I am a veggie wanting to go vegan

[bodybalms]

But, I have...get this, no joke...a horrible, horrible, soy allergy. Hows that for being veg for 4 years. anyway, I am need of any ideas for non-soy yogurt, cottage cheese and cheese if possible, I currently do rice milk, eggs from a nurse at my work (they are her pets and run in her yard without any medications given to them). i did try one brand of rice cheese and a rice yogurt but no bueno. I want to cut out the dairy all together and maybe the eggs as I cant stand the idea of the cows being made to produce for my selfishness. help....
Thanks for any help,
melissa
bodybalms

[chickpea_chica]

I can't recommend many products as I'm in the UK. Also, I think a lot of people would disagree that eating eggs is vegan in any circumstance, but obviously that's a whole separate issue and I don't really want to go off on a tangent. Where exactly are you living?

[Risker]

Do you need to have vegan equivalents for those foods? Why not just eat other things?

Eating soy isn't a requirement of veganism, I barely touch it and I know many others don't eat it at all.

As for the egg issue, there's a thread on vegans and eggs here - http://www.veganforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1370 (note: vegans don't eat eggs)

[harpy]

Hello. That's tough but there are quite a few vegans who avoid soya either completely or for the most part - if you have a look in the soya section of the forum you will see some discussions.

[edited to remove superfluous information]

However rather than look for replacements for dairy foods you might be better off adding 'ordinary' vegan foods that you like to your repertoire and then you may eventually find that you don't need these things after all. There are quite a lot of soya-free recipes on the forum, particularly (I think) in the raw food section.

[edited again to add] I suspect bodybalms knows about vegans not eating any eggs but may be phasing them out gradually, which some people find easier?

[bodybalms]

thanks so much for all the replies! i totally know vegan is egg free. i am wanting to go vegan but am meat free, and phasing out dairy and currently still eat the eggs from my friend and yogurt and cheese (i do buy rennet free and organic but I want to remove them as well). I wanted to know if anyone could help with any suggestions on some ideas of what I could do to "replace" the yogurt and cheese i eat. i am in the dallas/ft. worth area and just got back from whole foods with yet another rice cheese type. Perhaps some suggestions to help me with the transition on recipies?
Thanks,
Melissa
Body Balms

[treehugga]

Almond, rice or oatmilk? Make bechamel sauce with these and add nutritional (savoury) yeast & fake chicken stock to make a cheesy tasting sauce to use on toast, pizza's etc.
Somewhere I have a recipe for potato cheese which I got off this forum. I'll see if I can dig it out, although I haven't tried it yet.

[Roxy]

There's also a hemp milk alternative. Personally, I didn't like it, but lots of people I know like the flavour.

[treehugga]

*Best Vegan Mac and Cheese in the entire world...seriously*

Ingredients (use vegan versions
<http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=15403.0>):

1 1/2 cups of plain soy milk <http://vegweb.com/glossary.shtml#Soy Milk>
1 cup of water
1/3 cup of tamari <http://vegweb.com/glossary.shtml#Tamari> or soy sauce
1 1/2 cup of nutritional yeast
<http://vegweb.com/glossary.shtml#Nutritional Yeast>
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon vegesal or in lack of fancy product, just use salt
1/4 of a block of firm (not silken) tofu
1 cup of canola or vegetable oil
1 1/2 lbs of pasta of your choice preferably macaroni
a relatively large baking pan (like a brownie pan)
1 dollop of mustard (optional)

Directions:

This is very simple and tastes amazing!

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Boil water in a big pot for the pasta.

All of the ingredients sans pasta can easily go in a blender liquid and
powdered this is by far the easiest way and the only was I do it.

Once pasta is cooked drain I and put it in the baking pan pour the
cheese sauce over the pasta.

[Korn]

Do you need to have vegan equivalents for those foods? Why not just eat other things?

That's what I normally recommend also... some people will say that it's just as hard to make a plant based emulation of dairy cheese, cow's milk or eggs as it would be to make meat/dairy based, or "fake" kiwi, peanuts or chili...

Nevertheless, many have tried. Some vegans use cheese/milk/meat replacers, others don't. Personally I haven't liked the taste of cow's milk since I was a child, but still use rice milk now and then.

Melissa, maybe it would be good for you to check out these subforums:


No dairy
Vegan cheese (Hooked on cheese)?

You'll find a lot of posts in these subforums, and there are many products to choose from. You're clearly not alone in wanting to find something that feels/tastes like what you used to eat before!

