Help a Cheese Addict Go Vegan

I have this kindergarten teacher/documentary filmmaker friend (as if that didn't identify her) who knows all of the evils of bringing animals into the world just to eat them. She is a vegetarian and has been for years. She never even liked the taste of "meat." She likes tofu and other soy products. She gave up ice cream, which was a vice.

Here's the problem: eggs, gouda, provolone and blue cheese. I thought for sure it would be pizza, but I guess that was more like a projection from the vegetarian Mary Martin.

The other issue is convenience. She is mom to two teenager vegetarians (I think they're veg), her life is very busy, and she doesn't want to have to come up my way to Whole Foods just to get gouda that's expensive and doesn't taste like gouda.

I have no idea what gouda tastes like, mind you, and had to ask if it's a hard or soft cheese.

Giving up her eggs (which are free range and I'm not sure that even if she knew the whole egg story that would make a difference) and cheese is not an option, however, she is open to replacing them because she knows she shouldn't be eating them. (Actually, she has used egg replacers in baking and likes them, and likes tofu scramble. I think eating eggs is what happens when she eats out. We should concentrate on the cheese.)

Sending her to HumaneMyth won't necessarily help, but I suppose it can't hurt. The problem in her head isn't regarding suffering (and she might never get to our right to use/rape/slaughter), it's regarding convenience, yummy alternatives and cost.

This isn't my area as I find the smell of most cheeses revolting. Li'l help cheese heads?

Comments

[Dan]

Her problem appears to be indifference, so I doubt there's any solution to her 'addiction' other than being sufficiently bothered, but the best cheese substitute I'm aware of is www.buteisland.com .

[Mike]

There is also Teese (http://www.teesecheese.com/), though all they have are mozzarella and cheddar flavors and may be difficult to purchase in some areas. I am not a cheese fan, even when I was not vegan, but I have heard good things about this brand. It is supposed to melt like cheese (sort of) and taste authentic.

I don't think it is possible to change another person's dietary choices. Celebrate their vegetarianism, and quietly encourage vegan choices when possible.

[Elaine Vigneault]

Some ideas:
1) Read The China Study - the health argument against dairy products is strong. It helped convince me to ditch dairy for good.
2) Remind yourself that cheese is very similar to butter - it's mostly fat and if consumed, should be consumed in very small amounts.
3) You can order vegan "cheese" products online and have them shipped if you don't have a store that sells vegan "cheeses." For blue cheese and gouda, I'd suggest the brand Shreese. For mozzarella I suggest the brand Teese. For feta I recommend the brand Soy Bleu.
4) My husband, a reformed cheese addict, recommends giving it up cold turkey. It's a bad habit like smoking.
5) Don't be too hard on yourself at first. If you slip up, it's fine, just get back on the wagon. You can wean yourself off cheese if you have to.
6) I've heard the book, "Breaking the Food Seduction" by Dr. Neal D. Barnard is good for this purpose. He talks about addictive foods: sugar, chocolate, and... cheese! Many vegans tell me it helped them stop eating cheese.

[Mary Martin]

My Whole Foods now carries Sheese, and I happen to have some in my fridge. I bought it for guests who eat cheese and I don't like it but that's meaningless as I don't like cheese made from cow's milk.

The issue with Teese is the shipping with the ice pack. Frankly, it's prohibitively expensive. If she were a pizza or nachos person it might be worth it though--that's definitely a great idea for those people.

I did read The Food Seduction, and my friend actually gets the reality of food (cheese) addiction and even thinks she might be allergic and is generally lactose intolerant. But alas, she can't manage to give it up.

And this question is coming from her, by the way--I wasn't asking her why she won't go vegan.

I think I'll roll the suggestions into one. I like what Elaine's husband did because it's cheap and easy. I'll definitely suggest it as well as buying her a basket of cheesy substitutes. You never know what someone else is going to think is tasty. Maybe she just needs to do a taste test and a book or two (I'll loan her Barnard's book). Never heard of Soy Bleu--I'll check it out!

Thanks!

[kelly g.]

Follow Your Heart's Vegan Gourmet cheeses are good, and are available in Whole Foods (at least where I live - Kansas City). But these are more "standard" cheeses - mozzarella and cheddar. ( http://www.followyourheart.com/ )

My husband's friend, who's two months into experimenting with a vegetarian diet (go hubby!), liked Sheese, from Bute Island ( http://www.buteisland.com/ ). He had a hankering for gouda, tried it on a whim, and was pleasantly surprised.

I'm allergic to milk, so I know little about cheese, especially the stinky ones! :)

[Beth]

I don't like vegan cheese. It usually tastes wonky and costs many times more than animal cheese. I figured I'd have to give up my favorite creamy dairy-like foods until I found two recipe books:

The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook: Delicious Dairy-Free Cheeses and Classic "Uncheese" Dishes by Joanne Stepaniak

Dairy Free and Delicious: Over 100 tempting, easy recipes... by Bryanna Clark Grogan and Joanne Stepaniak

The recipes are simple, totally vegan, and taste BETTER than the stuff made with bovine excretions. :)

Highly recommended.

