The Vegan Cheese Trial

While poking through the fridges at my local health food store I recently discovered that a number of new vegan cheeses had arrived on the shelf.  Not a big fan of vegan cheese, I had been in the past known to call it plasticy muck, among other things, but I thought perhaps this was being too harsh.   With all of these new cheeses on the shelf there must be demand for this stuff coming from somewhere - maybe I'd had it wrong all along?

Not content to let it sit, I decided to buy up some cheese, amass some troops and find out once and for all, is there a vegan cheese out there that you can sit back with, relax and enjoy a glass of wine?

The answer is sadly not too far off my original assumption, and that is 'not really'.  After munching back four different types of Sheese and four different types of Chezley we came to the conclusion that while we wanted them to taste good, not many of them actually did, at all.     And we gave them a good run.  There were grids and there were numbers, I even bought in special pens.   It was a rather serious task, despite the amount of wine that was drunk along the way.  

There was one cheese however that we all agreed was the best of a bad bunch:  Chezley Pepper Jack.  Soft, spicy and tasting the least like plastic, it was concluded that if you ever wanted to have vegan cheese out on the table that people won't turn their nose up at, this was the one.

Chezley Pepper Jack

Sheese Smokey Style Cheddar

Chezley Mature Red Cheddar

Chezley Blue Cheese

Chezley Edam

Sheese Cheddar with Chives

Sheese Blue Style

Sheese Cheshire

In the overall ratings from our humble little group, Chezley took most of the top spots, although Sheese Smokey Style Cheddar snuck into number two once we calculated our scores.  It wasn't all bad news for vegan cheese though.  Not wanting to see another block for quite a while, it was banished from the house to another friend's place where he used it for pizza the next day.  And it seems heat is key, as he came back with nothing but praise.  Vegan cheese, there is hope for you yet.

Delphi, Wonderful Delphi

Salads are not exciting.  In fact they can be the cause of much disappointment for a vegan and have proven so for me on many occasions - it's not fun munching on lettuce when everyone else is tucking into something that will actually fill them up.  Homer Simpson was right, you don't make friends with salad.

Or so that's what I thought, until I myself recently became rather good friends with an unlikely little salad bowl - well no, friends is a lie - a one-sided infatuation probably better describes it!

Delphi is the fabulous brand I speak of and their range are easy to find in many health food stores across Ireland.  They do a great array of salads, but my absolute favourite, and the cause for all of this fuss, is their couscous number.  Super tasty, always fresh and so filling for a salad, it slips right in your bag and has saved me many a time where the only thing remotely vegan about was a field of grass.

And it doesn't stop at salads.  They also sport what I think is the best range of hummus on the market in Ireland, as well as several dips and a tasty variety of tapas.  While a few of their products contain feta cheese, the majority are vegan and everything is clearly labelled.

And just to top it off, all of their products are extremely reasonable - far cheaper than similar products you can find in Tesco (not that I shop there....ahem...) and as I may have mentioned once or twice already, far superior in flavour and freshness.  And with all that, I think it is safe to say, this little love affair is not going to end anytime soon!

Go Max Go Candy Bars

A package popped though the mail slot recently and, eagerly opening it, I couldn't help but be taken back to one glorious Christmas morning, when I woke up to find a rather large looking box sitting under the Christmas tree.  Could it be!? Could Santa really have gotten me the deluxe Petite Pony palace complete with electric elevator!?    This was the excitement level I was working with as I opened my little parcel from the Veganstore.co.uk and, like my six year old self that Christmas, I was not to be disappointed.   Out of the package tumbled bar after bar of what I now know to be the most amazing vegan chocolate bars EVER, Go Max Go Candy Bars.

Now I realise whenever I write about a new chocolate bar I always say 'it's the best yet', but that's just because I don't want to hurt the other bars' feelings.  Like a mother who tells their children she doesn't have a favourite while secretly winking at the cutest one, I think Go Max Go Bars are definitely the cutest of the lot.

When I said goodbye to the candy isle back in 1999, I never dreamed I would eat anything that would compare to these amazing creations.  All of my old favourites have been remade with no animal products whatsoever and, while I know its been a while since I've had the real thing, I completely couldn't tell the difference as I demolished all of them in record time.

Describing the bars is easy, albeit a little lazy on my part: the Jokerz bar is just like a Snickers, Twilight a Moro and Bucaneer a Mars bar.  Sadly the Veganstore had sold out of the Mahalo bar so I didn't get to try it yet, but as it's made with a coconut filling it's sure to be nothing less than fantastic.  Looking at their official web page, they now have two new products to add to their distinguished line up; Cleo peanut butter cups and their SNAP! rice crispie bar.  I feel another order coming on...

Caramel Flavoured Choices

In the small town of Tuam, just down the road from my fiance's family home, there is a wee supermarket called Joyces, which, to my utter amazement, I recently found to be rather abundant in vegan goodies.  Scanning her shelves a few weeks ago I came across what could possibly be THE chocolate highlight of my entire vegan career, Caramel Flavoured Choices.

Wrapped in golden foil, like all the best chocolates are, these succulent chocolate coated balls of soft caramel are a sweet-toothed vegans dream.  Twelve to a packet they were gone in an instant, to leave me wallowing in a sugary chocolate haze of content.

