Would You Eat Vegan Cheese?
In many ways, food is still a big mystery. Why is it so hard to replicate the simple act of melting cheese without using casein, the proteins that make your bechamel smooth and your pizza melty? That's what NPR's The Salt asks in a post about the quest to cook up the perfect vegan cheese: able to be melted and shredded, rich with umami, and containing no animal products. It's harder than you would think -- the perfect blend of emulsifiers and stabilizers isn't easy to get right.
Whether you're a longtime vegan or spend a lot of time working on your night cheese: would you eat vegan cheese?
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Cracking The Code: Making Vegan Cheese Taste Cheesier from NPR's The Salt
Written by: Food52
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5 Comments
insecureepicure
May 3, 2012
I have not eaten cheese for about 10 years and I miss it. I am not a huge fan of processed foods, but I have to say, once and a while a little Daiya quesedilla hits the spot!!
Miranda R.
May 3, 2012
Yes! sure it's processed, and it's sort of funny that their big selling point is simply "it melts!" but that Daiya stuff is awesome.
Boofimus
May 3, 2012
Probably the best "cheese" cake I've ever eaten was at a Vegetarian Society bring-and-share event, and was made with vegan cheese. I don't see anything wrong with rice milk or soy milk or whatever, so the fact that a product made from these things is marketed as being 'kinda like cheese' doesn't particularly bother me. I see eating a looking-like-meat meat substitute like Quorn as being quite different to dairy subs.
Nozlee S.
May 3, 2012
I totally agree with your point! Michael Pollan's "Don't eat anything your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food" applies to engineered vegan "cheese" product too. I don't eat a lot of cheese (or dairy, really) in my everyday cooking and between ALL the other things there are to eat, I don't really miss it!
Although my big sister, who's a vegetarian but not a vegan, claims that Daiya makes even better quesadillas than regular cheese does...
Although my big sister, who's a vegetarian but not a vegan, claims that Daiya makes even better quesadillas than regular cheese does...
cassiem
May 3, 2012
I wouldn't! For some reason, I feel like the choice to be vegetarian and vegan is to step away from these types of foods + find viable, whole food alternatives. I was a vegetarian for a long time, but would not eat meat or dairy substitutes. This piece makes me want to examine that choice more deeply. :)
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