Plant-based cheese has become a popular choice for those who want to cut out dairy but still enjoy the taste and texture of traditional cheese. But making cheese from plants that stretches, melts, and tastes like dairy is no easy task. It takes a lot of science, experimentation, and testing to create something that looks and feels like the real thing. That’s what a group of researchers at the University of Guelph set out to do, and they’ve made impressive progress. The Science Behind Plant Chees
  • electric_nan@lemmy.mlEnglish
    34·
    1 year ago

    Nice! I’ve been vegan for 25 years, so no longer the best judge of “just like cheese”, but I’m stoked at the improvements since I vegan.

    • moody@lemmings.worldEnglish
      121·
      1 year ago

      Never been vegan, but would love to see vegan alternatives that are as good (subjectively) as real cheeses. I do try to make an effort to reduce my animal-based food consumption, but cheese is really hard for me to leave behind.

      • electric_nan@lemmy.mlEnglish
        15·
        1 year ago

        It’s a big sticking point for many, and I felt the same way making the transition from vegetarian to vegan. In the end, I found I didn’t miss it as much as I thought I would, but that’s just my experience.

        I appreciate your sentiments, and your efforts to limit your consumption. I will always applaud someone who eats a vegan diet 5 or 6 days out of 7. If everyone could manage something like that, it would make a huge difference :)

        • zergtoshi@lemmy.worldEnglish
          12·
          1 year ago

          And I appreciate your non-dogmatic point of view as you hit the nail on the head - having a vegan diet 7 days of the week for sure has a bigger (positive) impact on the world than having a vegan diet on 5 or 6 days.
          But even 1 day a week is better than 0 days.
          We mustn’t allow ‘perfect’ being the enemy of ‘good’.

          • moody@lemmings.worldEnglish
            3·
            1 year ago

            Agreed. I make an effort, though I’m not gonna pretend that I’ve ever been shamed for not being vegan, despite what the stereotypes suggest.

  • streetfestival@lemmy.caEnglish
    31·
    1 year ago

    Wow, really cool. Sounds like great progress for the industry. And it’s Canadian >.<! Good on AOL for covering this, although they should have used the “grilled cheese pull apart” test for the headline photo (copied below).

    The research study was published in Physics of Fluids: https://pubs.aip.org/aip/pof/article-abstract/37/1/011913/3330660/Impact-of-protein-sources-on-the-functionality-of

    Here’s a popular press summary from the journal’s publisher: Just as Gouda: Improving the Quality of Cheese Alternatives

  • Soulg@ani.socialEnglish
    142·
    1 year ago

    Cool development and I’m sure it’s good, but ain’t no way it tastes like dairy cheese.

  • RBWells@lemmy.worldEnglish
    144·
    1 year ago

    Cheese is so interesting because it’s cultured, with different bacteria that make it all taste different. It’s more like a living thing. Vegan cheese is the stuff of school pizzas. Pasteurized Processed Cheese Food.

    Still interesting, and happy for vegans, but coconut oil and pea protein made into an ultraprocessed cheese food doesn’t sound healthier than cheese.

    • dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      5·
      1 year ago

      fair, but it’s not like the high saturated fat and high cholesterol levels in dairy based cheese make it really that “healthy” by comparison … meanwhile, lots of vegans are motivated more by not supporting the poor treatment of cows or by environmental concerns, both of which are solved by vegan cheese.

    • Rodneyck@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      4·
      1 year ago

      There are plenty of molded/aged cheeses in higher-end vegan markets, and do-it-yourselfers.

    • irish_link@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      1 year ago

      Ohh wo/man I totally agree. I just can’t eat the real stuff. I blow up, not just in my digestion but physically I have terrible whole body inflammation.

      I like to have fake pizza once or twice a month. This will make it better (once i read the article and taste it).

      • qevlarr@lemmy.worldEnglish
        32·
        1 year ago

        There’s a lot of it, so yeah. If vegan cheese reaches the point where it’s basically indistinguishable from dairy cheese, a lot more people will become vegan. Maybe price is also a factor but most vegan cheese is plain bad in my experience

        • Skydancer@pawb.socialEnglish
          3·
          1 year ago

          Price is a factor, but so is brand recognition. Daiya is a great example that’s carried everywhere because it’s been around so long but is awful.

          If you can find Miyoko’s, that was started by the chef that popularized actual cultured (meaning produced by a bacterial process like animal milk based cheeses) vegan cheese, and is an entirely different experience.

        • Ephera@lemmy.mlEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          Yeah, it can be quite hit-and-miss. Some vegan cheese tastes like fat and stinky feet. But on the other hand, I’ve had sliced cheese and cream cheese, which I liked better than the original.

          Main limiting factor at that point was the selection. I could get one or two kinds of good sliced cheeses, not ten+ like you might get for the non-vegan side of things. But yeah, I branched out more towards legumes and nuts, then the selection is good, too.

      • RBWells@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        I’ve made cheese, though, it just seems more like food than the ones made from oil. Still - I know this is the vegan sub, and I cook for vegans quite often, I am happy for y’all that it’s getting better tasting, for sure.