Sometimes a vegan likes to eat the things they loved before becoming one who avoids animal products. Many vegans will say cheese is one of the hardest things to give up on the path to veganism. There are many cheese substitutes in the grocery store now, many more than just 5 years ago. As a vegan you have to read your labels even on these veggie-based cheeses as many contain casein. That’s something I’ve never understood. Why put milk in a cheese if your trying to make a veggie cheese? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose? I realize the casein is there to give the cheese the proper texture when melted but if you can’t obtain the proper texture without it then why bother making the veggie cheese to begin with? Many vegan cheeses  have found the proper ingredient formula to get all the stretchy goodness of melted cheese without the extra animal squeezings. Galaxy Nutritional Foods is the latest to give this a try.

Galaxy Nutrition Foods has just come out with two varieties of vegan cheese shreds, mozzarella and a Mexican blend. I gave the mozzarella a try on the only proper way to do so: pizza.  Not just any pizza but grilled pizza, my favorite way to bake a pie.

The cheese has a good flavor and melts very well. As far as stringy stretch it doesn’t quite get there like another very popular vegan cheese but instead has a more “liquid” consistency when melted. As far as flavor, it is very tasty. I would prefer more of the stretch but still a very good vegan cheese.

I’ve only found Galaxy Nutritional Foods Shreds at Kroger and EarthFare but I’m sure it will be making it’s way to other outlets soon.

Do you drink milk?  If you do you contribute to this.  Do you eat cheese?  If you do you contribute to this.  Do you drink milk but it comes from that farm where cows are “so happy”?  If you do you still contribute to this.  Do you eat cheese but only from the small production farm that is organic?  If you do you contribute to this.  Do you just love you cheese so much you can’t give it up but still believe those cows are taken care of? Yes, you still contribute to this.

Do you just not care? Then you don’t care if you contribute to this.

Don’t contribute to this.

UPDATED 2/18/10

Mellow Mushroom has long be heralded by vegans and vegetarians as one of the few places to munch on tempeh subs or get a tempeh or tofu topped pizza. Up to recently those pizzas and subs had to be cheeseless for vegans due to the casein in the soy cheese they used.   Now Mellow Mushroom is beginning to use casein-free vegan cheeses although the only locations in Tennessee are in Knoxville and Murfreesboro.

The following is a list of locations presently using casein-free soy cheese:

• Murfreesboro, Tennessee
• Conyers, Georgia
• Carrollton, Georgia
• Raleigh, North Carolina
• Durham, North Carolina
• Columbia, South Carolina
• Greenville, South Carolina
• Knoxville, Tennessee
• Douglasville, Georgia
• Hiram, Georgia
• Northlake, Georgia
• Lexington, Kentucky
• Decatur, Georgia
• Fayetteville, Arkansas
• Spartanburg, South Carolina
• Charelston, South Carolina
• Austin, Texas

If your location does not carry the casein-free alternative they can be persuaded!  Just ask! If you do get vegan cheese at a location not listed above please let me know so I can add it to the list.

One of the hardest things to give up when I became vegan was cheese.  I think that goes for most vegans I have talked with and most vegetarians name cheese as the one thing keeping them from being vegan.    Begin a “strict-vegetarian” and eating cheese must be met with reading labels and investigating for cheeses that do not contain animal rennet.  Most brands now use vegetable rennet as a coagulant but some smaller companies still employ the calf-intestine enzyme to set their cheeses.  You’ll find it in almost every hard cheese such as parmesan.

What is rennet and how is it produced?

From Wikipedia:

Traditional method

Dried and cleaned stomachs of young calves are sliced into small pieces and then put into saltwater or whey, together with some vinegar or wine to lower the pH of the solution. After some time (overnight or several days), the solution is filtered. The crude rennet that remains in the filtered solution can then be used to coagulate milk. About 1 gram of this solution can normally coagulate 2000 to 4000 grams of milk.

Modern method

Deep-frozen stomachs are milled and put into an enzyme-extracting solution. The crude rennet extract is then activated by adding acid; the enzymes in the stomach are produced in an inactive preform and are activated by the stomach acid. After neutralization of the acid, the rennet extract is filtered in several stages and concentrated until reaching the required potency: about 1:15000 (1 kg of rennet would have the ability to coagulate 15000 litres of milk).

Calf stomachs used for rennet production

So, you may be enjoying a bit of calf-stomach scrapings with that hunk of cheddar.   Considering that and the fact you’re just eating dried, moldy bovine-secretions why keep on eating it?  There are some good soy and rice cheeses on the market.  True, some are just like eating waxed paper but a few stand out.  Follow Your Heart makes excellent Cheddar and Mozzarella, both melt great and the Cheddar can make a mean mac and cheese.   Galaxy makes a good rice Parmesan and individual slice, but be sure to read the label as some of their products contain casein, a milk protein aids in melting.   Follow Your Heart cheese do not contain casein and melt just fine.

Also, don’t think all of those dairy cows live a great life just being milked daily.   They are kept pregnant and live short lives, average being 4 years.   Are you contributing to the cruel farming of animals by just eating dairy cheese?  Yes.

All of this leads up to a news story I saw today.   Sweetwater Valley Farm, a local Tennesssee cheese maker, has issued a statement saying one type of it’s cheese should not be eaten as it may contain Listeria.   Seems like a worthy risk to eat that nice cheesy sandwich or casserole topped with stringy goodness, doesn’t it?    Listeria can cause death in the young or elderly.    Healthy adults may be inconvenienced by headaches, cramping,  vomiting and diarrhea.  No big deal.  Teh story also mentions that if you have some of this cheese you may return it for a replacement.   Something doesn’t sound right about that.  “Here’s my chunk of Listeria, may I have another that has less bacteria?”

While were on the subject of cheese, don’t forget about Cazu Marzu!

Lesley over at MCB has been catching up here since her return from out west and noticed the post I did last week regarding unsavory food additives.  She also pointed out another post on cracked.com regarding the tasty delicacy Casu Marzu.

Casu Marzu is a cheese from Sardinia, Italy that is infested with larve and is more commonly known locally as “maggot cheese”  It doesn’t stop there.  These larve are capable of jumping…while you EAT this stuff.  These larve survive the digestive process (if they can take that smell then what can’t they take?) and setup shop in the intestines, boring into the lining causing bloody diarrhea, vomiting and nausea.

Ready for lunch?  I know I am!  Watch this: