Order a vegan burger at a restaurant and it’ll likely come served with a dubious yellow slice that looks and tastes vaguely like cheese – largely inoffensive, but hardly memorable.
Unlike alternative milks that froth and plant-based patties that bleed, most vegan cheeses haven’t quite nailed that distinctive stretchy texture and delightful umami flavour that are the hallmarks of dairy cheese. But that could be about to change.
The appetite for vegan cheese is growing: according to food innovation non-profit The Good Food Institute, sales of plant-based cheese in the US increased by a considerable 68.8 per cent between April 2017 and April 2019, from $95m (£78m) to $160m (£132m). While the rise of veganism has fuelled this, plant-based dairy also appeals to lactose-intolerant consumers.
The vegan cheese market isn’t new. Among established manufacturers is Violife, a Greek company that’s been churning out vegan cheese since the early 1990s, making it one of the pioneers in the plant-based dairy space. Its products – which are available in several forms, from blocks to slices and spreads – are made primarily using coconut oil and starch. Other established mass market brands include Bromsgrove-based Koko Dairy Free, which uses similar ingredients to produce its hard and soft cheeses.
But these mainstream vegan cheeses aren’t to everyone’s taste. “Traditionally, vegan cheese has been thought of as bland and ‘plasticky’,” says Charlotte Stevens, who is the co-founder of La Fauxmagerie, a vegan cheesemonger in London – and purportedly the first of its kind in the UK. “While these cheeses, which are often made with oils and starch, are certainly cheaper and more accessible, many customers complain that the flavour isn’t quite right for them.”
This was the inspiration behind La Fauxmagerie, which opened in February 2019 and offers a range of plant-based cheeses from small artisanal producers across the UK, such as Tyne Chease, Honestly Tasty and I Am Nut OK. These brands usually favour ingredients like cashews, almonds and soybeans, which create a creamy texture that emulates the rich mouthfeel of cheese.
Yet, Stevens acknowledges that the faux cheese industry has some way to go. “Vegan cheese is still at a nascent stage. There are a few cheese types we’ve not quite nailed yet – for example, cheddar. We sell a few cheddar-style cheeses, one of which has a cheddar-like tang but the texture of brie, and another that has the right consistency but lacks that tang,” she says. “But our suppliers are always experimenting with new ingredients, new bacterial cultures and new cheese ageing environments, so every month we’re seeing iterations and improvements.”
Some brands are taking research and development to unprecedented heights. Enter Silicon Valley-based food startup New Culture, which is striving to engineer vegan cheese in a lab. “For plant-based cheeses, the biggest problem is that both the texture and taste are off. The nutritional profile is lacking too, as these cheeses often have little to no protein content,” say co-founders Inja Radman and Matt Gibson, who started their comapany in January 2019. “The key component that gives dairy cheese the traits we love – the texture, stretchiness and mouthfeel – are casein proteins, which are found in cow’s milk. They don’t have a good replacement in the plant-based world.”
To that end, the duo is experimenting with microbial fermentation, a synthetic technique that enables microflora like bacteria and fungi to express casein proteins. These are then turned into larger structures called casein micelles – one of the key building blocks of cow’s milk. “Then, we simply have to add plant-based fats, sugars and vitamins to get a milk-like solution that is ready to be made into cheese using the traditional cheesemaking process,” they explain. The ensuing cheese will be supplemented with the key minerals found in its dairy counterpart, while being lactose-, cholesterol-, hormone-, and of course, animal-free.
While New Culture has already filed a preliminary patent for its unique technology, its products won’t hit the shelves for some time yet. “For us, the biggest challenge is producing casein proteins via fermentation at scale, so we anticipate it’ll be three to four years before we start selling our cheese,” say Radman and Gibson. First on the production line will be mozzarella, which is the second-most popular cheese in the UK (after cheddar). The duo is working on developing mozzarella balls, as well as a stretchier version that can be used for pizzas.
