Casein?

[Abascas]

i was look at the ingredients of some soy cheese that my mom bought for me, and one of the ingredients is "Casein" and it says it's a milk protein. i'm confused on as to if this actually comes from a cow or if it's something else.

[assilembob]

it's from a cow. most soy cheese is not vegan.

[Abascas]

thanks for the info, though if most soy cheese isn't vegan, then who are they margetting towards? that just doesn't make sense to me. but yeah, i really know what vegan cheese will taste like, but i'll find out eventually i guess. be well.

[Mr Flibble]

lactose intollerants.

[Abascas]

i guess...but it seems silly to have it be soy based but then just kind of throw in some cow. what does the casein do anyway?

[Tigerlily]

I believe casein helps it melt and be more realistic to regular cheese.

Soy cheese is also marketed towards "health concious" omnivores and lacto-ovo vegetarians who may want to limit their dairy consumption (but not entirely).

[snaffler]

On UK based note all our popular soy cheese is 100% vegan and VS apporved, that is wrong that they are using animal products in the US sorry to hear that guys.

[Tigerlily]

Yeah, it's quite frustrating as a new vegan. There's a few brands that call themselves "Veggie Cheese"...which is even more confusing for a lot of new vegans.

[SandraD]

I read that casein, well when it's separated from milk it's a glue. The glue that keeps the sticker on a beer bottle and holds furniture together. Seems like it would do ghastly things to your insides. :eek:

I believe I read that on either notmilk.com or milksucks.com

[kriz]

lactose intollerants.

Casien can also trigger reaction in lactose intolerant individuals.... so it seems to me that they market to vegetarians not vegans and dairy intolerants. But that makes no sense either because vegetarians do eat dairy....:rolleyes:

[Tigerlily]

My boyfriend is a lacto vegetarian and he tries to limit his dairy. He's not ready to go full vegan yet but he choses products like Amy's tofu lasagna (contains casein) over their cheese lasagna, for example. He's slowly trying to limit his dairy consumption and I guess that's a way that works for him.

[Seaside]

There are also people who don't want cholesterol or saturated fat. Those are the people the whole "fake" meat and cheese industry got started for in the beginning, except for Loma Linda, the Seventh Day Adventists' line of facsimile products.

Casein gets altered by the liver into casomorphins (as in morphine, the drug), which cause mild addiction in baby animals. Its what keeps them wanting to nurse, and makes weaning quite a chore for most mothers. Its also what addicts people to animal milk and milk products.

[LishaVi]

I had the hardest time finding soy cheese without Casein in it. It was like a treasure hunt.

[Bic]

When I first turned vegan my dad (in an attempt to be supportive) bought me Veggie Cheese and I read the lable wondering what was in it. I think the third ingredient had "milk derivitive" in parentheses so I had to tell him I couldn't use it. I'm betting it was casein. :rolleyes:
I see the stuff whenever I go out shopping now because it's in what I consider the vegan section (ie. vegan fake-meats, tofu, hummus, various organic veggies, vegan ready-made dinners, etc.).

[eve]

Casein gets altered by the liver into casomorphins (as in morphine, the drug), which cause mild addiction in baby animals. Its what keeps them wanting to nurse, and makes weaning quite a chore for most mothers. Its also what addicts people to animal milk and milk products.
Casein is the reason that cheese is so addictive, and many vegans find it the hardest food to give up. Yesterday a friend told me she has been putting on weight lately, and then she mentioned a new gorgeous cheese. I suggested it may be the cheese is the cause of her weight increase. I did say that cheese is more addictive than cigarettes or heroin. She denied this but said she would never give up cheese. Hmmm.

Incidentally there is a vegan soycheese here that is totally vegan, made by Kingland. :) There's also an American cheese we occasionally get, Tofutti, that is apparently vegan.

[classicalgeek]

I have heard that vegan lactose is being manufactured from maize, and I have been unsuccessfully trying to obtain some to experiment making a true vegan cheese using combined vegan milks and vegan cultures. Can anyone offer pointers - I'd be so grateful.
____
Chris

[stargazer]

"follow your Heart' brand makes many different varieties of truly Vegan cheese. It is the only one I buy. They also make a fantastic 'mayo' sandwich spread substitute, that is so good it really is superior to any 'real' mayo

[absentmindedfan]

Casein is the reason that cheese is so addictive, and many vegans find it the hardest food to give up. Yesterday a friend told me she has been putting on weight lately, and then she mentioned a new gorgeous cheese. I suggested it may be the cheese is the cause of her weight increase. I did say that cheese is more addictive than cigarettes or heroin. She denied this but said she would never give up cheese

Yup, it stimulates the release of opiates into the brain, just like heroin. Chocolate does the same, as does alcohol and many addictive drugs. It's not that you're addicted to them, you're addicted to your body's response to them. It's why many people crave these things and can eat and eat and eat them, especially as comfort foods.

[msbliss]

"follow your Heart' brand makes many different varieties of truly Vegan cheese. It is the only one I buy. They also make a fantastic 'mayo' sandwich spread substitute, that is so good it really is superior to any 'real' mayo

I love that stuff. I used to be the world's biggest mayonaise lover (the kind of person who would just glob it on) and I thought nothing would ever replace it but Vegenaise is so excellent.

I have found that true vegan cheese smells funny and leaves me wanting the real thing too much so I try to avoid it.

[Yoggy]

I know cheese is addictive, but I wouldn't say it's as addictive as heroin. My cousin is addicted to heroin and she abandoned her 3 year old son on his birthday to move to the city with her new drug dealer boyfriend so she could feed her addiction. I don't know anyone who would do such a thing for cheese.

[absentmindedfan]

I'm not implying it's as addictive as, but it does trigger similar feelings

[Yoggy]

Oh yes, I agree that it probably triggers similar feelings as other addictive drugs. My post was more to Eve, who said that cheese was more addictive than cigarettes or heroin, and that I definitely disagree with.

[Mr Flibble]

On UK based note all our popular soy cheese is 100% vegan and VS apporved, that is wrong that they are using animal products in the US sorry to hear that guys.

Is this strictly true? I admittedly haven't checked in a few years but Soya-Kaas that was readily available in UK health stores used to contain casein.

(Can't find any current info, maybe it doesn't exist anymore? Waybackmachine: http://web.archive.org/web/20010813102801/www.ans-natural.com/soya_kaas.htm)

[creativegan]

I just bought some veggie cheese and then found out that it had casein.....it was really frustrating. I guess I should read the stupid labels more often but it was misleading. Check out this article on this very subject: http://www.newstarget.com/003217.html

And another on casein & cancer: http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/37/3/749

[frank language]

Casein is the reason that cheese is so addictive, and many vegans find it the hardest food to give up. Yesterday a friend told me she has been putting on weight lately, and then she mentioned a new gorgeous cheese. I suggested it may be the cheese is the cause of her weight increase. I did say that cheese is more addictive than cigarettes or heroin. She denied this but said she would never give up cheese. Hmmm.
My sister gets a look in her eyes like a heroin addict when I suggest to her that dairy might be the cause of all the "childhood" diseases she's gotten in the past few years--tonsillitis, ear ache, what have you.

"I would never give up cheese! It's my favorite food!" she says. I reason that most people can eat cheese without any problem, just as most junkies can maintain their habit just as long as they control it.