Vegan cheese

[Jenise]

So someone sent me an episode of Shark Tank featuring an Austin-based company called Rebel Cheese. The Sharks were all very impressed. Most interestingly, Mark Cuban, who's vegan, especially loved the brie but was joined in his praise by Kevin O'Leary who is a major cheese-and-wine fan--he said it was indistinguishable from dairy-based brie, meaning flavor AND texture. Hard to imagine based on the non-dairy cheeses I've tasted!

There's none available to me close by, but there are quite a few options in Seattle. As someone who needs to minimize dairy, I've put in a request to our local Food Co-op to get some in. Have any of you tried their cheeses?

So someone sent me an episode of Shark Tank featuring an Austin-based company called Rebel Cheese. The Sharks were all very impressed. Most interestingly, Mark Cuban, who's vegan, especially loved the brie but was joined in his praise by Kevin O'Leary who is a major cheese-and-wine fan--he said it was indistinguishable from dairy-based brie, meaning flavor AND texture. Hard to imagine based on the non-dairy cheeses I've tasted!

There's none available to me close by, but there are quite a few options in Seattle. As someone who needs to minimize dairy, I've put in a request to our local Food Co-op to get some in. Have any of you tried their cheeses?

My one-and-only face-to-face encounter with the late Thor Iverson took place when I was in Philly and we met up for dinner at Vedge, a vegan restaurant that he insisted I had to try. At the end of the very enjoyable dinner he said we had to try their vegan ice cream and it was truly a revelation, both in terms of flavor and texture. He explained that they used brewer's yeast, seitan and various other ingredients to get that texture. I'd expect that if they can do ice cream, they should be able to do a soft cheese like Brie.

My one-and-only face-to-face encounter with the late Thor Iverson took place when I was in Philly and we met up for dinner at Vedge, a vegan restaurant that he insisted I had to try. At the end of the very enjoyable dinner he said we had to try their vegan ice cream and it was truly a revelation, both in terms of flavor and texture. He explained that they used brewer's yeast, seitan and various other ingredients to get that texture. I'd expect that if they can do ice cream, they should be able to do a soft cheese like Brie.

I wonder. Vegan ice cream can definitely be good. Even if you alter the category slightly to just consider sorbet, there are places in Berlin that make phenomenally-creamy sorbets, without going down the yeast/seitan direction, through the churning, the pectin and of course the sugar.

But cheese seems more difficult, with the fermentation. But, I suppose the science of lab meat is passing blind taste tests, so maybe cheese can as well.

[Jenise]

The cheese I'm talking about is based on nut milks, no idea what else is in it. Was sure surprised at how authentic it looked and Kevin's ultra-positive comment about taste/texture.

Chinese cuisine is all but completely devoid of milk and milk products (see below for why). In place of cheese they have a variety of fermented tofu products. So vegan brie doesn't surprise me. There's probably a big potential market for it in East Asia.

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Lactose (galactose and glucose), as opposed to table sugar (sucrose--fructose and glucose) is the main sugar in mammalian milk. To digest lactose the small intestine secretes lactase, an enzyme that breaks down lactose into its component galactose and glucose, both of which are then absorbed. All infants secrete lactose, but in most humans secretion of lactase stops after the infant is weaned (continued presence of milk products in the diet may delay or prevent the stoppage). Only ethnic groups where dairy herding is a common practice tend to retain lactase secretion to adulthood. This includes Europeans, the herding peoples of Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. In the absence of lactase, bacteria end up digesting the lactose and this results in gas and other gastroenteric disturbances, a condition called lactose intolerance.

East Asians are typically lactose intolerant and this is why cuisines such as Chinese are almost completely devoid of milk and milk products. The Chinese use soy milk, tofu, and other such products in place of milk and cheese.

-Paul W.