Vegan ''cheese''?
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cheekychinchilla
Gold Member
That really made me laugh!! 
Sadly I've not met any decent vegan hard cheeses recently. Around 10 years ago I was a strict vegan for a while and I do remember finding 'cheese' soy spreads and also a fake 'mozzarella' variety that wasn't too bad, can't remember the brand now unfortunately, but anything that tries to be cheddar-like has just been bleurgh. The lactofree cheese isn't so bad, although bland, but of course it isn't vegan. This tesco soya medium stuff is horrible - the rubbery texture you can get over if you're using it in melting situations (I made an omelette to test it) but unfortunately it just tastes really horrible - it has a kind of sicky sweet smell, it's like really really bad processed american-style 'cheese' slices mixed with sugary plasticine. Not cheese!
My diet has ranged from vegan to veggie to full blown meat eater and then back to currently about 80% of my meals are ovo-vegetarian; in the last few years have identified a lactose intolerance as an IBS trigger so try to avoid dairy as much as possible again; I do also have philosophical issues with the whole concept of dairy and ethical issues with standard dairy production methods so depending on how sensitive/conscious I'm feeling whether I'll feel comfortable reaching for the lactofree stuff (if it was organic at least the welfare would be higher!). It's even harder because I have really really loved good cheeses before I realised all this!!! This is the first time one of my slimming-world phases has coincided with dairy-free
If you're a cheese lover I'd say just avoid vegan cheeses, they are processed fake 'food' and no way make up taste wise for giving up good, real cheese. I've known long-term vegans who like them but they have probably forgotten what real cheese tastes like!!!
I'm also finding it difficult to work out how to get sufficient HExA for a sw diet in a dairy-free fashion; I complicate things by hating the texture of milky drinks so will only have non-dairy milks with cereals or used in cooking.
