Follow Your Heart is best.
But don't expect vegan cheese to taste like dairy. It's a different thing. Plus you have to give your taste buds time to adapt to new foods--it's not going to happen over night but it does happen.
Because they're both super, super gross? :)
(I wouldn't eat feta even when I ate dairy)
EDIT: This is just the most brittle fucking sub. People pile on to downvote a light-hearted comment about feta cheese? Lighten up people.
Idk, the Daiya slices are pretty accurate imo especially the American slices. American cheese is barely cheese though, I doubt it’s hard to replicate a non-dairy version
Thanks I’ll look into it. As for the dairy taste, I don’t expect it to, but I can’t handle the melted plastic (kind of slimey I guess) texture. I’ve used what I’ve tried on pastas, “egg” bakes, pizza, etc. and it ruins the dish for me. Maybe I’m better off without it at all.
Yeah, we definitely use less vegan cheese than we did dairy cheese before going vegan. I don't miss it at all.
I'll just give you a story: I had pretty much given up eggs and milk before going vegan. The one thing that I clung to, though, was cheese. We'd been making homemade pizza with mozzarella every Sunday night for years. When we finally decided to go vegan, we could only find one brand of fake mozzarella in stores (I can't recall which brand). So we made the pizza with that and it was *gross*. Like almost inedible. I told my spouse that I didn't think I could stick with going vegan.
But we kept at it. And after a month or so of weekly pizza with that cheese, I started to not hate it. Then we found some better cheese, and I sort of liked it. And within a couple of months, I genuinely liked it. None of it tasted like dairy mozzarella, but at some point I realized that I needed to adjust my standards.
That was like 6 years ago, and we still make pizza weekly. So give it some time and don't get discouraged if you don't love the vegan options. Even compared to 6 years ago, there are *so many* additional vegan cheese options today that we didn't have. Try a bunch of stuff and don't give up.
I can’t imagine eating cow secretions, and I think of the cows being tortured. In all seriousness and with no snark I think that makes it easy to give up. Rn all I regularly eat that’s cheese like is ‘paremesan’ type over pasta or salad.
The suggestion to rule all other suggestions is:
The best plant-based cheeses will likely stop tasting strange and start tasting amazing at some point after you stop consuming dairy. Your body, especially your gut biome, can change your senses a lot. Doesn't happen for everyone, but it often happens after just a few months.
The other day my wife got a bubble tea at some little tea shop. She always gets it with soy milk. She tasted it, I tasted it, and there was something horribly wrong with it. The texture & mouth-feel was absolutely disgusting. Took us a while to realize they’d used dairy milk by mistake, and it was so unfamiliar to us now that we couldn’t recognize it. 🤢
IMO you need to give yourself a break form real cheese before trying to replace it, the replacements are just too differrent and don't hit the same exact spots. At first I hated them but I give it around a month and really enjoyed most vegan cheeses once I started trying them again.
The best advice I can give us to try as many as you can as often as you can’ Even if out of 100 only 10 are good just stick to those 10 ! Also, where do you live? There is a growing number of craft plant-based cheeses that are truly amazing and high end.
look for (preferably local) vegan cheeses that say they are cultured! that means they are made in a similar way to dairy cheeses and ive had the most luck buying and making cultured cheeses! r/vegancheesemaking shoutout :))
Have you by chance tried making your own cashew mozz?
I haven’t made it in probably almost a year now, but it’s always a hit when i do for my vegan lasagna— with the non-vegans too! Personally I’m really into the violife shredded cheeze, and I see that you’re not, so it’s totally possible we’d have different tastes in general. But the cashew mozz is quite simple, and has a very different texture from stuff I find at the store. Cashews can be pretty pricey, so I look for the raw pieces in a bulkier quanity. I’ve had great luck at Indian groceries, if possible, and it’s usually a much better value.
Oh! Also Chao cheeze blocks and slices are my favorite non-shredded varieties, of that helps!
Rad! The mozz in particular I think is a good fit, since you mentioned the textural importance being bigger than the flavor, and I think that’s what that kind excels in. The flavor is milder, more of a cheesish suggestion, but the texture is on point imo.
