Returning to the online veg community because I'm trying to go vegan!

[dormouse]

Hopefully there are enough long-timers here who remember me from Veggieboards. I stopped actively posting in 2012. For those who don't know me, I've been a lacto-ovo vegetarian since 2008. That transition was fast and easy for me, since I never really liked the taste or texture of most meat for as long as I can remember. But, I have always been a cheese addict!

I have been slowly cutting back on lots of animal products. I replaced dairy milk with soy milk. I replaced butter with Earth Balance. In the last several months, I stopped eating my daily breakfast of scrambled eggs and started eating oatmeal instead. I've been experimenting with lots of vegan recipes, especially vegan baking, from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's cookbooks.

It has all come down to cheese. I think it was on VB where I first learned that cheese can be literally addictive, and my personal experience supports this. I sometimes feel dependent on cheese, and I don't think I've ever gone a day without eating it.

A vegan lifestyle is the right choice. I've thought this for a long time, but I've been afraid to try it. Afraid of the idea of a whole life without cheese. Never eating cheese again?! But, then I am a hypocrite. How much can I really care about animals or environment if I cannot stop consuming cheese, based only on my own pleasure?

Lots of things have been changing in my life, and I feel the drive now to attempt the change. But it's so scary! My purpose in writing this is to make it more real, to create more of a commitment, and to have the social pressure (and support) to follow through on this intention.

So, I intend to take this one day at a time and post about my progress. Today, so far so good! My breakfast was oatmeal with sauteed apples, cinnamon, and walnuts. I'm eating a chickpea salad sandwich on whole wheat bread for lunch. (The chickpea salad does have non-vegan mayo, because I happened to have some when I made it earlier in the week. The key thing for me here is NO CHEESE! Mayo is easily replaceable.)

I also went to Whole Foods today and bought a bunch of supplies, including white miso (which Isa uses in a lot of recipes), chocolate almond milk, Whole Soy soy yogurt, Just Mayo, Tofurkey Tempeh bacon, quinoa, and Vegan Gourmet cream cheese. There also happens to be a book store next to my Whole Foods, so I bought Thug Kitchen, Vegan with a Vengeance, and a stack of David Foster Wallace books (ok, these have nothing to do with my veganism project.)

Sorry for the long read! Wish me luck!

 

[Andy_T]

Hi Dormouse, great to have you here!
Awesome to hear that you are coming to the Light Side.

Best regards,
Andy

 

[KLS52]

Hi, dormouse...nice to see you again! Good luck in your vegan endeavor.

I was also a cheese addict. After ten years, I wish I could say it gets easier, but for me, it is still a struggle. Depending on what you use cheese for, you may find some of the cheese alternatives very good. Daiya cheddar works great for me, as does the regular flavor Chao slices...I swear it is so close to American cheese I don't miss the dairy version at all.

Mozzarella is the cheese I have not been able to replace, so I really miss pizza. I make my own with Daiya shreds but it doesn't really compare, IMO. I'm sure there are others who would disagree and also say pizza without cheese is delicious. I'm very happy for them, lol. It is not the case for me. And I think it's ok to admit that. There's nothing worse, IMO, than having someone say how easy something is and then failing at it. I prefer to acknowledge the struggles and move forward from there, knowing that I need to exert some self control if I'm going to succeed.

Good luck! Hope to see you around often.

 

[Chryssie]

Welcome to VV! I was never that into cheese myself but I know many struggle with this transition. As far as the cheese alternatives go, Daiya is pretty good but as KLS52 stated the mozzarella is a bit lacking. We found the Follow Your Heart mozzarella is better.

 

[AeryFairy]

Dormouse!

Welcome back! Good luck kicking the cheese. I had a hard enough time cutting it out, and that was pre-veganism - I became lactose intolerant, but was so addicted that I ate it and put up with the painful reactions for 6 months it was well worth giving it up, though, and I even found some good substitutes for my favourite cheesy recipes.

Also, vegan with a vengeance is pretty much my favourite cook book! I make the chocolate chip cookies and the Spanish omelette quite frequently

 

[Tom L.]

Welcome back, Dormouse!

Honestly, what I missed most was plain white milk, although I do miss pizza (see below). Someone here or at VB posted a recipe for a non-cheese sort of dip or spread that uses a base of cooked pureed carrots and potatoes, flavored with that yellow, cheddary-tasting nutritional yeast. I do like that nutritional yeast- it reminds me of those little cheddary crackers, shaped like squares or tiny hot dog buns, that I used to love. But I don't know how healthy it is if someone eats it like we cheese addicts (former and current) eat cheese.

