Pre-Vegan days (PV days), I loved cheese. I ate cheese at every meal and had the cholesterol levels to prove it. When I couldn't think of anything to eat, I went to cheese and crackers. When I decided to go vegan, I went cold tofu after reading Vegan Freak by Bob and Jenna Torres. I knew if I weaned myself off of cheese slowly, I would, as Vegan Freak suggested, look forward to that little bit of cheese and I would never quit. Every since I gave up dairy, I haven't really craved it BUT have been on the look out for a good vegan cheeze. I have heard from several people that VeganRella was the best vegan cheeze they have found. We were craving pizza and decided to give VeganRella a try.
First, I tried a little VeganRella on crackers and it had a nice firm texture, although tasted nothing like mozzarella . . . but I was expecting that. Not bad, just not great. Another thing was the smell. It smelled funky, but not in the stinky cheese kind of way. In fact, it kinda stunk up the apartment when I shredded it up for pizza topping. But I was determined to have a cheezy pizza! I made a perfect crust, chopped up some red onion and green peppers, had some good tomato sauce ready and veggie pepperoni for an extra kick. The oven was set high and ready to melt the cheeze. Well, the good news is that it did melt. The bad news is that it melted into a glue-like, pasty goo all over the rest of the toppings. Every time I took a bite, it stuck to the roof of my mouth and front of my teeth. In other words, it was bad. Really, really bad. There was no way to pick it off so Jared and I ate the whole thing since the crust was really great and hey, that was what was for dinner.
I'm not sure if anyone else has had this experience with VeganRella but we will never buy it again. I think I'll just stick to silken tofu or go cheeseless.
Here is a shot of the goo at it's worst:
Sunday, February 24, 2008
a big thumbs down for VeganRella
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28 comments:
Aww I'm so sorry to hear you didn't like it.
I find the problem with Vegan Rella is... if you overheat it, it becomes hard and gross. So I nuke it for less than 30 seconds and put it on my pizza in the last 5 minutes or so to avoid this.
Everyone has their own tastes though. And from what you say, you were a big cheese fan, so it's going to be tough to get your tastebuds to enjoy something other than authentic cheese.
Yeah, I'm just not ready to even try vegan cheese. I can't see how it would ever compare to brie or gouda (or am I just being close-minded?).
I too am sorry to hear you didn't like it! I second Romina, you have to be careful when heating it.
But I do have to be honest, I prefer my pizzas cheeseless!
I JUST made a pizza with VeganRella!! I googled it just now, trying to find a website, and stumbled upon this. I got the exact same results. I'm on my second slice and can't bear to eat anymore, so I think I'll refrigerate the rest. Maybe it'll harden up--I'd rather eat plastic "cheese" than glue "cheese."
I agree. It is bad. And it is like hot glue. Yuck! We are a former cheese loving family and finding a good vegan cheese has been difficult.
I've never had veganrella... I like FHY Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella the best... to me, it really hits the spot. It's not healthy.. but it's not full of transfats like tofuitti and tastes much better than tofutti.
Vegan Rella might be the grossest thing I've ever put in my mouth. Yeah.
I really enjoy the Follow Your Heart Mozzarella on pizza.
That sucks... I've never tried veganrella. Maybe now I won't. My hubby keeps saying to me that a truly tasty vegan cheese is one big "cash cow" if anyone can ever figure it out...
I hate vegan rella. It's so gross. Follow Your Heart is the way to go.
I know you're health-ifying right now :) but the cashew ricotta from veganomicon is yummy, and since it tastes good is baked pasta dished I've made, I bet it would be yummy on pizza too!
I tried Veganrella once in my early early vegan days (8 or 9 years ago). i remember it being the sickest thing i had ever tasted! ;D part of that was probably that my tastebuds weren't very adventerous yet, but i bet i'd still dislike it today. follow your heart's vegan cheese is 100% better, so if you have access to that, i'd say give it a go.
i don't dig the cheddar veganrella... but the mozza veganrella is good enough for me. i prefer it grated cold on a salad. that is when it really shines.
and it is much lower in fat than i expected.
ORIGIONAL VEGANRELLA - tasted like crayons but in a larger form.
RECENT VEGANRELLA - used the formula from "Vegan-Kaas" which was the best vegan cheese available in america.
CURRENT VEGANRELLA - updated formula to decrease cost and unfortunately also flavor and taste. write the company and tell them they ruined the best recipe in america! tell them you're switching back to follow your heart or toffuti singles(now without hydrogenated oils) unless they switch back to this awesome formula of last year.
Does anyone know how to get a hold of the Veganrella company? I keep coming up with nothing when I google it (except for your commments) and there's no contact info on the package...? Would love to offer comments - we need a soy free, dairy free cheese alternative and Veganrella is all I can find!
I'm not vegan (or even vegetarian, really) but I've been trying to reduce my intake and overall consumption of animal products for the past couple months. Anyway, like you, I like cheese, probably one of my main weaknesses (cheddar especially). In an attempt to convince myself that there was an alternative, I just bought a little brick of Vegan Rella Cheddar Style. Now, I certainly wasn't expecting perfection. I set my sights low, in hopes that, say, melted on a bagel, perhaps, with some salsa, it would be good enough.
