Bagels are the devil - soy cream cheese?

Bagels with cream cheese are by far my favorite food. I find it immensely difficuly to avoid them. I've had a particularly rough week so today I indulged. As I'm drinking my soy milk and chomping on my bagel it occured to me that I was ok with putting enormous amounts of cheese dairy in my body but not milk dairy, which is just absurdity. Is there soy cream cheese? Is it healthier? And has anyone tried it to know if it tastes about the same?

Dairy products are fine in reasonable amounts and there are lower-fat cream cheeses on the market that have just as much calcium.   With all the white flour bagels aren't especially healthy, of course.  Maybe just keep both as an occasional treat rather than trying to find some substitute that will be ultimately disappointing? 

There is a soy or non dairy cream cheese. The offer it at Bagelworks which is a chain in New England. It does taste good, but not really much like dairy cream cheese. It is not much healthier than regular cream cheese, in fact the brand I looked at had all kinds of strange ingredients in it.
I had to give up cows milk products while I was breastfeeding my daughter as she was allergic. I used goat cheese on my bagels - sooooo good with some red onion and smoked salmon.

tofutti better n' cream cheese comes in plain, french onion, garden veggie, and a ton of other flavors. 80 cals per two tbsp which is about the same as normal cream cheese. it's really good and pretty easy to find; i get mine at sprouts farmers markets but i think i've also seen it at walmart.

yes, I have had the Tofutti brand. It is tasty. It is made up of mostly partially hydroginated soybean oil...more oil than tofu, but if you are looking to avoid dairy or animal fats it is a very good substitute.

Tofutti also makes a trans-fat free version of the soy cream cheese.

I have a love affair with Toffutti cream cheese.

I love it.   :D

I haven't had a bagel in a year!

I'm no help what-so-ever.  Sorry.  I just came to beat you up over that title.

Bagels are AWESOME.

tofutti is sooo yummy! and they do have one without hydrogenated oils! where i live, it's in a yellow container and boasts "No butterfat" - and just so you know it also makes a delicious vegan cheesecake....still the devil caloricly...is that a word?

i love blueberry bagels.. i dont really like cream cheese so i usually eat them plain.. one every morning along with 1 pound of pineapple : )

I am glad that soy cream is desired.  I have just created a soy cream/spread. People couldn't  believe it was made of soybean. It is creamy, tasty, and has no beany taste. I am in the process of launching it along with other of my special soy foods.  I am not trying to sell them here, just want to share the information with you. Thanks

Yes, as everyone here has already said, there are actually several brands that do soy cream cheese - Tofutti, Follow Your Heart, Road's End, Sheese... the Tofutti one is easiest to find though, but if you're worried about the partially hydrogenated oils in it, look for the YELLOW container ones, not the BLUE container - the yellow has non-hydrogenated oils :)

And don't be swayed by the whole "dairy is essential for calcium" argument - no it's not! Dark leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, a wide variety of legumes/pulses/beans and enriched meat alternatives are more than adequate sources of calcium! Plus the high-protein content of dairy actually LEACHES calcium from your bones :(

pfft. Dairy does not leach calcium from your bones - nor does protein, otherwise we'd all have osteoporosis from eating protein every day.

This is an old thread, btw.

You're right, it is old - I didn't realise. Sorry!

Of course simply protein, in and of itself, doesn't leach calcium from your bones. But ANIMAL protein, in highly concentrated amounts such as in dairy, does. It's a medical fact that dairy is completely unnecessary for a healthy human diet at any stage of life. However, I don't want to push my beliefs onto others, I was just stating a fact.