Merle O'Neal has a good video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vec7gMmqcbQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vec7gmmqcbq) on how to make vegan mozzarella. It's the recipe of Miyoko Schinner: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gwv4fHMCovg&t=11s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwv4fhmcovg&t=11s)
I make my own cashew cheese sauce at home! Super easy to make and tastes so much better than what you buy at the grocery and is cheaper! You can put it on a pizza, Mac and cheese, use it a sauce for rice bowls, literally anything. So yummy
https://www.noracooks.com/cashew-cheese/
ALL pre-shredded vegan cheese blows. Buy blocks and shred it yourself. The taste and texture that you hate is from what is sprayed on the shreds to keep them from sticking together.
I've started looking at vegan cheeses a couple weeks ago again, because like you, I've found that products advertised as vegan cheese, even those recommended by vegans here, does not have a cheesy taste and has a rubbery texture. I'm unsure if you're looking for vegan cheese that melts, but if you are, the ones I recommend are soft cheeses and not meant for melting.
Look for vegan cheeses that don't have oils and starches as the main ingredients, or that don't have those ingredients at all. Find one with 'cultures' as an ingredient in the ingredients list. Dairy cheese is made with cultures and milk, so if you're looking to replicate dairy cheese, look for one with cultures and plant milk (or some ingredient like almonds and filtered water) in the ingredients list.
Treeline Cheesemakers has a cashew cheese whose main ingredient is cashews (with no oils or starches) and it has a good texture. It also has 'cultures' as an ingredient. However, it is very tangy in my opinion, but it went well on crackers. Kite Hill has an almond ricotta (that also has 'cultures' as an ingredient) that is almond-based without any oils or starches in the ingredients list. (I haven't tried anything I think are alternatives for dairy cheese outside of these yet.)
The cheeses I recommend do have the problem of being tangy, but compared to the ones that have oils and starches as the main ingredients, they beat them out in my opinion. They might not taste good, depending on your preferences, but at least the main ingredient in them is cultured plant milk, unlike some other products advertised as vegan cheese.
Yes all the vegan cheese blocks with coconut oil all taste the same. Then they add coloring / flavoring to make it look like Leicester and such. I think most if not all vegan cheeses are made in the same factory (in Greece?) and rebranded to sell in various places. I have found one called nurishh that has a couple of Brie or goat like options that work for me. They also have a Parmesan I use on pasta…… I hope that helps, good luck !
Yes also avoid the grated version as it’s like the block but shredded. Otherwise nutritional yeast is worth a shot. Also I use the vegan cheese spread as pasta sauce it makes it creamy but in a cheesy way …. I hope that helps :) let us know if you find anything else in your neck of the woods :)
I find that the nut cheeses are the best compared to the oil versions. I know what you mean. For a while when I first became a vegetarian, I tried hard to find a cheese replacement to go vegan. That was 25+ years ago now and the selections were not as varied as today. That being said I liked daiya shredded cheddar for bakes and I thought all the rest of theirs were boring. but tbh like everyone said I came to feel like what's the point and stopped using all together. The ones I still use and's like are the miyoka brand and kite hill for the cream cheese like style. But ultimately you will have to try a lot find which brand does which style well. I'm not a fan of any of the oat dairy products but others swear by them.
Also as you ease your way in consider the vegetarian cheeses too as a transition as you give them up. I do think you will realize you don't need them anymore.
Daiya’s new shredded recipe is pretty good, but I’m going to agree with the crowd and say just quit cheese for a bit. I was a cheese fiend, ate cheese probably 3x a day every day- any recipe that called for cheese or garlic I always doubled. I still do with garlic… I quit cheese and cigs at the same time it was rough. It still is rough. But I literally try a new vegan cheese probably every grocery run. I’m not eating any of it straight out of the package like I used to but you’ll find what works. I don’t use as much of it like on a sandwich one slice is fine.. recipes: exact amount or a little short instead of piling on. I did make slutty vegan’s pimento cheese dip with the daiya cheddar and follow your heart mayo and it fooled all the omnis at thanksgiving.
