Fake Cheese - Why can't we get it right??

This is just a rhetorical question, really, but...let's think about this.

Cheese has always been one of the main things a vegan misses; it's emotional, it's comfort food; it's always been there in the form of mac n' cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches, cheese pizza, etc. And yet, cheese has also been the crux of the vegan analogues industry. Very, VERY few companies get it even close to acceptable. A lot of dairy-free cheese companies add casein to their cheese to help it melt evenly (and in case you didn't know, casein is a dairy protein...so you might as well eat real cheese, considering you're not lactose intolerant!!).

My question is this: why is it so hard to create a convincing fake cheese? Cheeze Whiz, that Port Wine Cheese Food dip stuff in grocery stores, Handi Snax crackers and cheese dip, Nacho Cheese dip, Kraft singles...this stuff barely has dairy in it, any way! It's mostly flavorings and preservatives! And most of it is a far cry from a real dairy cheddar fresh from the farm! Wouldn't it be just a hop, skip and a jump from Cheez Whiz to dairy-free Cheez Whiz?

I used to be a lead decorator in a bakery in Chicago. Our whipped cream icing and our buttercream icing BOTH were vegan. We didn't market them as such, because we didn't want anyone to know they were vegan...you see, they were vegan because it's cheaper to not use animal products, AND the fake stuff is much more stable and has a longer shelf life than real animal products. Gross, huh? Essentially, our whipped cream frosting was straight hydrogenated oils. But the general public never knew any better. In fact, if you get a cake from a bakery and the buttercream is perfectly white (not slightly yellowey), I can almost guaruntee it's probably vegan, too. Having real butter and/or real cream in the mix makes something that doesn't mix with food colouring very well, nor does it keep very long in the fridge.

Anyway, that just goes to show once again that just because it's vegan don't mean it's healthy lol!

And that also reinforces my point: why can't they make a totally unhealthy processed cheese that is dairy free just like the unhealthy processed cheeses that aren't dairy free?

fyi, the 'raw' way to eat this, if you want an authentically raw dish, would be to use spiralized yellow squash or courgettes instead of noodles. You'd need a Spirooli, though, to do that. :-)

Original Post by lysistrata:

Sorry, veg*ns, y'all just aren't a big enough market segment for the food industry to put a lot of R&D effort into you.

 ^This

Unfortunately, that is the reason!

Follow your heart brand does make a pretty good vegan cheese in my experience. Its like cheese and melts like it if you intend to put it on pizza, nachos, or grilled cheese, but I wouldn't eat it by itself cause its not super flavorful. Thats what a resturant in my town uses on its vegan pizza and its amazing.

Though it is strange that vegan cheese isnt better- after all, at least in my opinion, soy ice cream, yougurt, cream cheese, and sour cream taste exactly the same. Almond milk is a better milk subsititue though. And egg replacer is the same as eggs to bake with. so whats the deal with cheese?

I've been using FYH.  I want to try that Daiya cheese, though.  Hope they'll start carrying it at my co-op soon. 

They just got the Daiya cheese at the roots market on my way home. It is unbelievable and very addicting BUT it's not terribly healthy.... Still, anytime I want nachos I make a pit stop!

Ooohh, I'm sooo jealous! I check the Daiya website daily to see when they're coming to Toronto!!!

You can buy the Daiya cheese at the Pangea website.  They say they are having the foodservice version repacked for sales.  I ordered today, so I will soon see how it tastes.

www.pangeaveg.com

Original Post by lsam31:

You can buy the Daiya cheese at the Pangea website.  They say they are having the foodservice version repacked for sales.  I ordered today, so I will soon see how it tastes.

www.pangeaveg.com

 

 

 Yeah, I spoke with Pangea and to deliver to Canada, you need to add a freezer pack and once you add shipping, the woman I spoke with estimated the cost at over $50. A bit much for cheese if you ask me, no matter how awesome.

I think the best thing to do is try to figure out the things about cheese you really like. The casein in milk (milk protein), is what gives cheese the melty stretch. That's the thing, I believe, is most difficult to reproduce. I've never tried a vegan "cheese" that was any good. What I do now is use nutritional yeast as a sprinkle to replace parmesan, for example. I've made pizza by topping with various veggies and tofu that I mash with nut.yeast, salt, olive oil, garlic, and whatever else to really pack in good flavor. I do the same thing with tofu for salads. These do not taste like cheese, but they're really good. Just use your imagination, and don't be afraid to experiment. Giving up cheese is a very compassionate act. By the way, there are a couple of cook books out there that have vegan cheese recipes. Try those, too. You're not deprived without cheese.

It's hard to create fake cheese because cheese is a really simple food.   Separated milk, rennet and salt basically...   You can replace the rennet but fake milk doesn't act like real milk.

The simpler the food, the harder it is to make a convincing copy.   Hence why baby formula manufacturers still can't match breast-milk.