Like KLS52, I haven't yet come across a convincing vegan mozzarella (or swiss). Daiya is nice in its own right, but doesn't come close to any cheese I know in flavor or especially texture- however, some swear by it. There is a rather good cheese substitute I tried long ago (mozzarella, I think) which was partially soy-based, but also had casein and so was not fully vegan.

 

[AeryFairy]

Welcome back, Dormouse!

Honestly, what I missed most was plain white milk, although I do miss pizza (see below). Someone here or at VB posted a recipe for a non-cheese sort of dip or spread that uses a base of cooked pureed carrots and potatoes, flavored with that yellow, cheddary-tasting nutritional yeast. I do like that nutritional yeast- it reminds me of those little cheddary crackers, shaped like squares or tiny hot dog buns, that I used to love. But I don't know how healthy it is if someone eats it like we cheese addicts (former and current) eat cheese.

Better for you than the dairy cheese

(And that recipe is amazing, it makes super convincing nacho cheese)

 

[Danielle]

Hooray! Good luck
It took me 3 years, lmao. But I did it. I don't even crave dairy cheese anymore. It's awesome.

 

[dormouse]

Hi, dormouse...nice to see you again! Good luck in your vegan endeavor.

I was also a cheese addict. After ten years, I wish I could say it gets easier, but for me, it is still a struggle. Depending on what you use cheese for, you may find some of the cheese alternatives very good. Daiya cheddar works great for me, as does the regular flavor Chao slices...I swear it is so close to American cheese I don't miss the dairy version at all.

Mozzarella is the cheese I have not been able to replace, so I really miss pizza. I make my own with Daiya shreds but it doesn't really compare, IMO. I'm sure there are others who would disagree and also say pizza without cheese is delicious. I'm very happy for them, lol. It is not the case for me. And I think it's ok to admit that. There's nothing worse, IMO, than having someone say how easy something is and then failing at it. I prefer to acknowledge the struggles and move forward from there, knowing that I need to exert some self control if I'm going to succeed.

Good luck! Hope to see you around often.

I appreciate your acknowledgement of your struggles. I'm absolutely trying to think of it like breaking an addiction. Giving up meat was easy for me; this is going to be very different.

You're the second person to recommend the Chao slices to me. I will have to try those.

Welcome back, Dormouse!

Honestly, what I missed most was plain white milk, although I do miss pizza (see below). Someone here or at VB posted a recipe for a non-cheese sort of dip or spread that uses a base of cooked pureed carrots and potatoes, flavored with that yellow, cheddary-tasting nutritional yeast. I do like that nutritional yeast- it reminds me of those little cheddary crackers, shaped like squares or tiny hot dog buns, that I used to love. But I don't know how healthy it is if someone eats it like we cheese addicts (former and current) eat cheese.

Like KLS52, I haven't yet come across a convincing vegan mozzarella (or swiss). Daiya is nice in its own right, but doesn't come close to any cheese I know in flavor or especially texture- however, some swear by it. There is a rather good cheese substitute I tried long ago (mozzarella, I think) which was partially soy-based, but also had casein and so was not fully vegan.

I've cooked with nooch before. In "Isa Does It," there's a pretty good recipe for Roasted Red Pepper Mac and Cheese that uses it, and I've also used it in a tofu scramble.


In general, I don't know if I should really turn to vegan cheeses just yet. I think I need to take some time to "cold turkey" myself away from the cheese concept. The way I eat now is very cheese-centric, and I think I will just be disappointed if I try to replace that quantity of cheese with vegan options. I also know from my experience with meat that the "substitutes" get more satisfying the longer its been since you've had the "real thing." (I use quotes, because I think many of these foods, like veggie burgers or tempeh strips or soysage, are delicious in their own right and not necessarily just a stand-in for meat.)

I realized that this weekend was a terrible time to start. I went out to a pub last night with several friends, and this place has awesome food--lots of delicious options for vegetarians but few for vegans. Especially with a beer in me, I could not resist nibbling off the cheese plate my friend ordered and then ordering a big hot pretzel with cheesy dipping sauce for myself. I did tell myself in the beginning that I would try to convert my home kitchen vegan first before worrying about the daunting task of eating vegan at restaurants, but I could have done a wee bit better than I did, even if not eating fully vegan. I also have some cheese and dairy products at home , and despite my Whole Foods shopping trip, I was not really prepared! I made a menu for the upcoming week and a long grocery list for the normal supermarket (Whole Foods is great, but pricey). I think I will consider Friday a practice day and my real "start day" on Monday. (Stay tuned for whatever weak-*** excuse I come up with on Monday!)