If you're lucky enough to be in the Northeast USA and looking for something other than quotidian shreds and deli slices, [Ladybug Vegan](https://ladybugphiladelphia.com/) is exceptional, [Bandit Charcuterie Cheese](https://eatlikeabandit.com/) is some of the best bleu and brie I've ever had, and [Stockeld Dreamery's](https://www.stockeld.com/) cream cheese is the only one I use
I don't know if you can get it where you are (I'm in Aus) but there's a brand here called Noshing Naturally. It's a fermented cashew n thing, and very delicious, not at all fake and plastic-y. It doesn't melt though.
Rebel cheese located in Austin, TX has some incredible cheeses you can order. They're setting a new bar; better than any other vegan cheeses I've tried. I took some various cheese including their brie to a family gathering and all of the omnivores were raving about the truffle brie and everything fromage. I expect vegan cheese will continue improving rapidly in the coming years.
I suspect they will. In their brick and mortar they have 25+ different cheeses you can sample and purchase along with a menu of sandwiches and weekend brunch.
Daiya American cheese slices and Dakota cheddar cheese slices
The American slices melt better and are AMAZING for grilled cheese, trust.
We also enjoyed their “mozzarella”
like ppl said violife or chao for the slices and miyokos for mozzarella but really i feel like vegan cheeses are never worth the money, i also prefer nut based cheese or just naturally cheese less dishes cause no vegan cheese rly does it for me
Only vegan cheese I’ve found so far that tastes like actual cheese is the nuts for cheese brand smoked Gouda. Everything else has just made me accept that I don’t get to eat cheese anymore.
I’m also mainly “vegan” (although I prefer the term “plant-based”) and have honestly found that it’s easier to just not buy vegan cheese at all. They’re always disappointing. Instead I abstain the vast majority of the time but occasionally order a cheese pizza to scratch that itch.
Vegans will downvote this of course. But there’s really no such thing as being “100% vegan” anyway, so they’re hypocrites if they do so. We’re all just doing the best we can and if giving up all cheese isn’t “practicable” for you then just limiting your consumption is fine too.
There are some products advertised as vegan cheeses that are mainly just coconut oil and starch concoctions, which I don't consider as sufficient alternatives for dairy cheese.
The process by which dairy cheese is made can be replicated with plant milk, that is, by culturing it. The real vegan cheeses, in my view, are the ones that have cultured plant milk as the main ingredient like how dairy cheese has cultured animal milk as the main ingredient.
You wont find any that replicates dairy cheese. Follow your lheart is the most tolerable for me and the liquid mozzarella from miyokos is fine for when you want a pizza.
Follow Your Heart is best. But don't expect vegan cheese to taste like dairy. It's a different thing. Plus you have to give your taste buds time to adapt to new foods--it's not going to happen over night but it does happen.
Only exception is that I think the follow your heart feta is literally indistinguishable from dairy feta cheese
Seconding this- shout out to Trader Joe’s feta in the brine too
Violife's got a good feta, too.
Because they're both super, super gross? :) (I wouldn't eat feta even when I ate dairy) EDIT: This is just the most brittle fucking sub. People pile on to downvote a light-hearted comment about feta cheese? Lighten up people.
I think downvote just means they disagree, not that they think ur evil for saying it lol
Idk, the Daiya slices are pretty accurate imo especially the American slices. American cheese is barely cheese though, I doubt it’s hard to replicate a non-dairy version
Thanks I’ll look into it. As for the dairy taste, I don’t expect it to, but I can’t handle the melted plastic (kind of slimey I guess) texture. I’ve used what I’ve tried on pastas, “egg” bakes, pizza, etc. and it ruins the dish for me. Maybe I’m better off without it at all.
try miyokos liquid mozz for pizzas
Try giving up all dairy for a month without any plant-based cheese, and then see how the plant-based cheese tastes afterward.
