Say Cheese!

There aren't many options for vegans when it comes to cheeses and that really is too bad. Giving up cheese and cheesy foods is hard for many people and is usually one of the main reasons those who would like to become a vegan do not.

When looking for vegan cheese, be sure to check out the ingredients. Soy cheeses almost always contain casein, which is a milk protein, hence it is not vegan. Vegan cheeses tend to use the word 'vegan' on their packaging.

There are a few popular vegan cheeses on the market. One of them, an old-timer, is Follow Your Heart. This cheese doesn't tend to melt very well in the sense that it doesn't have that melty, stretchy texture (or taste). It could just be because I don't make it properly. Btw, Follow Your Heart also makes other vegan products (sour cream, dressing, veganaise, etc)

Busboys and Poets uses this cheese on their vegan pizza and it is quite delicious. Maybe the mixture of the veggies and oil on it makes it much tastier.

Teese Cheese came out about two years ago and everyone thought it would be very close to the real deal. I wasn't impressed. Like Follow Your Heart cheese, this didn't seem to melt very well. Also, the taste just wasn't up to par.

My favorite, and I've mentioned it several times in previous blogs, is Daiya cheese. This cheese is relatively new (about a year or so old) and it tastes great! It melts and stretches just like regular cheese. It's rice based and comes in mozzarella and cheddar flavors. When it first came out, the distribution was so limited but the demand for this great tasting vegan cheese quickly made many more places begin offering it. Whole foods now carries this. This cheese come preshredded (which is fine since it melts easier and better that way), in plastic containers. For some reason, I haven't been able to find it in the Daiya prepackaged bag like in the picture I have posted above.

Even Zpizza uses this cheese as their vegan cheese. They used soy cheese in the past, however, again, that contains casein. It's used in limited locations but it is quickly growing to other Zpizzas. Most of the Zpizzas in Northern VA, DC, and MD have it so do make sure you ask for it (combined with the roasted garlic sauce, it's HEAVENLY!!).

Sticky Fingers bakery, an all vegan bakery in DC, also uses Daiya cheese in their cheesy meals (grilled cheese, tuna melt, etc).

I will update this post shortly with a picture of a grilled cheese sandwich using Daiya cheese

Vegan Alcohol

No, wines don't always just consist of grapes.

Some of you might be thinking, huh? What could they possibly put in alcohol to make it non-vegan? Well there is plenty, unfortunately. How frustrating was it for me to discover that they somehow managed to finagle animal products into what one would think consisted of fermented and heated, fruit, vegetables, and plants?

The most common types of non-vegan ingredients consists of gelatin, egg whites, dairy, and isinglass (a.k.a. fish bladder...delish!). Apparently they insert this stuff in during the 'finishing' process. Not sure why this is needed to 'finish' it. Perhaps to preserve it? What happened to good ole fashioned salt? Regardless, there are plenty of plant-based preservatives that could have been used.

Oh and don't mistaken organic for vegan. These terms are NOT interchangeable. Organic simply means free of pesticides and sometimes describes the process of how things are grown and I believe the amount of sulfites included. There are plenty of organic, non-vegan alcohols out there.

The good news is that most liquors are vegan. Of course all cream-based liqueurs are not.

The best site for looking up your alcohol is Barnivore. You can do a quick search by first clicking the category of alcohol (i.e. beer, wine, liquor) and then typing in the name of the alcohol.

This site does have major limitations though in that it doesn't include everything. There are SO many brands of wines out there that I guess it's impossible to include them all. It really is a hit or miss. I do enjoy wine, however if I can't find it listed on this site, I assume it's not vegan. For me it's better to be safe than sorry.

Whole Foods carries some vegan wines and you can ask the wine associate for help. There are usually only a few brands that they are aware of. Whole Foods definitely should step up their vegan wine selection or at least become more aware of which ones are vegan and categorize them accordingly.

I have memorized a couple of well-known wines by heart that are easy to find at stores and so I tend to stick with those. One in particular is Yellow Tail. All of their red wines are vegan. If I'm at a bar or party where there isn't any Yellow Tail or I'm unable to find the wine that is served on barnivore, I simply stick to liquor.

Wine is fine but liquor is quicker ;-P