Cheese Addiction
Posted by Cheezees on Aug 01, 2007 · Member since Jul 2007 · 322 posts
I'm having a really difficult time giving up cheese otherwise I'd be considered vegan. Does any know any good cheese substitutes that
1) don't taste like salted rubber strips and
2) melt evenly?
Please help! ;)
As a former cheese addict who went vegan... I'm sorry to report that there probably aren't any substitutes that will satisfy you. At least, NOT RIGHT NOW. But if you get some distance on cheese -- get a few months apart from it -- then you'll start to be able to appreciate cheese substitutes for the way they taste, and not just the way they resemble cheese. That's why it's hard to appreciate them now -- because even though there's a good taste there, the taste seems bad, because it's so easy to evaluate the taste in terms of how closely it resembles cheese.
That being said, I think that Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella is delicious, melts pretty well and is very close to real mozzarella. But would I have said the same when I had only recently given up cheese? Who knows? For a long time I thought all cheese subs were worse than useless. I still think fake cheddars pretty much all suck. Nutritional yeast is yummy in a pinch, once you acquire the taste, if you haven't already -- although there the similarity to cheese is much lower. Doesn't melt, of course, but you can make a cheese sauce with it. Try Lady Dragonfly's bulk dry uncheese, it's delicious!
Thank you!!! I'll try anything at this point. I'm pretty much disgusted by the fact that I eat cheese. I think of it as rotten cow's milk (especially blue cheese - that's just decomposing cow's milk...lol) but I just love the taste :P I'm sure I can acquire a taste for it much like I acquired the taste for vanilla soy milk (which I can drink day in day out)
I agree with nothing being 'just like cheese'. That said, I really like veganrella, it melts really well and is rice and oat based. The texture is slightly grainy before it is melted (not after), though it is not at all rubbery like I find soy cheese to be. Remember to appreciate it for its own thing and hopefully it will have a close enough resemblance to beat that addiction! ;)
Have you tried making any of the Nutritional Yeast Sauces from this site? That's what I crave now! You can even make grilled cheese with it, nachos, omelettes, etc......much better than store bought slices.
If you really love it, I wouldn't give it up. You'll have to decide what is most important to you, especially if you don't enjoy the substitutes.
I think your after the salt in it. I thought I heard cheeses have a lot of salt in them.
I'm sorry to report that there probably aren't any substitutes that will satisfy you. At least, NOT RIGHT NOW. But if you get some distance on cheese -- get a few months apart from it -- then you'll start to be able to appreciate cheese substitutes for the way they taste, and not just the way they resemble cheese. That's why it's hard to appreciate them now -- because even though there's a good taste there, the taste seems bad, because it's so easy to evaluate the taste in terms of how closely it resembles cheese.
I agree. I loveeee cheese, but withing the past two months I've been slowly letting it go, and now its rare that I crave it. In fact if I have the choice of eating a veggie cheese slice or something similar over actual cheese, I will choose the the veggie version. I think its just a matter of getting your body use to not needing it, like many other thing sin life! :)
Yes, I too must agree. You will never find vegan cheese that tastes AS good and delicious as the real stuff.
However, as others have said - quit cold turkey. Go a few months without cheese. Then try the vegan stuff. At which point, your body will be like "oh, wow, it's just like cheese." Fortunately, our bodies are easily fooled. ;)
Although, to be honest, I still don't eat vegan cheeses. My body hasn't managed to be fooled, lol. I just go the nutritional yeast route and make sauces from that.
Thanks guys !!! :D
I love cheese but after eating it I feel slightly sluggish. It's the only salty food I really crave. I live in New York City so there are many alternatives accessible to me...I just don't know what they are...lol. And knowing my luck, I'll try all the bad ones first and become discouraged. I'll check out Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and some health food stores now that I know some of the brands to look out for.
Thanks again everyone !!!
Thanks guys !!! :D
I live in New York City so there are many alternatives accessible to me...
This is true Cheezees...BUT also living in NY makes it hard because there are sooo many cheese shops, like uhhh, MURRAYS CHEESE!!!! Sorry not trying to make it hard on you, but their cheese ROCKS!!! :D
Thanks guys !!! :D
I live in New York City so there are many alternatives accessible to me...