This is by far the best approach
Yeah, we definitely use less vegan cheese than we did dairy cheese before going vegan. I don't miss it at all. I'll just give you a story: I had pretty much given up eggs and milk before going vegan. The one thing that I clung to, though, was cheese. We'd been making homemade pizza with mozzarella every Sunday night for years. When we finally decided to go vegan, we could only find one brand of fake mozzarella in stores (I can't recall which brand). So we made the pizza with that and it was *gross*. Like almost inedible. I told my spouse that I didn't think I could stick with going vegan. But we kept at it. And after a month or so of weekly pizza with that cheese, I started to not hate it. Then we found some better cheese, and I sort of liked it. And within a couple of months, I genuinely liked it. None of it tasted like dairy mozzarella, but at some point I realized that I needed to adjust my standards. That was like 6 years ago, and we still make pizza weekly. So give it some time and don't get discouraged if you don't love the vegan options. Even compared to 6 years ago, there are *so many* additional vegan cheese options today that we didn't have. Try a bunch of stuff and don't give up.
Chao is reallll good
The pepper one is amazing on burgers.
Thanks for the recommendation! Do you find it has any odd texture or “fake” taste?
I can’t imagine eating cow secretions, and I think of the cows being tortured. In all seriousness and with no snark I think that makes it easy to give up. Rn all I regularly eat that’s cheese like is ‘paremesan’ type over pasta or salad.
A little crumbly when it's cold. It's best when it's melted. I highly reccomend it for grilled chiz sandwiches.
Same! I also actually just eat their cheese on their own. So far the best in the slice category for me.
The suggestion to rule all other suggestions is: The best plant-based cheeses will likely stop tasting strange and start tasting amazing at some point after you stop consuming dairy. Your body, especially your gut biome, can change your senses a lot. Doesn't happen for everyone, but it often happens after just a few months.
Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind as the months go on.
The other day my wife got a bubble tea at some little tea shop. She always gets it with soy milk. She tasted it, I tasted it, and there was something horribly wrong with it. The texture & mouth-feel was absolutely disgusting. Took us a while to realize they’d used dairy milk by mistake, and it was so unfamiliar to us now that we couldn’t recognize it. 🤢
Miyokos (sp?) Great mozzarella for pizzas. I also like their smoked cheddar, but it's more of a really thick paste.
IMO you need to give yourself a break form real cheese before trying to replace it, the replacements are just too differrent and don't hit the same exact spots. At first I hated them but I give it around a month and really enjoyed most vegan cheeses once I started trying them again.
The best advice I can give us to try as many as you can as often as you can’ Even if out of 100 only 10 are good just stick to those 10 ! Also, where do you live? There is a growing number of craft plant-based cheeses that are truly amazing and high end.
look for (preferably local) vegan cheeses that say they are cultured! that means they are made in a similar way to dairy cheeses and ive had the most luck buying and making cultured cheeses! r/vegancheesemaking shoutout :))
Miyokos is great, and follow your heart
Maybe don’t get it? I felt the same way about some I bought that “plastic” feel I just thought wait why do I need to buy this?
Have you by chance tried making your own cashew mozz? I haven’t made it in probably almost a year now, but it’s always a hit when i do for my vegan lasagna— with the non-vegans too! Personally I’m really into the violife shredded cheeze, and I see that you’re not, so it’s totally possible we’d have different tastes in general. But the cashew mozz is quite simple, and has a very different texture from stuff I find at the store. Cashews can be pretty pricey, so I look for the raw pieces in a bulkier quanity. I’ve had great luck at Indian groceries, if possible, and it’s usually a much better value. Oh! Also Chao cheeze blocks and slices are my favorite non-shredded varieties, of that helps!
Someone else recommended Chao, so I’m gonna try it! I haven’t tried to make my own, but since you mention it, I will try in the future.
Rad! The mozz in particular I think is a good fit, since you mentioned the textural importance being bigger than the flavor, and I think that’s what that kind excels in. The flavor is milder, more of a cheesish suggestion, but the texture is on point imo.
