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‘But I can’t live without cheese…!’, ‘I could never give up cheese’, ‘I don’t know how you do it….without cheese’, ‘Vegan cheese isn’t real cheese though is it?’, ‘Vegan cheese tastes like plastic..’…. Just a few of the kind comments I receive whenever someone finds out I’m vegan and shock horror don’t eat dairy cheese anymore and instead have to put up with the horrible, plastic tasting, inedible, dairy free ‘cheese’ which actually can’t be called cheese because it doesn’t contain milk from another animal….
I know I know, how can I, a former dairy cheese freak and lover of a festive cheeseboard, give up the very thing that gave me so much pleasure for the last 30+ years of my life to eat something that in every other persons opinion, isn’t something that should even be called cheese?? Well, in simple terms, because eating anything that comes from an animal is wrong and we shouldn’t be doing it.
To me, it doesn’t matter that the ‘cheese’ I’m eating is made from nuts, or coconut water and vegetable oils. It tastes just as good and to me that’s all that matters!
Discovering Violife Cheese
Now, trying to find a decent vegan cheese which covers all bases can be difficult, I’ll not lie about that.
But thankfully in recent years there has been an upsurge in brands bringing out different varieties, such as Boursin and Babybel. There has also been an uptick in small artisan producers bringing out their own versions of well known ‘cow cheeses’, one such operation is Honestly Tasty- it was started in 2018 to fill the wedge sized gap in the market for artisan cheeses and to blaze a trail and prove that mouth-watering plant based cheese is possible.
I have ordered from Honestly Tasty a few times and each time have been blown away by not only the range of cheeses available, but the taste. This is one brand not to miss if you’re still craving that festive cheeseboard. Violife is more for the everyday, the sandwiches at lunch, the cheese toastie quickly grabbed as a snack, or for a Camembert round with garlic and rosemary with bread for dipping. It has a range of award-winning vegan alternatives to cheese products that can help you move effortlessly into a plant based diet. It is free from dairy, preservatives, casein, lactose, gluten, nuts and soya. It is a based on coconut oil and is fortified with Vitamin B12, which plays an important role in the metabolism of every cell in the body.
It was actually during the pandemic lockdown of 2020 (sorry to take you back there!) that I actually re-discovered Violife. Prior to that, I had tried it, but it didn’t appeal in the way I wanted it to. Probably because I was still freshly vegan, having made the switch in January of 2019. So, I was still coming out of my previously dairy-filled haze and looking around for something that would fill it. So I picked up a bag of Violife Epic Mature Grated and went home to make a delicious cheese toastie!
Cheeses Available From Violife
Crumbly Blue Original Block Le Rond Camembert Mozzarella Flavour Slices Smoky Cheddar Flavour Slices Tex-Mex Flavour Grated Epic Mature Cheddar Flavour Grated Original Flavour Slices Cheddar Flavour Slices Slices With Herbs Slices With Tomato & Basil Smoked Flavour Slices Mature Cheddar Slices Original Flavour Block Cheddar Flavour Block Smoked Flavour Block Mozzarella Flavour Black Original Flavour Grated Mozzarella Flavour Grated Greek White Block Creamy – Original, Garlic + Herbs, Cheddar Flavour & Hot Peppers Mediterranean Style Grill Block Prosociano Wedge Blue Block I was very happy to see the wide range available and even more pleased to discover that the Epic Mature Grated I’d picked up that day certainly did work perfectly in my cheese toastie!
So, you could say that I’m a Violife vegan cheese convert now and will happily use their alternatives in my day to day life!
How I use Violife Cheese
There are so many ways to use the cheese available from Violife, the Cheddar slices work really well in sandwiches, the grated in toasties and on pizzas, the Epic Mature Block with pineapple and apple on cocktail sticks and, of course, the Le Rond Camembert goes well with rosemary, garlic, chutney and a whole baguette!
You can honestly use Violife in the same way you would use cow cheese, there are so many options available nowadays that you needn’t miss out if you choose a vegan/plant-based/dairy free diet or if you're following various different vegan recipes.
I’ll admit the taste does take a while to get used to, at first I wasn’t sure it would be a taste I could get used to but during lockdown it was the only cheese I could get in the supermarket so I slowly started incorporating it more into my everyday diet and now I’ll happily continue having it all the time!
Final Thoughts
I’d highly recommend Violife Cheese if you’re looking to change up your diet or need to have a dairy free cheese for any reason.
It’s tasty, versatile, has an expansive range with swaps for almost all of your cheese filled desires and ensures you’ll not miss out on cheese filled foods again!
Have you ever tried Violife cheese? Which is your favourite? Let me know in the comments below!
Sarah xoxo
