London Vegan Campaigns: dairy

Friday, 1 June 2012

Stumbling-block-of-cheese Part 2: Hard cheese...

By Robb, Vegan Pledge Buddy 2009-2012

"You might as well face it, you're addicted to cheese..."

Each year of the Vegan Pledge, giving up cheese seems to be the one thing that many pledgers think is going to be the biggest challenge. And if I had a pound for every time someone told me they "could never give up cheese" then I'd have... well... OK, only about £10. But you get the point.

However, it's not just the texture and flavour. Cheese has also been shown to be highly addictive. And that's not surprising, as it contains morphine, codeine, and other highly addictive opiates. And the casein in cheese also produces opiate effects when digested. No wonder cheese has been described as "dairy crack"!

So, for those who aren't yet ready to go "cold tofurkey", cheese substitutes can be the vegan methodone.

However, until relatively recently, if you loved cheese but wanted to go vegan, it was very much a case of "hard cheese". The first soya and nut-based alternatives to cheese weren't very good. They weren't even always vegan! But things have come a long way since then. We now have hard cheese, soft cheese, cream cheese, cheese sauce, cheese pizzas, and even breaded cheesy bites!

A selection of dairy alternatives from Bute Island

So here's an overview of the most commonly available brands and varieties...

Bute Island Scheese - http://www.buteisland.com

Hard cheese:		Blue, Cheshire, Chives, Edam, Gouda, Medium Cheddar, Melty Mild Cheddar, Melty Red Cheddar, Mozzarella, Smoked Cheddar, Strong Cheddar, Tesco "Free From" Soya Mild, Tesco "Free From" Soya Medium

Cream cheese:		Cheddar, Chives, Garic & Herb, Original, Sweet Chilli, Tesco "Free From" Cheddar, Tesco "Free From" Garlic & Herb, Tesco "Free From" Original, Tesco "Free From" Sweet Chilli

This was the first acceptable fake cheese I tried - the smoked cheddar being my favourite. It crisped up nicely on the top of, say, a pasta bake. But never really melted.

Until recently, that is. At last year's Bristol VegFest they had some of the first samples of their new "melty" flavours - which melted really well in a cheese toastie!

Available online, in health food stores, and in some Tesco's.

Redwood Cheatin' Cheezly - http://www.redwoodfoods.co.uk

Hard cheese:		Parmesan, Pepperjack, Red Cheddar, Soy Free, Super Melting Edam, Super Melting Mozzarella, White Cheddar

Cheese slices:		Super Melting Cheddar, Super Melting Mozzarella

Cheese products:		Breaded Pepperjack Style Cheezly Bites, Meatless Feast Pizza, Ham Style & Pineapple Pizza, Cheezly & Tomato Pizza

Cheezly was the first vegan cheese to melt properly, with their "super melting" mozzarella becoming my new favourite (and essential for pizzas) and their cheese slices being great for burgers.

Redwood also make a great range of fake meats (and other products). And they've just introduced a range of pizzas that use their cheeses too!

Available online and in health food stores (including Holland & Barrett).

Vegusto No Moo - http://www.vegusto.co.uk

Hard cheese:		Golden, Classic (Blue / Stilton), Herb, Melty, Mild-Aromatic (Cheddar), Piquant, Walnut

Cheese products:		Sauce

When the owner of Vx (the vegan boutique near Kings Cross) gave me my first taste of Vegusto, my immediate response was "this is not like cheese... this is cheese!" OK, it had been around 15 years since I'd had "real" cheese, but this was the first to get the texture right - both waxy and crumbly.

Like Redwood, Vegusto also have an extensive range of other vegan products, such as fake meats and even pet food!

Available online and at the Loving Hut in Camden.

Vegourmet - http://www.vegourmet.at

Hard cheese:

Paradiso (tomato and basil), Volcano (hot), Herbario (herb), Mediteraneo (olive & garlic), Montanero (smokey), Bianco (creamy), Santeciano (strong)

Having introduced the UK to Vegusto, Vx was also the first to bring us Vegourmet.

Texturally, I find Vegourmet quite similar to Cheezly. But with a different range of flavours.

Available online and at Vx.

Tofutti - http://www.tofutti.com

Hard cheese:		Mozzarella

Cream cheese:		Country Vegetable, French Onion, Garlic & Herbs, Herbs & Chives, Original

Cheese slices:		Mozzarella, Cheddar

Probably better known for their vegan ice creams, Tofutti also make a limited ranges of fake cheeses.

Available online and in health food stores.

Life Free From

Grated cheese:

Parmezano, Cheddareese

Handy tubs of grated parmesan and cheddar style fake cheese. Great from sprinkling on pasta dishes.

Available in health food stores, and in some large supermarkets.

