotkeithberg »

xdennis wrote: post #137
ccmonnett wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> murder Please show me the law.

Yeah veganism is 100% a first world privilege.

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

#177

Post by qudat »

tartoran wrote: post #37
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…

> The answer is no, 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. I tried these and agree. My wife is vegetarian and I started to rarely eat meat but cheeses are still a staple in our house. However, vegetarian burgers are ready for prime time. They are my new thing, if you didn't tell I'm eating vegetarian burg…

> However, vegetarian burgers are ready for prime time.

Agreed. I eat meat but love veggie burgers.

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

#178

Post by sevencolors »

dfgasdgsd wrote: post #9
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…

(partner is also vegan) - Miyoko Garlic Herb is the only one I've ever had that is "good" in my opinion. It's definitely not cheese, but as a picnic cheese/crackers situation I actually might like it more than a cheese version.

Agreed, Miyoko's is the closest to a real soft cheese. Makes sense as they age them to get those fermentation flavors

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

#179

Post by qudat »

armoredkitten wrote: post #98
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 find the meltiness is really what kills it for me, in most cases. If you're wanting something to add to a charcuterie board or to put out with your appetizers, there are a lot of great cashew-based cheeses that do a pretty good job at mimicking softer cheeses. They're a bit pricey, but probably close to the price you'd spend on a quality dairy cheese. But once you start trying to melt vegan cheese...things get a li…

> If you're wanting something to add to a charcuterie board or to put out with your appetizers, there are a lot of great cashew-based cheeses that do a pretty good job at mimicking softer cheeses.

Agreed! They are different but equally delicious.

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

#180

Post by tpoacher »

eatbitseveryday wrote: post #72
derbOac wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So my wife and I are vegetarian and I love certain vegan cheese, the naturally cultured ones where you essentially have a plant product that is cultured with cheese bacteria. My experience with this stuff is similar to a lot of things in vegetarian diet, which is that the problems come about when you start trying to create imitations of animal products. I do not want to suggest that people "just don't like vegan chee…

> stop thinking of certain vegan cheeses as substitutes for animal cheeses Why do we even begin with naming vegan food products after the items they are meant to represent? "Cheese" is made from milk. "Vegan cheese" as a label is specifically targeted at being "like milk cheese" and thus intends to replicate it. If you want > Why can't it just be treated as a food in itself? we should entirely dispense with imitating…

I don't mind people calling something "vegan cheese" or "vegan milk" or "milk alternative" etc. But I do mind people calling it "cheese" or "milk" intentionally when it's a vegan alternative, revelling in the confusion, just to give the impression that they're interchangeable and it's really no big deal if you get the vegan version instead.

Like, wtf is almond milk? When I was a kid, almond milk was super tasty, and it was basically normal milk mixed in with sweet almond sherbet. What's wrong with calling the vegan almond milk "almond-based milk alternative" if it's not actual milk? If you asked me for almond milk and I gave you actual "almond milk" (i.e. the dairy kind) and it turned out you were vegan, you'd be pissed off, right?

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