This is true Cheezees...BUT also living in NY makes it hard because there are sooo many cheese shops, like uhhh, MURRAYS CHEESE!!!! Sorry not trying to make it hard on you, but their cheese ROCKS!!! :D
Girl, don't I know it. Even Whole Foods has some delectable organic cheeses (yeah I tried 'em). But stop trying to sabotage my plans!! (j/k) :P Oh well, guess I just have to increase my resolve....
Thanks guys !!! :D
I live in New York City so there are many alternatives accessible to me...
This is true Cheezees...BUT also living in NY makes it hard because there are sooo many cheese shops, like uhhh, MURRAYS CHEESE!!!! Sorry not trying to make it hard on you, but their cheese ROCKS!!! :D
Girl, don't I know it. Even Whole Foods has some delectable organic cheeses (yeah I tried 'em). But stop trying to sabotage my plans!! (j/k) :P Oh well, guess I just have to increase my resolve....
My former job use to have "Friday Hangouts" at the office, and usually we would have all these tasty fruits like figs, apples, berries and wine...and what goes better with that other than...CHEESE. We would get cheese from Murrays and Whole Foods. Let me tell you it was delectable !!!! But hey my cheese intake has gone done to almost zero, so if this cheese lover right here did it, no sweat, you can totally do it :)
Thanks for the encouragement Kennedy. When it's something I never really liked (like meat or soda) it's pretty easy to give up but with cheese it's torture.
i too am a cheese lover. i've given it up pretty successfully, but i'm having trouble finding something that satisfies my cravings. i'm still optimistic though! i do want to say that you should watch out for some cheese that claims to be lactose/dairy free. i bought some "vegan" cheese at my regular grocery store and it has a "trivial" amount of milk...trivial or not, it still has milk in it. i was fooled which is strange for me b/c i usually check the ingredients of EVERYTHING!!! just watch for that stuff and good luck!!! ;)
Yeah, Veggie Slices has casein from milk in it. Very misleading IMO. I can understand having a cheese marketed to lactose intolerant people rather than to vegans -- but calling it "Veggie Slices" sounds to me like they're marketing it to vegans not just LI folk, and so I expected it to be vegan.
UPDATE:
So I just came back from Whole Foods and while I didn't see any of the brands some of you recommended, I picked up a Galaxy Nutritional Foods Vegan cheddar flavor soy block. It looks like rice cheese but hopefully it has a better taste. And of course I read the ingredient list this time. It was really 100% casein and lactose free.....no trace amounts BS. I'll let you guys know how it tastes later.
OK, so I tried the Galaxy Nutritional Foods Vegan cheddar flavor soy block and turns it it tastes just like rice cheese. Barely tolerable. I will not be purchasing another in the near or distant future. Guess I'm going to have to go it cold turkey. No more cheese for me. *sigh* :-\ :( :'(
Ok...bought some veggie shreds. I'll make some lasagna with it and see how it goes. If it doesn't work out, I'm officially giving up. :'(
I like the follow your heart brand, just not cold. I use the cedder for grilled cheese or mac & cheese & the mozz for manacotti or lasagna....It can be tricky to work with,you generally have to heat it longer at a higher temperature than you would cheese, but it does melt & give you that creamy texture you crave.
Cheese (and pop rocks) have been the hardest things to give up going Vegan. I usually just substitute some sort of oily, spicy American substitute in recipes that need it.
Two suggestions though. One is to find a local vegan restaurant (if we have them in Boston, they've GOT to have them in NYC), and try the same taste-testing Tofuttiebreak suggested. We have a vegan pizza place that I haven't been to yet, but I bet they'd answer questions even if a Yankee fan called: www.scallywaggles.com
Second suggestion, and I'm eager to hear what others think: find a nice, friendly cow farm that doesn't use calves for veal, seasonal calving, sustainable agriculture, etc. Visit to see how they're treated, and buy pounds and pounds of cheese! I'm hoping to plan a weekend visit to Chase Hill farm (per the suggestion of a friend who's done organic veggie farming for years). http://www.newenglandcheese.com/companies/chasehill.html ???