Vegan cheese - any good?

[trudatman]

oh, and ask the restaurant what type of cheeze they use. they'll tell you.

[bugaboo]

thanks and True Dat!

[Vegan_baby]

oh hey Vegan Baby. I just went to Montreal for vacation in May and I found it difficult to find a place that had vegan food. I ate at Le Commensal almost every meal, but, even there, I found it hard to find something vegan. You must not eat out at all, eh?

I notice the Quebecois are much more dairy oriented than other Canadians.

Dairy is huge in Quebec. I almost never eat out. Next time you're in Montreal, there is a store next to Toys'r'us in brossard called Tau, they are montreals best bet for vegan food.

My son eats vegan too and believe me the "dairy industry" is after him constantly here. Lucky we don't take any crap from anyone ;)

ps. also, the next time you're in montreal you have to stop in at the "Sky".

[Sarah_viva]

Hi everyone, I've been vegetarian since the beginning of the year and have always wanted to take the next step to veganism and I've finally done it :d I'm loving the variety of food but I'm struggling to find a substitute for cheese! I've tried vegan cheese and to me it tastes like plastacine lol. Is there any good cheeses out there, or wat can you use instead for example, to melt on paninis or grate onto jacket potatoes or pasta bakes? Thanks

[Gorilla]

personally i didn't enjoy cheese substitutes until a long time after i went vegan. try to think less about replacing cheese and more about enjoying non-dairy substitutes as foods in their own right. they taste better when the memory of eating cow cheese is less fresh in the mind. good luck.

[missbettie]

well put Gorilla, totally agreed! I hated the fake cheese at first but now I found one that I really like, but I live in the states so ya...

[Sarah_viva]

Yeah thanks...I do view a lot of vegan products as foods in their own right but it's hard with cheese lol! I'll look out for some and try them all until I find one lol. If not I'm sure I'll get over it :D Thanks for your help xxxx

[pudding06]

sarah - I agree with gorilla, however i started with the vegan parmesan, which is very different to parmesan but sprinkled (sparingly) on pizza or over spag bol/ pasta is very acceptable.

I have sound that using small amounts of vegan mozzarella is acceptable now that my tastes have changed, and the toffuti cream cheeses are brilliant, just like I remember soft cheese to be like.

my favourite cheese is the toffuti cheese slices ( cheddar ones)- they are so nice - just like good cheese slices, I use those on jacket potatoes instead of 'hard' cheese and its really cheesy.

good luck

nicola

[daines]

Does nobody like those redwood cheezy cheese slabs?! Just me then, very yummy.

[emmapresley]

i like em..meltin mozzerella.. yum.
the first time i tried thought it was rank..now even the hardcore omnivore in our house gets overexcited for a vegan pizza made with this stuff.

[Gorilla]

Does nobody like those redwood cheezy cheese slabs?! Just me then, very yummy.

i like Redwood cheese, but i wouldn't eat a big chunk of it on its own like i used to with cow cheese. i need it to be mixed with other strong flavours for it to be palatable.

[harpy]

Yes, I like cooking with the Redwood stuff but am not very keen on eating it on its own.

That reminds me, I've still got that jar of their fake feta that I bought at the vegan fair staring at me from the fridge...

[auntierozzi]

I've also got some fake parmasan at the back of my cupboard. I stocked up on it in the UK and didn't like it. There don't seem to be any vegan cheeses in France and so I've never cooked with any just eaten some in England which I wasn't that keen on.

[Gorilla]

That reminds me, I've still got that jar of their fake feta that I bought at the vegan fair staring at me from the fridge...

hmmm, i was craving a Greek salad the other day, and was wondering if it was worth buying any of that or just leaving the cheese out altogether! did you try making a Greek salad with it, harpy?

[harpy]

Well, I haven't actually opened it yet so I could try that, Gorilla. When they made it before I used to use it for spinach-and-feta pies (but actually their ordinary fake cheese is just as good for that).

[Gorilla]

i've made myself a Greek salad for lunch today with the Cheezly feta. i just put some cherry tomatoes, green salad leaves and chopped red onion in a box and emptied the entire tub of Cheezly over it. i think i have way too much oil on it, it's quite greasy, i'll drain the Cheezly first next time. it's still very nice however. no olives though, i hate olives. :p

[harpy]

Oh good - will give that a try but follow the oil-draining tip.

Manufacturers seem quite generous with oil in jars of sun-dried tomatoes etc as well - I suppose they have to cover the stuff properly to preserve it. I never know how to dispose of the leftover oil, unless it's olive oil in which case it can be saved for the next salad.

[Memma03]

Yeah I've had both the mozarella and american flavour tofutti vegan cheese slices and they are delicious! especially on some vegan bread w/tomato sauce! mmm

[harpy]

My pseudo feta was a couple of days past its sell-by date so I ended up putting it into the aforementioned feta and spinach pie with filo pastry, which worked well. I will try and find some more to make a salad - didn't fancy it "raw" when it was past its prime :o

[Gorilla]

probably wise harpy, although i suppose the oil it's swimming in probably helps preserve it a little. glad it worked well in the pie! :)

[harpy]

Yes, you're probably right about the oil, Gorilla. I knew I was going to be sitting through a 2h40m-with-no-loo-interval opera last night so I thought I'd better err on the side of caution :D

[Gorilla]

haha :D

[Jippia]

I found Redwood's Cheezly and I liked it very much. I like all of their products I have tasted so far. I am even willing to travel to another town for that. I am currently finding myself liking Tofutti Cheddar slices, but only on a grilled sandwich with vegan salami so far. They have a rather sweet taste and I really had to get used to that. Dutch cheeses are saltier. I quite like them now.

[alessioisonfire]

never tried them because some of the ingredients listed look a bit nasty.
normally if i make pizza i use cheezly mozzarella and it's delicious.
i've seen it being used at a vegetarian/vegan place here in berlin that does vegan pizza, which is where i actually found out which kind of vegan cheese it was :)

[Sarah_]

I love tofutti cream cheese. tubs and tubs of this stuff go in my house.
that's about it.
But I have bought this white packaged sandwich cheese that's good in a sandwich but NOT on its own. I don't know what brand it is, but I think the label was purple? All I remember is that it said VEGAN on it.