Beth Erickson

[SelahWrites]

You have hit the nail on the head with the word "addict." I am a former addict, and would literally eat whole blocks of cheddar at a sitting. There is info in the China Study as well as Skinny Bitch about the reason behind this addiction being related to the makeup of milk having an inducement for calves to eat more. Magnified in us, this cheese endorphin rush is truly overwhelming.

That said, if you cannot get her to care about the impact the cheese production causes, I think you've found a lost cause in getting her to stop the cheese fest.

[Gingerlks]

To me it's simple. The only thing I loved more then cheese was eggs. Yes I love the taste of both but not as much as I hate the animal torturers & killers. And how hard is it to NOT give money to people you hate?
Not giving money to people I hate is the easiest thing in the world.

[ARPhilo]

Honestly, I was a cheese addict when I went vegan. I was nervous about no longer being able to eat it. A vegan friend of mine told me to stop consuming milk for a month and then I would be lactose intolerant anyways.

I don't know how true that is bc I have not tried to eat cheese again. But, I can say that, after I was vegan a few months, I didn't crave it anymore. After I was vegan over a year, the smell of cheese disgusted me.

When I want a cheese-like texture on a sandwich or something I just use hummus or avocado or something. They taste nothing like it. Which nowadays is a good thing.

I never found any vegan slice cheese I liked. There is a faux parmagiana one that was ok- "Vegan" brand I think. Tofutti cream "cheese" isn't so bad either.

But, I say, your friend should "just do it". I went vegan when I had almost no money, was in school full time, doing honors working, and working to support myself. It actually saved me money.

I have faith that your friend can do it.

[Adam Kochanowicz]

This may sound obvious, but the best way to ditch cheese is to just stop eating it. That includes vegan cheeses though he/she may want to try them later.

Like me, your friend craves cheese, but cheese has addictive elements like the narcotic Casomorphin which cause our body to crave it. After staying away from cheese completely, your friend may stop having cravings for it after a couple weeks or a month.

[Bea Elliott]

Thank you Adam for pointing out the Casomorphin which really does expose the truth in the advertising slogan "the power of cheese".

I might have some claim to be an "expert" in cheese. I was raised on a European penchant for the stuff. Hardly a French or Italian meal doesn't include several different servings of cheese. I also worked 2 years at Hickory Farms - specializing in over 100 different varieties of formage. I don't know of a cheese I've never tasted - or didn't like. And how wonderful it was that as I got older I was convinced that eating lots of it would be good for my aging bones...

However, once I became aware of the connection to "veal" and all of dairy cruelty - I ditched it overnight and have never looked back. This isn't going to help your addict though, as you said the cruelty issues probably won't touch her very deeply.

But what I can say about my liberation from cheese is that within weeks my complexion was clearer... I was finally "regular" and my energy level increased. After a few months I began noticing that my arthritic hands and knees hardly hurt at all! And (for the first time in my life) my ridiculously calloused (hard working) hands also grew the longest unbreakable nails. All this confirmed for me that all the time I was "eating my calcium" (just like the dairy industry said I should), my body was actually leaching the very component it was starved for. How ironic! The more calcium I ate the less I absorbed.

I've since grown to like the taste of nutritional yeast which does have a "cheese-like" nutty flavor... And I've experimented with different tofu recipes that mimic cottage cheese sufficiently. "Better than Cream Cheese" is as good and so is Follow Your Heart. The only problem being a lack of "flavors" - but I'm sure as market demand increases so will the variety in these products.

Your friend need only have the fortitude to do without for a few short weeks to realize all the benefits of kicking the cheese habit - that is if the plight of the poor dairy calves isn't enough...

[Becci]

The first thing that comes to mind is she might identify with the mother cow. She should imagine having her babies taken from her shortly after they were born...and crying for them for days while machines siphoned her breastmilk from her body.

Everyone else's suggestions are awesome, but I thought I'd just throw that one out there.

[Anthony]

In my experience I have found that people need to come to veganism on their own terms. They can't really be pushed into it. I was a vegetarian for 7 years before I became vegan. And then one day I read "The Pig Who Sang To The Moon" and learned things about the dairy and egg industry I was ashamed that I didn't know before and that was it. I had the knowledge. I couldn't pretend anymore. I became vegan that day and it has been the best choice of my life. But it took me a long time to get there and it had nothing to do with my vegan activist friends. Veganism has to be a personal choice. If she knows what the egg and dairy industry is all about and she still chooses to eat eggs and dairy, then she's not ready to become vegan yet. An earlier commenter said to celebrate their vegetarianism and quietly encourage vegan choices when possible. That's the best advice anyone could ever give.

As far as vegan cheese goes, there are some that taste fairly good, but nothing tastes close to the real thing. You can visit http://vegancheesereviews.com to read about a bunch of different options out there.

[Bea Elliott]

One thing I forgot to pipe in about... and probably one of the most important bits, healthwise - Wait till your friend has her first menopausal hot flash. Nothing like consuming another species hormones when your own are off the charts! She'll see then. We just weren't meant to eat the stuff.