Probably 80% of the time when I tell someone that I’m vegan the first words out of that person’s mouth are, “I could not live without cheese!” The other 20% of reactions are usually about steak or bacon, sometimes in a mean-spirited way and sometimes not. Today, though, I wanted to talk a little about the cheese thing, since it seems to be what gets folks the most.
I will not lie to you: giving up cheese was probably the toughest part of going vegan for me. Cheese is delicious, and I had what you might call a “cheese problem.” I loved it, but it did not love me. Instead, it played heavily into my high cholesterol. At age 25, my cholesterol was over 250! This was a complete shock, since I was a normal weight and got plenty of exercise riding my bike to and from work every day.
When I cut dairy out of my diet, my cholesterol dropped from insanely high for my age and size to a normal level somewhere between 180 and 190.
All of that is fantastic, but it didn’t make giving up cheese much easier. In a lot of ways, it reminded me of quitting smoking. I craved it and was a little grumpy at first. Store-bought fake cheeses couldn’t hold a candle to the real thing. Times were tough until one day I discovered something that helped. There was one food that worked in the vast majority of dishes that were begging for cheese. It quelled my cravings and didn’t taste fake.
That food was avocado.
From sandwiches to salads to no queso quesadillas, avocados saved the day! In really desperate moments, I even diced some up and ate it plain with a fork. It got me through the tough cheese withdrawal stages.
The other vegan staple with a cheesy taste that doesn’t get enough cred is nutritional yeast. You can find nutritional yeast in the bulk bin at most health food stores. Try sprinkling it onto pasta or salads like Parmesan cheese or mixing it with other ingredients to make a faux cheese sauce. You can even substitute nutritional yeast one-to-one for the Parmesan cheese in any pesto recipe!
There are some excellent cheese substitutes out there for folks looking to give these a whirl. Follow Your Heart makes a few types of vegan cheese that melt. There is also a new brand, Daiya, that makes an insanely good faux cheese from tapioca of all things! Daiya cheese is even soy free, if that’s a concern for you.
Have any of you thought about going vegan but run into a stumbling block? I’d love to hear what issues have stood in your way.
Image Credits: Cheese. Creative Commons photo by ulterior epicure; Avocado. Creative Commons photo by seandreilinger
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I’ve been a vegan officially since January, but I’ve been a vegetarian on and off all my life (I never really liked meat very much and can’t stand animal cruelty) but having no cheese was a really hard sell for me, especially since I love blue cheese and brie.
It’s interesting that you suggest avocado as a good alternative, and it is lovely as a spread, but it’s also a tropically-grown and imported food (at least here in Canada) so it’s a little expensive. I’ve seen nutritional yeast around (and sold in bulk) but it never really appealed to me but I’ll give it a try!
Good point on the avocado. I've actually had some guilty moments in front of the avocados at the store when I think about how far they come, but my feeling there is that we have to eat something. It's sort of an indulgence, and if most of my food is local and it's all vegan, I don't mind splurging on an organic avocado once a week or so. Definitely something to think about, though!
I'll also admit that blue cheese and brie are tough ones. You might look into a brand called Sheese. They make a blue variety…I'd love to hear how you like it! They carry it at Cosmo's Vegan Shoppe, which is online, if you can't find it at a shop near you.
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Drives me crazy how Vegans tend to treat Vegetarians like meat eaters. So what, we eat cheese. We eat eggs. I gave up meat out of respect for the lives of animals but I have to draw the line somewhere.
In the end it’s fine if you want to live without dairy products but the tone needs to be changed.
You want to eat cheese? Fighting to drop it? Then don’t. Same with eggs. You are still wonderful for dropping meat.
The thing is, some vegetarians do it for saving animals and say they are against animal cruelty, but the dairy that you consume could’ve gone to a baby cow but instead they were turned into veal. So by consuming dairy you are helping the veal industry. Obviously if it’s just cuz you don’t like meat, or the taste then by all means, but it doesn’t make sense to say your against animals cruelty, and then eat cheese and drink milk. Even if i did stop being vegan and started consuming dairy, i still couldn’t stomach milk….but colby jack or mild cheddar us damn good and i can understand cravings. My thing is, i’m 19 and i’ve only been vegan religiously for the past month, and i’m surrounded by foods i’ve grown up with and have been so use to eating, that the change is difficult for me. Macaroni and cheese is one of my favorites but the only mac n cheese sub. is a nasty “Roads End Organics” brand. And cream cheese i miss and green bean casserole is frickin amazing but i have to find a sub for that also. But it’s worth it knowing that i’m helping baby cows
I agree – the dairy industry is very cruel. The way many dairy cows live is abhorrent, not to mention that conventional dairy cows are often pumped full of Monsanto’s hormones to increase milk production.
Congratulations on making the leap to veganism!
I really wanna thank you for this post, it actually helped me put a lot of things together.
last time I ate meat was back in 99′ but after all these year’s I’m not absolutely sure when I dropped dairy and turned vegan but it must have been around 2002. I’ve give a lot of vegan cheeses a try and some of they are really wonderful but one thing I miss the most is the blue cheese – I tried the “blue style sheece” but that was the worst disappointment ever.
Anyway nothing will ever (be it a taste or anything) make me eat anything that is not vegan but I still miss that taste of blue cheese and I’m really puzzled why someone can not make the same without using dairy?
(sorry for my bad English but it’s my second language)