Say cheese… and more!

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Some years ago, when hearing the word ‘cheese’ I would imagine a happy cow in a meadow peacefully eating grass, undisturbed by the surrounding greenery, the butterflies and the songs of the nightingale. Like many others, I grew up being constantly bombarded with marketing of milk-based products that created this idyllic connection between us and the animal that had so selflessly given away its milk, so that we humans could be healthy. I knew that milk comes from the big udder of the cow (or goat) and that there is always plenty of it to feed everyone, that it is as good as breast milk and its health benefits extend all the way into adulthood. This is how the dairy industry conditioned us to think since we were born. The reality about the life of an industry-bred dairy cow and the benefits of cow milk for adults is quite different.

It was not until several years ago that I first heard the phrase ‘‘vegan cheese’’, or cheese made from plants rather than from cow’s milk. I initially thought it was a joke; how can anyone in his right mind call something ‘‘cheese’’ if it does not come from an animal? At the time, I was living in Germany, one of the countries with highest rates of vegetarians, with estimates of up to 10% of the population depending on the study. Not only vegetarians but also vegans are strong in Germany, and Chef’s Pencil claimed that Germany is sixth-best country in the world for vegans. A study from 2020 comparing seven Western European countries found that the number of vegans in Germany doubled in four years to 3.2% of the population. According to the same study, roughly 30% of the populations of Germany, Austria and Portugal were flexitarian, or people with intended lower consumption of meat, and this number had a staggering 22.9% growth rate in Germany. A survey from Forza estimated that 42m Germans (half of the population!) consider themselves to be flexitarian.

With the never-ending flooding of new food products and the endless choices at the supermarket and online, consumers are becoming more and more conscious of what they eat, of its origins and potential health dangers. People consume less animal products for reasons including weight loss, medical concerns and animal ethics.

After my first encounter with vegan cheese, I started looking around in the supermarkets and realized that not only were vegan cheeses splattered around but also something called vegan meat. I also discovered that some of the vegan products had a bland taste or were masked up by fatty outside layers, so while they were cruelty free, which was great to know, they were not a convincingly healthy option because of the heavy processing. I cared a lot about eating healthy and also staying environmentally conscious, so I started to explore the vegan world. There are well established companies that had great stories, offered great product taste and used mostly natural ingredients. Here are some of my picks:

Best Story and Products: Miyoko’s Creamery, USA