Vegusto

[refinnej]

Has anyone tried this yet? They have some in at Vx in London, and I'm hoping to pick some up next week (assuming it's still in stock!)

[harpy]

I'd never heard of it before I read this! I guess from where you've put the message it's about the fake cheese though I see they also do fake meat (including pet food!)?

Please let us know what it's like if you get some.

[Andy_T]

If you can get it in the UK, by all means try it out!!!

Vegusto's 'No-Moo-Cheese' in the 'strong/spicy' variety is the ONLY vegan cheese I have tasted so far that was very close to 'real' cheese, and tasty one to that. It has a very nice garlic tang to it and I would compare the taste with a spicy 'Gruyere' or 'Appenzell' Swiss cheese. If you are a vampire or otherwise opposed to garlic, then it might not be for you, as the garlic is vital for that spicy taste. It does not melt and the consistency is a bit too hard (crumbles easily), but the taste is most amazing IMO.

It was among the first batch of vegan cheese alternative I tried out. The package contained 'Pural Cheezly', 'Bute Island Sheese' and the 'No-Moo spicy'. To make a long story short, half of the 'Cheezly' got thrown away, as it sat about a month in my refrigerator before it went moldy. The Sheese got eaten, because it was obviously not as delicate as the Cheezly, it also sat in my fridge for nearly a month. The 'No-Moo' was finished on the day the delivery arrived, even my omni wife (who was very sceptical about the idea of buying vegan cheese) devoured it.

I have since that also tried the 'normal' version of their cheese, it is ok, but very much like other run-of-the-mill vegan cheese alternatives, definitely not as good as the 'spicy'. That is really a special cheese IMO. They also have one called 'Melty' (you get the picture), but I have not tried that yet.

Best regards,
Andy

[pusskins]

OMG - they do Currywurst??!! And SO many other lovely things!! Thank you for posting about this :D

[harpy]

I think it would actually be fairly easy to make one's own currywurst using vegan sausages such as those Taifun ones from Waitrose. I've had vegan currywurst in Germany a couple of times and it seemed to be ordinary vegan sausages with a sauce made out of curry powder and ketchup or something like that :p I'm sure Andy can tell us more!

I think I may have seen some of those Vegusto products in Wholefoods but there again I may be imagining it. Their full range looks quite impressive. They also have cookery videos in German which I ought to watch to improve my German but the one I tried was quite difficult.

[pusskins]

I know - I just get excited about discovering new products :o I'll have a quick look in Wholefoods when I'm next that way.

[refinnej]

Sorry, yes, it vegan cheese I'm interested in. They made some mock meats though as well (all vegan). Here's their UK page: http://www.vegusto.co.uk/

Will post back if I ever get to try some. :D

[Andy_T]

I think it would actually be fairly easy to make one's own currywurst using vegan sausages such as those Taifun ones from Waitrose. I've had vegan currywurst in Germany a couple of times and it seemed to be ordinary vegan sausages with a sauce made out of curry powder and ketchup or something like that :p I'm sure Andy can tell us more!


Haha, indeed. Although I am not sure I am the right person to comment on Currywurst, as I have only tasted the vegan version, never the 'real stuff'.

Basically it is fried sausage covered with a spicy ketchup sauce and curry powder. Rumour has it that it was invented by a creative Berlin snack restaurant owner who wanted to offer something to British and American officers after the war, so she put ketchup (for the Americans) and Curry (for the Brits) over the (German) sausage. Basically a great way to cover up the vegan-ness of the fake sausage ;-)

Best regards,
Andy

But, I would guess that homemade curry sausage (preparing the sausage and then adding homemade curry ketchup and powder) would be better than something that was in a tin/plastic bag for a long time. But again, I only know that one.

[harpy]

Thanks, Andy. I quite liked it when I had it but I'm not sure I would want to make a habit of it. I think it was actualy the sauce I had reservations about rather than the sausage, but as you say you can't really taste that :D

Yes a curried sausage would be a different proposition altogether. I wonder what a good way of serving that would be? Maybe they have a video recipe about that on their website too. (Am having trouble understanding their demonstrator, who I think is Swiss, so was pleased when a German teacher (from Germany) told me that she had trouble understanding Swiss German as well.)

[Andy_T]

Harpy, look here: Unfortunately not a video recipe:
http://seitanismymotor.com/2010/03/05/curryw/

There was an interesting TV documentary a few months ago in Germany, where they were presenting (like always in recent time) vegan food to a wider audience. One of the pieces showed a fast food place, where they substituted the meat sausages with vegan sausages and the cook served them as currywurst to the patrons. They did not notice it, did not complain, and when they asked one of them specifically how the sausage was, he really praised it like 'THIS is how a currywurst needs to take, that is what I need to have every day ..."

(OK, I am a bit wary about TV 'documentary' producers scripting the 'unaides responses' of their participants, but still..)

