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.

I'm the Only Vegan in the Village

An odd thing has happened lately that has caught me rather off guard – I’ve met other vegans.  I had always known they were out there, somewhere.  There were web sites claiming of whole societies of vegans, who had get togethers and ate cupcakes.  Hailing from the middle of nowhere in New Zealand, even in the bigger city where I went to university I never once came across any of these so called vegans, let along whole groups of them. And then, all of a sudden, they were EVERYWHERE.

My first inclination was to feel threatened; I was the only ‘vegan in the village!’. (Refer to: Daffyd, from Little Britain) I mean, did I have to share my dark chocolate now!? 

 

My second was to be suspicious – vegans in my mind (myself excluded of course) were all tree hugging hippies, obsessed with E numbers and how long they could go without shaving their arm pits.  What if people start associating me with these weirdoes!??

My third was fear.  Not the perfect of vegans, I have a few grey areas when it comes to my chosen lifestyle – would they lynch me for eating potato chips at the pub which I know contain lactose?  And heaven forbid to think what they would do when they find out I work at a café, a normal café, where I secretly experience a buzz of satisfaction when I get the cappuccino froth just right??

And so it was with great wariness that I got to know these other ‘vegans’.  I shook hands with them at a distance, and waited for them to comment on my semi leather shoes.  I sat in silence wondering who was going to regale me first with tales from their latest night time raid on battery hens.  

Much to my surprise however no one smelled like a ten day old sock, and there wasn’t a greasy dread lock in sight.  Everyone drank alcohol like I did and confessed to small grey areas of their own.  Could it be? Could they be normal!??

With great surprise, that quickly turned to delight, I now claim to know a whole host of vegans, and am even part of a vegan group.  More importantly, the prophecies were true!!  We eat cupcakes and go to restaurants together; we share recipes and invite each other over for dinner.   All my fears were unfounded.   The suspicious, stereotyping vegan in me was quashed!  Well, almost… I'm still distrustful of dreadlocks.

Are you a vegan in Cork, Ireland?  There are others like you!  Visit the Cork Vegans Meet.up Group and prepare yourself for cupcake action!  

Far From the Perfect Vegan

I must admit I’ve been a little hesitant to start a blog about veganism.  For one, I don’t exactly have a very good track record when it comes to vegan friendly professions: Chinese takeaway lackey & wonton deep-frier extraordinaire, hotel receptionist come all day breakfast cook (which did not turn out well, for anyone involved!), service trainer… for a burger bar….hmmm, let’s just say if there was such a thing as vegan hell, I’d be right down there, rotating on a spit.

And now once again I’ve found myself stuck in a rather unveganly (?) job, waitressing at a café where I spend my day up-selling chicken salads… and little chunks of my soul, sunny side down.  So definitely not the best vegan out there – and seemingly not the best person to be writing about veganism – but really, is there such a thing as the perfect vegan?

Vegans are commonly split into two categories, those who avoid animals and their by-products in their diet only and those who avoid them in all aspects of their lives.   Obviously I am having a few issues moving towards the latter category (insert meek, guilty face here!), but it my defence I think it might just be humanly impossible to be a perfect vegan.  

As anyone who has researched the topic will know, animal by-products are in EVERYTHING.  I remember when I first ‘made the change’ I was rather taken aback at the multitude of places where they could pop up  – apparently there was bone ash in my sugar, ground up hooves in my shampoo, crushed beetles in my lipstick and cow uterus in my skin cream – I mean, what the!?  It seemed if I wanted to become a true vegan I had to 100% dislocate myself from society and live in a cave… eating air.

I think though, when it comes to anything in life (especially making yourself feel better about a half-assed attempt at something…ahem) there is a great wee saying by British political philosopher Edmund Burke which comes in quite handy: "No man made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little."  

Veganism can be a little tricky at times and while there is no such thing as a perfect vegan, who cares! It’s a great way of life and a great way to do ones bit in the bid to stop the suffering of animals, and as PETA puts it ‘being vegan is about helping animals, not maintaining personal purity’ (thankfully, as my personal purity is a whole other story!).