Now, whenever I’m back out at the In-laws, I’m always the first to put my hand up to run into town on an errand just so I can nip back to Joyces and stock up.  In the process I have become quite the favoured daughter in law - little do they know! 

Having never seen them anywhere else, I am hoping now that we have moved to Galway to hunt these bad boys out in a more convenient location to home.  Produced by the same people who make Celtic Chocolates in Co. Meath they should be around somewhere, but my advice to you if you stumble upon a packet is to stock up!!  For if you are anything like me, they won’t last past the hour.

If you can't get 'em locally you can order them online at Alternative Stores.com

Faith In Nature

When I first became vegan back in my rather isolated home town in New Zealand, even if I had wanted to use vegan friendly toiletries I wouldn’t have been able to find them.  My mother was willing to put up with me not eating dairy but actually smelling like a cow would have been a different story.  Since moving over to Ireland however, I have stumbled across a whole host of different vegan products and after much deliberation in my bathroom come testing lab one brand has definitely come out a winner, Faith In Nature.  I simply love the stuff!

Quite picky when it comes to fragrances, I am hooked on their Chocolate Shampoo and Conditioner, which not only makes me smell like a cake but leaves my hair feeling fantastic.  Their Aloe Vera and Tea Tree Hand Wash is also a favourite - there is just something about eucalyptus that I find irresistible, like petrol and maker pens, but good for you!

Also a constant in our bathroom repertoire is their Aloe Vera and Ylang Ylang Shower Gel and Foam Bath, which smells just divine (and is rather amusing for our childish selves to try and pronounce, ylaaang yllaaaannnggg).  They make it in chocolate as well, which at the shop I always go to reach for first and then think better of it – probably best not to smell that much like a cake, however much I want to.

All of their products are paraben free – something I didn’t even know existed until recently but that may be linked to cancer.  While there is no hard evidence that this is the case, I’d say there is no harm in keeping dodgy chemicals away from you if you can.

And last but not least, the final reason our place is littered with Faith in Nature's fabulous products is the price – extremely reasonable, smelling so good without covering yourself in animal by-products and chemicals has been made quite affordable.  So I entreat you to go, buy, lather (and try not to eat) these wonderful products, because, quite simply, you just 'gotta have faith faith faith' (I know, I'm sorry).

Fry's Vegetarian Range

Now I know that meat substitutes are not everybody's cup of tea, but for a girl who basically went through her childhood years subsisting on a diet of processed luncheon, sausage rolls, pies and cheerios, and was never really into meat that actually contained any real meat anyway, they are right up my alley.

Having lived in Asia for over six years, where mock meat is perfected to sometimes disturbing levels, I like to think of myself as a bit of a connoisseur.  And so it not without much research (aka stuffing myself silly with mock meat of all varieties) that I recommend Fry's Vegetarian Products as being rather, dare I say it, awesome. 

Don't be fooled by the vegetarian label either, their entire range is vegan too (huzzah!) and ticks the boxes on all sorts of things health conscious people are worried about.  Not me though, I'm all in it for taste, and they taste good.

Unlike other 'fake meat' products, that tend to have a habit of tasting just that, Fry's have amazing texture and flavour, especially their Chunky and Chicken Style Strips, and if I can slip 'em into a curry and not have the fiancee notice, then they're definitely onto a winner!

With such an extensive range it's hard to pick out favourites, but certainly high on the list are their Original Hot Dogs, which go down a treat lathered in mustard and ketchup, as well as their Chicken Style Burgers, which taste rather like a childhood favourite of mine at the house of Maccy Dees (I know, I know, but it was so hard to resist the happy meal toy...).

Now I was going to tell a wee white lie and say that I have sampled all of their products and that they are all amazing, but alas there are still a few I have yet to get my mitts on - namely their Chicken Style Nuggets (even the picture is making me hungry).  Never the less I am confident they will deliver like the others and hopefully, for my little taste buds, very soon I can let you know!

For ideas on how to use their different meat style strips have a wee peek at my Curry Fried Noodles and Malaysian 'Chicken' Curry recipes.

Ode to the Golden Coconut Bar

An ode to a chocolate bar I hear you say?  Yes, it is that good.  Am I actually going to write an ode? No, I am not that talented.  What I am going to do though is tell you just how AMAZING this chocolate bar really is.

First discovered when I arrived in Cork, I found this most delicious of bars lurking inside a health food store, hidden beside something made with carob (dry retch) and something else that looked suspiciously too healthy for my taste.  I nearly walked right past it and would never have known the magic that is the Organica Golden Coconut and Dark Chocolate Bar. 

Vegan chocolate bars tend to be limited to super rich dark chocolate, with the occasional hint of orange or mint, if your lucky.  Organica however have taken things a massive step further and added coconut, my most favoured of all chocolate fillings - that's right, they have made the vegan bounty bar, and it's better than the original.  Sweet, delicious coconut wrapped in luscious dark chocolate (that doesn't make you reach for a glass of water with every bite) this is one delectable treat.

In Ireland it can be found in most health food stores or you can buy it online from a number of UK sites.  Venture Foods, who make and distribute the bar, also have a website with more such tasty treats, like vegan white chocolate, oh my!