I'm from Norway, and know that many (non vegan) Norwegians who move to other countries often spend time trying to find a goat cheese that reminds of the goat cheese they can get in Norway (with no success) - so it's not only vegans who'd like to keep eating what they used to eat. I guess if you like the taste of something you for some reason can't or won't eat, it's only natural to want something as similar as possible - at least for a while. After a time without that product, you'll miss it less and less - and most likely just come to the point where you're not thinking about it it all (before you possibly will start thinking 'how could I ever eat that?').

But please have a look in the sections I mentioned - we have tons of posts about replacing milk and cheese with other products! The bottom line is probably that you have to try a few things and see what you personally like - maybe you'll discover new things you can eat and drink which doesn't really remind of cow's milk or cheese, but which you may want to continue to use anyway - or maybe you think the emulation is convincing. Anyway - good luck!

[treehugga]

Cookbook:Cheddar (Vegan) - Wikibooks, collection of open-content textbooksWikibooks
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Cookbook:Cheddar (Vegan)
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Cookbook | Recipes | Vegan Cuisine | Breakfast
A vegan cheese that mainly consists of potato, oil and soy.
[edit] Ingredients

Vegan cheesemashed potatoes (5 large, hard boiling potatoes, 750g - 1kg) (or
potato starch?)
corn flour (or breading mixture, Paniermehl)
soy sauce (20ml) or yeast extract
optional:
salt or celery salt
bear's garlic, garlic, any other herbs, e.g. paprika, thyme, rosemary,
cumin, oregano and savory
onions
seasoning mix (corn flour, salt, chili, onion, garlic, paprika, sodium
glutamate), or Mexican Taco Seasoning Mix
seasoning mix "Chili" (1-3g), e.g.: Chilies, orange peelings, sesame,
paprika, traces: celery and mustard.
vegetable stock (1-5g) (salt, yeast extract, corn flour, sun flower oil,
onions, carrots, spices, parsley) (commercially available)
unrefined sugar (or sugar not refined using the char method)
pepper
rice
popcorn
rapeseed oil or other vegetable oil (20ml)
vinegar (10ml)
agar (that wasn't very successful, it didn't change consistency much)
[edit] Procedure
Boil potatoes until they are not quite done. If the potatoes are not
completely done the resulting substance may be sliceable, although it will be
easy to spread anyway.
Take the mashed potatoes and add soy sauce and yeast extract generously and
mix it with some margarine and/or some rapeseed oil. Some corn flour, breading
mixture or wheat flour help to make the substance drier and, in case of corn
flour, add significantly to the taste. (soy flour is unsuitable here due to
its taste). A small amount of lecithin powder can be added as an emulgator but
is not really necessary. It it's healthy and, being hydrophilic and
lipophilic, it binds together the water and the oil.
Mix the ingredients. The substance should take on the consistency of peanut
butter but have more the color of cheese than anything else.
The taste isn't yet close to cheese but getting closer. Corn flour, either in
a seasoning mix or just plain corn flour gets us closer to cheese now. If you
add enough seasoning mix the color will be much closer to peanut butter now
but you may opt to leave away the seasoning mix altogether and just add corn
flour, separately or with the vegetable stock. Adding cumin is also highly
recommended. Another alternative is the Chili season mix, which can also be
combined with other spices, for example vegetable stock, sugar and cumin.
Vinegar may increase durability in the refrigerator but more than 4 days are
not recommended.
You can add bear's garlic, garlic, onions and/or any herbs you like (e.g.
fresh Thyme) to the cheese. A pinch of sugar can add to the taste but may not
be compatible with all other spices.
Fill the substance into a small, round form, to give it the form of a cheddar
cheese.

I haven't tried this - so can't vouch for it! But nothing ventured nothing gained!

[harpy]

As regards cheese that you might snack on, as opposed to cooking with, a lot of people use hummus and other bean pates in a similar way (i.e. with crackers etc or in sandwiches). I don't know if the same is true where you are but here a variety of hummus-type dips, most of them vegan, are sold in supermarkets, and you can also improvise your own with different beans and flavourings.

[bodybalms]

Thank you all sooo much for the ideas...i REALLY like the potatoe one as it is soy free Yeeehaw... i did buy some hemp milk at whole foods and the rice cheese i mentioned earlier....wow, all i can say it is was not good at all...sucked...but, it did have me and hubby laughing so hard... the choclate hemp milk is good and i think i will add it with the rice and almond i use. i love hummus and i think I am going to have to just give the cheese up and not find a "replacement". i am joining a local veggie co-op that also teaches breadmaking, and am going to search even more on this site for recipies. i would like to make firm, non-slimy seitan as well. i have tried to make hummus but it came out grainy... hum, another reason i so NEED a vita-mix....hehehe thanks again all of you for embracing a newbie like me and helping me to learn!
Melissa
BodyBalms