I don't mean to sound snarky, but isn't cheese non-vegan by definition?

By definition, yes. Just as hamburgers are made of meat, by definition, but you can order a veggie burger at many restaurants.

But there are lots of recipes for substitutes for said products, for people who don't eat what they're made of, for whatever reason.

Surely you could have extrapolated? It's kind of hard to read that comment as not intentionally snarky. Sounds more like LOLVEGAN!

Plenty of people have never heard of vegan cheese, so to ask for clarification is not snarky.

Also, cmonkey, in my experience, the store-bought stuff is so much better than the homemade stuff that it's not even worth trying the recipes.

Maybe you could call a store near you and ask them to carry your favorite, possibly even enlisting friends to call too? Could be worth a try.

I would like to make cheese someday, vegan or non. Laura Ingalls Wilder made it sound like so much fun.

I don't mean to sound snarky, but isn't cheese non-vegan by definition?

mudpuppie covered it, but "vegan cheese" is just an easy cultural shorthand for "a solid edible substance that resembles cheese in taste and texture even when it is melted or shredded". Much like "veggie burger" indicates a circular patty that one can cook just like a hamburger patty. They don't necessarily taste identical to their animal product analogues, but they do share similar properties.

Maybe you could call a store near you and ask them to carry your favorite, possibly even enlisting friends to call too? Could be worth a try.

The only store I can easily get to is a Safeway, and while they do have a surprising amount of vegan products, it's obvious that the company gives a very low priority to the store because it's not in a fancy part of town (for example, they usually only have 2 checkout workers, causing lines to snake through the store even at 9 PM on a Sunday, but if you go to the nice Safeway in the expensive part of town, they never have less than 8 checkout workers who usually sit around waiting for people to come through). So I doubt they'd put much effort into importing a niche product from England. Plus it's fun to make things!

Well okay! I endorse the making!

Every time I've tried to make wheat roast, it's been eh/okay, but not as good as the stuff I bought in the store in Austin. But I hope you find an excellent recipe. (Wish I had one to share. If you want an okay wheat roast recipe, though, I can help you there.)

Very cool, cmonkey. I wish I had a good recipe.

Don't most of the store-bought brands contain casein, the milk protein found in cheese? If so, this makes homemade way better than store-bought, as many vegan cheeses aren't really vegan. Also, casein is the root of the casomorphines in cheese and dairy that are so called because they attach to the same receptor cells in your brain as opiates and are, of course, addictive. That's why cheese is such a hard habit to kick if you go vegan. The good news: like any other addiction, the craving eventually just goes away. Humans are actually the only species that doesn't kick the casein addiction when being weened from mother's milk.

I'm not surprised it exists, but I had never heard of vegan cheese before this thread.

Don't most of the store-bought brands contain casein, the milk protein found in cheese?

Nearly all of them do, yeah, but they don't advertise as being vegan, just rice-based or vegetarian or a "healthy alternative to cheese" or whatever. Tofutti cheese slices are vegan (but made with GMO soybeans), and I don't think they taste all that good. Sheese, on the other hand, is entirely vegan and tastes awesome. Granted, I've been a vegan for 6 years, and a non-lactose vegetarian for a few years before that, so I can't actually remember what the dairy version tastes like, but man do I want to make some good analogues now.

:(

cmonkey, I want to take you across town to get some yummy tasty vegan cheese.

I like chreese (another bought one, not a recipe). Never found a hard vegan cheese I liked though. People say they are getting better, so I ought to go back to taste-testing them at some point.

Wow. I'm on the 'Net, in the company of another vegan, and I'm not in my circle of AR/Veg friends. Amazing.

I think MeFi had one other vegan too.
;-)

Oh yeah, chreese is good, and works well on pizza. Same story, though, the nearest store that carries it is two bus rides away :-( Guess I'll start experimenting with recipes from the internet.

Wow. I'm on the 'Net, in the company of another vegan, and I'm not in my circle of AR/Veg friends. Amazing.

I'm pretty sure MeCha has several vegans, they're just quiet about it. I mean, it's not something that comes up all that often around here. And I was an AR activist for many years, so we almost certainly have at least one shared acquaintance.

I'm pretty sure MeCha has several vegans, they're just quiet about it.

Oh, right, I'm the resident loud vegan, eh?
;-)

And I was an AR activist for many years, so we almost certainly have at least one shared acquaintance.

soyjoy? i'll see him this summer... let me know if he's who you mean, eh? maybe i'll drop you an e-mail.

No, I've never met soyjoy (as far as I know). I meant in real life, since it's such an interconnected activist community.