ad | I want to preface this post straight up by saying that’s I’m not vegan. Heck, I’m not even vegetarian. But I do like trying new food – I’m a big foodie! – and making a few smarter choices to add into my diet. I’ve already swapped dairy milk for oat milk in my tea (which I MUCH prefer) but I’m big on dairy. So trying some vegan cheese was super interesting for me!
The company I’m featuring today are Violife, who sell a wide range of dairy-free cheese products which can be used in a variety of vegan recipes. I was told straight up that vegan cheese can sometimes take a while to get used to, especially if you’re not used to it. But if anything, that made me even more excited to try it!
My own experience of vegan cheese is a dish I had at The Ferry House, where I visited on a press visit back in 2020. That’s it. That’s the ONLY time in my life I have ever tried it. And damn, I wish I had asked the kitchen at The Ferry House exactly what cheese it was (although all their food is locally sourced, so I’m not sure I’d have been able to buy it in Tesco) because it was deeeelicious.
So apart from that one brief occasion, I don’t have anything to compare this vegan cheese to. But here’s what I thought of 3 Violife Vegan cheeses:
Smoky Cheddar Flavour Slices
These were decent. If you’re familiar with what a smoky cheese tastes like then they definitely tasted like THAT. They tasted like a smoky cheese – good start! The slices are huge so you get well enough in each slice. This is the sort of cheese I’d have on a cracker with some chutney. At Christmas. Mmm.
The texture is the thing that sorta threw me a little. But I’m fully aware that this is likely because I’m not familiar with the texture of vegan cheese anyway – and very likely something that I’ll get used to!
Original Flavour Slices
This one is very mild, so if you like stronger cheeses then I probably wouldn’t recommend for you but these slices are ideal for popping in a sandwich with other ingredients, so you can get that hint of cheesiness along with other flavours! Or again, on a cracker with some chutney – or by making your own lunchables with them!
For that reason, I think this would be a good option for children. I would have preferred something a bit stronger but that’s just my taste preference but this wasn’t by any means a bad cheese! It also melts well, so would be a great option for a cheese toasty. Again, the texture was the only thing I wasn’t 100% sure of.
Original Flavour Grated
As this is the original flavour, it tasted the same as the original flavour slices, so I don’t have much to add here on the flavour of this as it’s the same. I guess it *can* taste a little different when it’s all melted, as this packet in particular is designed to be melted; think cheese on toast or on top of a pasta.
I also like to make my own tortilla pizzas, with tomato pureé, grated cheese and my own toppings, popped in the oven for 10 minutes and voila, done! I tried making one with this and the packet is right, it does melt great! When it’s melted, the texture isn’t as much of an issue either, so the homemade pizza turned out really well.
I won’t lie, I think vegan cheese will take a little while for me to get used to. But I guess that was to be expected, considering I’m not vegan and have basically no knowledge of or experience of eating vegan cheese either. But I was pretty impressed with Violife’s vegan cheese. I also think it’s great how many different product options they have, from smoky, grated, slices, parmesan, mozzarella and more, so you really don’t need to go without cheese flavours in your diet if you are vegan!
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