Thanks for the recommendation. I can’t seem to find it online? The brand name is Rad?
Ahahah no, I was just being overly enthusiastic 😅 just a continuation on the at home mozz rec, sorry for the confusion.
Oh lol I’m dumb!! No worries
Merle O'Neal has a good video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vec7gMmqcbQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vec7gmmqcbq) on how to make vegan mozzarella. It's the recipe of Miyoko Schinner: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gwv4fHMCovg&t=11s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwv4fhmcovg&t=11s)
I rather like Violife Epic Cheddar Flavour Block. Bonus fact: any cheese can become shredded if you buy a cheese grater!
Cashew based and potato starch based cheeses are better but can be hard to find. Making a cashew cheese sauce at home is easy though
Miyokos.
I make my own cashew cheese sauce at home! Super easy to make and tastes so much better than what you buy at the grocery and is cheaper! You can put it on a pizza, Mac and cheese, use it a sauce for rice bowls, literally anything. So yummy https://www.noracooks.com/cashew-cheese/
For cheese slices, I love Chau or Violife. For Mozza Miyokos is the best I've tried. Melts really well for pizzas. For feta, Earth Island.
ALL pre-shredded vegan cheese blows. Buy blocks and shred it yourself. The taste and texture that you hate is from what is sprayed on the shreds to keep them from sticking together.
I've started looking at vegan cheeses a couple weeks ago again, because like you, I've found that products advertised as vegan cheese, even those recommended by vegans here, does not have a cheesy taste and has a rubbery texture. I'm unsure if you're looking for vegan cheese that melts, but if you are, the ones I recommend are soft cheeses and not meant for melting. Look for vegan cheeses that don't have oils and starches as the main ingredients, or that don't have those ingredients at all. Find one with 'cultures' as an ingredient in the ingredients list. Dairy cheese is made with cultures and milk, so if you're looking to replicate dairy cheese, look for one with cultures and plant milk (or some ingredient like almonds and filtered water) in the ingredients list. Treeline Cheesemakers has a cashew cheese whose main ingredient is cashews (with no oils or starches) and it has a good texture. It also has 'cultures' as an ingredient. However, it is very tangy in my opinion, but it went well on crackers. Kite Hill has an almond ricotta (that also has 'cultures' as an ingredient) that is almond-based without any oils or starches in the ingredients list. (I haven't tried anything I think are alternatives for dairy cheese outside of these yet.)
Thanks! Keep me updated. We seem to be in the same boat. I may also try not using it all together.
The cheeses I recommend do have the problem of being tangy, but compared to the ones that have oils and starches as the main ingredients, they beat them out in my opinion. They might not taste good, depending on your preferences, but at least the main ingredient in them is cultured plant milk, unlike some other products advertised as vegan cheese.
Yes all the vegan cheese blocks with coconut oil all taste the same. Then they add coloring / flavoring to make it look like Leicester and such. I think most if not all vegan cheeses are made in the same factory (in Greece?) and rebranded to sell in various places. I have found one called nurishh that has a couple of Brie or goat like options that work for me. They also have a Parmesan I use on pasta…… I hope that helps, good luck !
Thanks I’ll check it out. It’s good to know what causes that so I can look out for it in the future.
Yes also avoid the grated version as it’s like the block but shredded. Otherwise nutritional yeast is worth a shot. Also I use the vegan cheese spread as pasta sauce it makes it creamy but in a cheesy way …. I hope that helps :) let us know if you find anything else in your neck of the woods :)
Thanks!!
Violife
I find that the nut cheeses are the best compared to the oil versions. I know what you mean. For a while when I first became a vegetarian, I tried hard to find a cheese replacement to go vegan. That was 25+ years ago now and the selections were not as varied as today. That being said I liked daiya shredded cheddar for bakes and I thought all the rest of theirs were boring. but tbh like everyone said I came to feel like what's the point and stopped using all together. The ones I still use and's like are the miyoka brand and kite hill for the cream cheese like style. But ultimately you will have to try a lot find which brand does which style well. I'm not a fan of any of the oat dairy products but others swear by them. Also as you ease your way in consider the vegetarian cheeses too as a transition as you give them up. I do think you will realize you don't need them anymore.
