Vegan cheese...not!
Posted by DKJZone on Dec 02, 2009 · Member since Nov 2009 · 8 posts
I have to admit being perplexed about how to replace cheese. Every "nondairy" cheese in the grocery stores around my house have casein in them. I am wondering who the heck would be buying those , certainly wouldn't be vegans... At the moment I am wondering whether I should just give up and just use recipes that don't have cheese involved. IMO sour cream "alternative" also had dairy in it for some reason. :-\
I suppose those cheeses are bought by lactose intolerant folks.
yeah, but i was always under the impression that many lactose intolerant persons do fine with cheese.
maybe for people watching their cholesterol? vegetarians avoiding rennet?
I guess the thing that bugged me was the fact they really make it sound like it is a nondairy product, but then still use casein. For some reason it felt a bit deceptive. I admit it is a rather small gripe though :x
some don't have casien... have you checked them all? sorry if your store doesn't carry a vegan one.
definitely make nutritional yeast sauce. it's the best.
road's end organic cheeze substitutes are vegan, and do not contain casein. also, nutritional yeast sauces work well, in my opinion. don't give up; try incorporating more ethnic cuisine into your diet; a lot of indian, thai and middle eastern dishes do not use cheeze, and provide new and savory tastes to fancy your buds! :)
I guess the thing that bugged me was the fact they really make it sound like it is a nondairy product, but then still use casein. For some reason it felt a bit deceptive. I admit it is a rather small gripe though :x
oh yeah, i know what you mean. Especially for "non-dairy" creamer. I get that it's not straight up half and half, but it's not "non-dairy." If there was nut brittle labeled as "non-peanut" that in fact had some peanut allergen intentionally added, there'd be lawsuits.
Why can't they call it lactose-free creamer? Creamer substitute? Artificial creamer? Flavored coffee whitener? (what it is, haha)
99.9999% of the recipes I use don't have cheese or cheese replacements in them. I decided when I went vegan to give up cheese and there are so many other great recipes out there to try that I don't even miss it. Every now and then I'll buy the rice cheese slices that are vegan for sandwiches. Every blue moon I'll get some Follow Your Heart cheese for pizza or tacos. Vegan cheese sucks for the most part, so I don't bother with them.
I have two SIL's who are both lactose intolerant and can't have any dairy, but they do fine with those veggie slices cheeses. I guess when it's processed enough it doesn't bother them-that's what they say, anyway!
Rice Slices makes a couple vegan ones. Tofutti is vegan and now has no Hydrogenated oils.
yeah, make some nutritional yeast sauce. you might fall in love with it, like I did.
Thanks, I will have to give the nutritional yeast sauce a try :) I am finding that it is much easier to eat Indian or Asian food than to adapt American food.
Man, I was PEEVED when I realized there was casein in so much 'non-dairy' cheez... Back when I use to buy it, it was through carelessness/ naivete; thought 'non-dairy' meant, you know, like, *without dairy*... foolish me!
Nut cheese sauces and nutritional yeast sauces are my favorite way to make cheesy recipes dairy-free-- WAY better than the storebought stuff. For pizza I like mock alfredo (several on this site) or olive oil/ roast garlic sauce instead of cheese... to sub for parmesan (or mixed up into queso-type dip) Dragonfly's Bulk Dry Cheez is really good-- http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=7126.0. I also like this cheezy-type pasta sauce: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=27096.0, though (to me) it needs a little more herbs/ pepper/ etc.
I've been meaning to try the nut cheez recipes below, but haven't gotten around to it yet... there are a lot like them out on the web, & I think they look tasty; the only nut cheez (vs sauce) I've made so far was from vegweb (I forget which one), and I screwed it up by using almonds instead of cashews, but it still was YUM... so, I think there's definitely some room for nut cheez exploration, for me anyway!
http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/10028?section=
http://www.reallyrawfood.com/2008/07/13/raw-vegan-recipe-macadamia-nut-cheese/
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/recipe.php?recipeId=2217
Hope that's helpful... Asian food is definitely a great alternate strategy, too!
I am wondering who the heck would be buying those , ...
I was wondering this myself just yesterday. Safeway has all kinds of "dairy free" cheeses that are loaded with casein. Our alternative grocery stores have plenty of true vegan cheeses and do not even bother stocking those ones that have casein. Indeed, who does buy these not so dairy free cheeses?
vegan cheese is awful anyways. i wouldn't worry about trying to replace it if i were you. I tyink the best thing is making sauce from nutritional yeast. It doesn't really taste like cheese, but it can take its place on stuff for a little different flavor. I tried teese brand vegan cheese and had to thow it out cuz it was so bad.
I am wondering who the heck would be buying those , ...
I was wondering this myself just yesterday. Safeway has all kinds of "dairy free" cheeses that are loaded with casein. Our alternative grocery stores have plenty of true vegan cheeses and do not even bother stocking those ones that have casein. Indeed, who does buy these not so dairy free cheeses?
lactose intolerant people can have these-like I said, my SILs are HIGHLY allergic to dairy and they buy/eat these all the time.
Really? I thought people who were allergic to dairy were allergic to the protein (and the majority of dairy protein is casein). Maybe it's a small amount? Or do you mean lactose intolerant?
yeah, but i was always under the impression that many lactose intolerant persons do fine with cheese.
maybe for people watching their cholesterol? vegetarians avoiding rennet?
In my pre-vegan days I tried to avoid (lactose intolerance), it was one of the things that made me feel the most sick. But it was only after I moved to France that cheese gave me issues. Maybe it was just something with grossness of the French cheeses.
But now almost all, like 99.99% of my cooking is without fake cheese. I live in a country that rarely sells such a thing. The only time in my vegan life that I've had fake cheese was once when I made mac & cheese with nutritional yeast and when I had some vegan cheese in the US that I put on black bean enchiladas.
Really? I thought people who were allergic to dairy were allergic to the protein (and the majority of dairy protein is casein). Maybe it's a small amount? Or do you mean lactose intolerant?
maybe I am using the terms interchangeably and should not be. they are both lactose intolerant and can eat the casein veggie slices with no problems. other than them being gross.