I definitely appreciate everyone's recommendations.

 

[KLS52]

In general, I don't know if I should really turn to vegan cheeses just yet. I think I need to take some time to "cold turkey" myself away from the cheese concept. The way I eat now is very cheese-centric, and I think I will just be disappointed if I try to replace that quantity of cheese with vegan options.

Probably a good idea if you feel like it's what you need to do. Makes sense.

 

[Second Summer]

Good to see you again!

I remember my own transition. As a vegetarian I was careful to avoid animal rennet, which made it impossible to eat almost all hard, white cheese. I think that made transitioning to veganism easier for me.

I agree that cutting out all cheese for a while might be a good plan.

 

[dormouse]

Good to see you again!

I remember my own transition. As a vegetarian I was careful to avoid animal rennet, which made it impossible to eat almost all hard, white cheese. I think that made transitioning to veganism easier for me.

I agree that cutting out all cheese for a while might be a good plan.

Glad to be back! I'm glad to see that the forum is still very active! Good job managing everything!

That would have helped a lot. I didn't really worry about rennet because it seemed silly to fixate on one small ingredient and yet continue to eat cheese in general.

 

[Danielle]

The only positive I see in avoiding animal rennet is that you maybe consume less cheese..?

 

[Calliegirl]

When I first went vegan there weren't any vegan cheeses. It was quite a few years before they came on the market and I do think the break helped. I ate cheese everyday as well and I was a little afraid to start eating it again, even if it was vegan. I didn't want to start eating tons of junk food again; nachos, pizza, cheesy fries, etc. When I get Daiya now, I will sometimes binge and put it on everything, so I limit how often I buy it.

 

[SuicideBlonde]

Nice to see you sweet pea. I have just recently completely cut out the cheese. I would very rarely eat it for a while. I find that my digestive system is so much better. I really like the daiya cheese. It is tasty.

 

[Andy_T]

Regarding Pizza cheese - have any of you tried "Teese" produced by the Chicago Soy Dairy?

I found that very good on Pizza, when you do it correct ... and that is, first you cover the pizza with tomato sauce, then you put some of the grated "Teese" on top of it, and then you put some tomato slices on top of the grated "Teese". That way, it does not get dry.

Best regards,
Andy

 

[dormouse]

I'm loving all these vegan cheese suggestions. I will definitely experiment with all of this at some point, maybe after I have lost the taste for dairy cheese a little bit.

When I first went vegan there weren't any vegan cheeses. It was quite a few years before they came on the market and I do think the break helped. I ate cheese everyday as well and I was a little afraid to start eating it again, even if it was vegan. I didn't want to start eating tons of junk food again; nachos, pizza, cheesy fries, etc. When I get Daiya now, I will sometimes binge and put it on everything, so I limit how often I buy it.

That's a great point. I wouldn't call myself a "junk food vegetarian" by any means, but I certainly could do a lot better. I have relied too much on dairy and eggs for protein, which isn't good from a saturated fat perspective, and I definitely need to branch out into a greater variety of grains and legumes. I should eat more veggies too.

 

[PTree15]

Welcome, Dormouse! I do remember you from VB! Cheese was the one thing that I was afraid to kick for the longest time. And when I did, it was far easier than I thought it would be, much to my surprise. Still, I didn't try any vegan cheeses until about three years into my veganism. I was afraid I would be disappointed. It was a good strategy for me. Now I use Daiya and some local artisan vegan cheeses when I can get my hands on them. I try to keep the consumption down, as if I had my druthers, I'd eat the stuff every day! In the end, it is processed and all, and I'm trying to cut down on such foods overall. Still, it totally satisfies my cravings, and I'm thankful these products are out there.

 

[Tom L.]

Glad to be back! I'm glad to see that the forum is still very active! Good job managing everything!

That would have helped a lot. I didn't really worry about rennet because it seemed silly to fixate on one small ingredient and yet continue to eat cheese in general.

Yes. Cows aren't bred and eventually killed for the purpose of producing rennet- demand for their milk or flesh is the main thing that drives the industry.

 

[ledboots]

Yes. Cows aren't bred and eventually killed for the purpose of producing rennet- demand for their milk or flesh is the main thing that drives the industry.

And skins.