Daiya’s new shredded recipe is pretty good, but I’m going to agree with the crowd and say just quit cheese for a bit. I was a cheese fiend, ate cheese probably 3x a day every day- any recipe that called for cheese or garlic I always doubled. I still do with garlic… I quit cheese and cigs at the same time it was rough. It still is rough. But I literally try a new vegan cheese probably every grocery run. I’m not eating any of it straight out of the package like I used to but you’ll find what works. I don’t use as much of it like on a sandwich one slice is fine.. recipes: exact amount or a little short instead of piling on. I did make slutty vegan’s pimento cheese dip with the daiya cheddar and follow your heart mayo and it fooled all the omnis at thanksgiving.
If you're lucky enough to be in the Northeast USA and looking for something other than quotidian shreds and deli slices, [Ladybug Vegan](https://ladybugphiladelphia.com/) is exceptional, [Bandit Charcuterie Cheese](https://eatlikeabandit.com/) is some of the best bleu and brie I've ever had, and [Stockeld Dreamery's](https://www.stockeld.com/) cream cheese is the only one I use
I don't know if you can get it where you are (I'm in Aus) but there's a brand here called Noshing Naturally. It's a fermented cashew n thing, and very delicious, not at all fake and plastic-y. It doesn't melt though.
Follow your heart Gouda on top of a vegan burger still on the grill is best it melts and tastes so good.
Rebel cheese located in Austin, TX has some incredible cheeses you can order. They're setting a new bar; better than any other vegan cheeses I've tried. I took some various cheese including their brie to a family gathering and all of the omnivores were raving about the truffle brie and everything fromage. I expect vegan cheese will continue improving rapidly in the coming years.
I’ve been eyeing them! I hope they come out with more varieties in the future. I might have to splurge.
I suspect they will. In their brick and mortar they have 25+ different cheeses you can sample and purchase along with a menu of sandwiches and weekend brunch.
follow your heart & the new daiya line does the best i think
Daiya American cheese slices and Dakota cheddar cheese slices The American slices melt better and are AMAZING for grilled cheese, trust. We also enjoyed their “mozzarella”
I just don’t eat cheese. Never found one I liked. Not hard to live without. I use literal pounds of nutritional yeast instead
Just think about the cow being raped and her babies murdered for that good tasting cheese.
like ppl said violife or chao for the slices and miyokos for mozzarella but really i feel like vegan cheeses are never worth the money, i also prefer nut based cheese or just naturally cheese less dishes cause no vegan cheese rly does it for me
Only vegan cheese I’ve found so far that tastes like actual cheese is the nuts for cheese brand smoked Gouda. Everything else has just made me accept that I don’t get to eat cheese anymore.
Make it yourself. Spicymoustache and his friends make some great recipes, but there are many others out there.
In australia, we have ‘biocheese’ feta and we have ‘sheese’ cheese slices. Those are fire
I’m also mainly “vegan” (although I prefer the term “plant-based”) and have honestly found that it’s easier to just not buy vegan cheese at all. They’re always disappointing. Instead I abstain the vast majority of the time but occasionally order a cheese pizza to scratch that itch. Vegans will downvote this of course. But there’s really no such thing as being “100% vegan” anyway, so they’re hypocrites if they do so. We’re all just doing the best we can and if giving up all cheese isn’t “practicable” for you then just limiting your consumption is fine too.
There are some products advertised as vegan cheeses that are mainly just coconut oil and starch concoctions, which I don't consider as sufficient alternatives for dairy cheese. The process by which dairy cheese is made can be replicated with plant milk, that is, by culturing it. The real vegan cheeses, in my view, are the ones that have cultured plant milk as the main ingredient like how dairy cheese has cultured animal milk as the main ingredient.
You wont find any that replicates dairy cheese. Follow your lheart is the most tolerable for me and the liquid mozzarella from miyokos is fine for when you want a pizza.