Best regards,
Andy

[pusskins]

That looks lush, Andy_T. And, if you felt positive about that documentary, then that's good. Don't try to discredit it!

Going to try making me some currywurst soon ;)

The stuff looks so good on that site. I'll be going to Vx soon - haven't been before - so I hope I can pick up a Vegusto treat or two!

[Andy_T]

I have made my own curry sausage (the second time I ever ate it) by putting the Branston hot chili and jalapeno relish (that was mentioned in the other thread just yesterday, what a coincidence) on some vegan fried sausages. Not the same (I did not even have curry), but quite nice (and quite spicy).

Best regards,
Andy

[harpy]

Yay for spicy sausages, however they acquired their spiciness.


One of the pieces showed a fast food place, where they substituted the meat sausages with vegan sausages and the cook served them as currywurst to the patrons. They did not notice it, did not complain, and when they asked one of them specifically how the sausage was, he really praised it like 'THIS is how a currywurst needs to take, that is what I need to have every day ..."

Can you remember whether the told them that it was a vegan sausage at the end? If so, how did they react?

[Firestorm]

If its any use to anyone, Redwood sell Curry Sausages.
You can get them from Goodnessdirect http://www.goodnessdirect.co.uk/cgi-local/frameset/detail/412934_Redwood_Organic_Curry_Sausages_180g.html

You can also buy Viana Currywurst from Veggiestuff http://www.veggiestuff.com/acatalog/viana_tofu_king.html

[harpy]

That's interesting Firestorm - will investigate those, though I am hoping to go to Germany again before too long so must be careful not to take the edge off my desire for currywurst ;)

[jj]

Ive just bought some No Moo cheese & it really tastes like really cheese. It melts too just like the real stuff.
I did try to order it from vegusto but they send it from Switzerland and its very expensive on the shipping.

My partner found it available in the UK online and the delivery is standard price
http://www.alternativestores.com/ethical-shop/food-and-grocery/vegan-cheese/cat_396.html

The piquant is my favourite but the herb cheese is also very nice. The melty is good too and if you leave it our of the fridge you can spread it on bread/toast/crackers

Very nice

[harpy]

That's an interesting link, jj, not only for the fake cheese. For example, I see they have vegan ballet shoes which is something I'm sure people have asked about before.

[farplace]

I got some of each from Alternative Stores and the Melty is amazing with crackers. The original is good too. In fact, none of it lasts long and the rescue chickens here had to have my remaining cheezly

[harpy]

I ordered some of this pseudo-cheese from Alternative Stores too - they didn't have all the kinds in stock (seem to have restocked now) so I ended up with 3 different ones, one of which I've given away.

Of the others I've tried the snack squares which I must say taste very authentic as far as I can remember after 17-odd cheese-free years! They are a bit sort of dried up though - like cheese rind? Maybe I shouldn't have ordered them during the heat wave :D Will report back when I've tried the remaining one.

[refinnej]

jj thanks for that link. We just scored 3 kinds this week from Vx.

I thought the melty was gnarly, but the man liked in on his pizza and on bread. He thought it was fab.

The dezent (sorta mild) was the best tasting I thought, but the classic had a better texture. I really don't think anyone could distinguish the classic from a dairy cheese. Looking forward to trying some of the sharper varieties, as I loved orange cheese back in the day.

[harpy]

Oh good, I think the one I have left apart from the remaining "rind" squares is the "dezent" one. At the risk of re-opening old wounds :D how did you think the melty one compared with the melting versions of Cheezly? I see farplace likes this one better...

[refinnej]

I think we've only had the melty Cheezly once maybe, and aside from the no-soya Cheezly, I didn't like any of them. This one was not completely repulsive, but I'd not buy it again if it weren't for the man. I'll have to give him a poke to come and post in here, as he's much more of a vegan cheese connoisseur than am I. :p

[harpy]

I'm not really a big fan of vegan "cheese" either refinnej - even though I quite liked this one, it mostly made me think "why am I bothering with this stuff instead of proper food"?

I do occasionally like to use the melty Cheezly in cooking though, e.g. slice thinly on top of leftover veg and pasta and shove in oven (not sure we should really dignify that process with the name "cooking" :o)

[Firestorm]

I quite like Vegan cheese and I really want to buy some of this, but my job situation is a bit dodgy and the moment and I cant afford to spend money on it (it is quite expensive compared to redwoods which doesn't taste great).

At the moment, I mix some soya yogurt with nutritional yeast and grated Cheezly or Sheese and this fulfills my cravings.

[Marrers]

I thought the walnut vegusto was very tasty although as it is almost 20 years since I've had dairy cheese I can't say how convincingly cheese-like it is - but my veggie cheese-loving o/h thought it tasted like dairy cheese. I got mine from Vx and I think it was £5.20 or something like that so if you are buying enough to make the postage worth it it is cheaper online.