I was wrong. It was awful. It smelled weird (as you said), had the consistency of a warm crayon, and tasted awful. I threw it out. Back to the drawing board.
I've got to say- I bought my first brick of veganrella today, and added about half of it to an extra large veggie pizza, and? I really liked it! I wonder if the formula is different here in Canada?
When I opened the package, I immediately said out loud that it smelled just like mozzarella. It grated easily. I put a small amount on the pizza (compared to the amount of traditional mozzarella I used to use), knowing that it wasn't going to be stretchy and satisfying in the way a super-cheesy dairy cheese pizza is. And it did the trick! It was far meltier than the other vegan soy cheeses I've tried in the past -and traditional cheese- but the flavour was really good. I didn't find it stuck to my teeth, or was tasteless at all. My husband concured. So I'm the freak who likes veganrella. Mine was in the oven @ 450F for 15 minutes, and was fine.
Suggestion: Get the Uncheese Cookbook! Some're hits, some're misses, but you know exactly what went into the cheese and you can experiement with quantities. The mozzarella for pizzas is delish! Parm is delish but we add garlic powder and salt. Great cheese chowder soup recipes. Do it!!
-Lindsay
http://www.amazon.com/Uncheese-Cookbook-Creating-Dairy-Free-Substitutes/dp/0913990426
I have arrived! Procure one block of Veganrella and one block Vegan Gourmet Mozzerella. Grate together carefully (Veganrella is sticky, you dont want it to clump). Throw in freezer for a couple of minutes to making handling easier. Splinkle on top of pizza right before putting in oven. Turn broiler on last couple minutes to melt 'cheese'.
Vegan Gourmet Mozzerella is alot like tofu, and dosnt really melt very well. Veganrella melts too much, together they work pretty good, though expensive. Nutritional Yeast underneath helps the flavor. Don't give up, your the future.
I am one who loves Veganrella and think it's the only decent vegan cheese there is. Well... until just recently when our CoOp started carrying a very expensive Scottish vegan cheese called "Sheese" I think. But I've had three major different versions of Veganrella, and though the second version (which was very hard, almost like a Parmesan) was the best, but the trick I have used since that time was to keep the grated Veganrella wet to keep it from drying out. I'm in the desert (Albuquerque, NM) and Veganrella doesn't get sticky here, it just dries out. I learned that spraying it with olive oil would do an amazing job of keeping it just-right on pizza. Also, if you want to see if the texture is the only problem, and test out the taste, make a calzone instead, then the Veganrella is SURE to stay well hydrated/steamed.
I say all this having made calzones for friends of mine at work -and they're not even vegetarian - and they request and pay for me to make them vegan calzones with Veganrella.
I know this is an new response to an old post, BUT... as a fat vegan, I miss my cheese too. The best brand I've found has been Daiya. Well, I ran out the other night... and my local market had Vegan Rella. I brought it home, cut a little tiny piece... popped it in my mouth... and BLECH!!! It was sticky, sweet, and chalky. I'm going to make some quesadillas with it in a bit. Hopefully it won't be a total ruin (and a waste of salsa!!)...
I know this is an new response to an old post, BUT... as a fat vegan, I miss my cheese too. The best brand I've found has been Daiya. Well, I ran out the other night... and my local market had Vegan Rella. I brought it home, cut a little tiny piece... popped it in my mouth... and BLECH!!! It was sticky, sweet, and chalky. I'm going to make some quesadillas with it in a bit. Hopefully it won't be a total ruin (and a waste of salsa!!)...
i've been eyeing veganrella for sometime now at the organic food store across the street where i work. i LOVE anything cheesy, but haven't eaten dairy for a while now. ive been wanting to make homemade vegan mac n cheese, but i tend to be lazy sometimes and didnt want a crazy recipe with crazy ingriedients and the veganrella seemed like it would be pretty simple. before i made dinner i decided to read what people said about veganrella, and it seems to me theres TONS and tons of bad reviews, so i started thinking of a back up plan for dinner because i was so sure this was gonna be gross. i am completely surprised at all the reviews here! first of all the cheese didnt even have a weird or bad smell. it actually smelled good to me and my boyfriend. smelled pretty much like fake cheese, or even fat free cheese. we used almond milk,some tofutti cream cheese,garlic, salt and pepper. i was very pleased with the results and it was very far from gross. my boyfriend is a huge dairy fan and not even vegan and loved it. its definitely a product i will use again and again. DON'T BE AFRAID TO TRY IT!!!!!
Teese vegan cheese is the best... Even better then Daiya. It comes in a log form and when you open it, it looks and feels like fresh mozzarella,
I made some macaroni and cheese with Rella cheese. I was so ready to chow down. I didn't really like the smell, but I was still hopeful. I just couldn't stomach the taste. It melted perfectly the taste was just horrid. I want to try daiya.
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