UPDATE: I've heard today that these have now been discontinued! So get them while you can...

Free & Easy

Cheese products:

Cheese sauce

A quick and easy cheese sauce that can be made up with water or non-dairy milk.

Available online, and in health food stores.

Daiya - http://www.daiyafoods.com

Cheese products:

Amy's Macaroni and Soy Cheeze

One of the most popular cheese alternatives in the USA, Daiya isn't yet readily available in the UK - except in Amy's Macaroni and Soy Cheeze (but beware - they do a dairy version too!)

Available online, and in health food stores.

And if that's still not enough, you can always try using Marigold Engevita Nutritional Yeast Flakes (available online, and in health food stores) to add a cheesy flavour to sauces, etc. Or SAF's raw cashew cheese (available at Whole Foods Market, Kensington High Street).

So, no more excuses for not giving up cheese! Although the downside is that I'm not going to make much more money from those who "could never give up cheese".

But that's a small price to pay.

Thursday, 31 May 2012

Stumbling-block-of-cheese Part 1: What's wrong with dairy?

By Cathy, Vegan Pledge Buddy 2010, 2011 & 2012, and Vegan Campaigns volunteer since 2009

Lots of new vegans say cheese is their biggest stumbling block. This two-part post is here to help.

The first thing to say is you are not alone: many have been through this before and found the way through. You will too! If that sounds like advice for people afflicted with some kind of addiction, well that’s not so far from the truth, seeing as cheese contains casomorphins, which have an opioid effect on the brain. The good news is, the addiction subsides and then vanishes once you wean yourself off it, and there are many great reasons to do just that.

This first post gives a very quick insight into those reasons. Tomorrow’s post will be on the more upbeat subject of how to live happily without cheese.

Since I mentioned weaning, let’s start there.

Suffering for cows and their calves…

Image from
animalaid.org.uk/images/pdf/
booklets/zerograze.pdf

No calf = no milk, so cows are kept almost constantly pregnant throughout their curtailed lives, with each birth followed by an agonising separation of mother and calf. The ‘lucky’ female offspring get to follow in their mothers’ footsteps: their reproductive systems exploited without respite from the moment they reach sexual maturity. As well as the loss of their calves, they suffer routine mutilation through the widespread practice of ‘disbudding’ (the industry term for burning off young horn tissue), as well as being subject to lameness, metabolic disorders, and mastitis due to being selectively bred over generations to massively overproduce milk.

Photo from Animal Equality

animalequality.net/food/milk

The young males are either shot at birth or shipped to Europe to be incarcerated in veal crates which induce anaemia in the name of producing pale flesh for human consumption. Continental veal production is banned in the UK because it is deemed so cruel. However, some UK dairy farmers, keen to cash in on the flesh of their male calves, are now trying to promote ‘rosé veal’. Obviously profit is their true motive. The young calf is still taken from his mother, castrated, disbudded, reared indoors, and butchered after a few months. It is clear that the only way to have no part in the suffering of cows and their offspring is to say no to all forms of dairy.

You can search ‘dairy farm cruelty’ on Google, YouTube, etc, and sadly you will find countless hits that illustrate the suffering that takes place in the production of cheese and other dairy products, much of which is very upsetting to witness. For easier watching, I recommend this watchable short video, in song form, recently released by the comedian Vegan Smythe, which uses humour to make some important points in an very accessible way, without any distressing footage.

Environmental costs

As with all animal products, cheese and other dairy products take a heavy toll on the environment. Dairy farms are one of the most significant contributors to water table pollution (this was actually one of the main reasons for refusal of permission for the controversial Nocton mega dairy). As ruminants, cows contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions as their digestive systems emit large quantities of methane. Together with emissions from feed production and fertilisers associated with dairy production, the industry is responsible for 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The dairy industry is also responsible for 7% of the global water footprint, in addition to its vast land footprint for both grazing and the production of feed crops.

Human health issues

Using cows' milk as food for humans doesn't just hurt them and the environment – it is not a healthy choice for us either. This is perhaps unsurprising, when you consider that we are the only species that drinks the baby food of another, or indeed consumes milk after infancy at all. Although the industry spends millions trying to convince us that dairy products are good for us, we can meet our calcium needs from plant sources in a form that is more accessible to our bodies, and without the health problems associated with dairy. These include links to higher rates of osteoporotic bone fracture, some cancers, autoimmune diseases, and ear infections and allergies in children, as well as the prevalent symptoms of lactose intolerance. The overuse of antibiotics in dairy cows is now also being linked to antimicrobial resistance, with worrying implications for human health too.

So, the case against dairy is compelling - but, once you’ve realised that dairy-free is the way forward, how do you make the transition? This is what tomorrow’s post is all about, focusing on the one that people tend to find most challenging: cheese.

Further reading