If you’ve been here before or around for a few of these, you may have seen me already talk about my allergy to dairy (whey), so unfortunately, my perception of what ‘real’ cheese tastes like is going to be skewed. I was only able to eat goat and/or the occasional buffalo cheese before I went vegan.
Also unfortunately, back then, the different types of cheeses that were available weren’t as plentiful as they were today (at least not for the ones made by those two animals) so parm wasn’t something I have a reference for. Or, if I did have parm before discovering my allergy, it was so long ago I definitely don’t remember it clearly enough to make a direct comparison. (This is also sometimes why I’ll mention what a non-vegan friend had to say about the product)
If you’re someone who’s still eating dairy and/or are new to veganism, please always consider the source when you look up reviews for products online. If someone says a product is ‘good’ that doesn’t necessarily mean they mean it tastes like the original. That just means they liked it.
That said, I did like this vegan parm wedge! It’s definitely not my favourite kind of vegan cheese – that would still be Daiya’s Monterey Jack block, which is unfortunately very hard to find now – but it’s also definitely not on my gross/never-buy-again list.
As stated above, I didn’t really know what to expect when I bought this parm wedge. I had seen parm in cooking shows, tv and movies, but having never bought one before, there were a few things I thought were odd.
For starters, the wedge was a lot smaller than I was expecting it to be. It was about as tall as my hand (6 inches from the tip of my middle finger to my wrist) and was maybe only 2 inches thick. For a cheese that was $8.99 (Good Rebel) it turned out to be about half the size I assumed it’d be.
I know it’s behind the Daiya block, but you can see in relation to the other items it’s height
Despite it’s small size, I actually ended up getting a lot of shreds from it, which also surprised me. I think this was partly because the wedge was so hard. It was definitely the hardest vegan cheese I’ve tried so far. The Daiya blocks seem like uncooked tofu squishy in comparison. I wouldn’t recommend you smash it against the counter like a rock, but it feels stable enough you could do it without breaking it. The wedge was also white as you saw in the above pictures, but when it was shredded, it became almost translucent – even when they were raw! (Once they were cooked they became more translucent)
The wedge had a very strong parm scent – or at least, a very strong what-I-assume-is-parm scent. When it was encased in the plastic packaging, it didn’t smell at all, but the second you crack that plastic open, be prepared for a very strong whiff!
This cheese is also way better if you eat it on/in something. You might not have been planning on eating it alone, but I tried some of it on it’s own for the review – as I do with every food I review (to see if the product can stand up on it’s own, without needing to be covered up/mixed with other foods) – and it was almost inedible it was so overpowering. Once it was mixed with food though, that overpowering almost-grossness went away and it was pretty good! I found it tasted best when put on top of pasta dishes. (Surprising, I know) I would recommend going easy on the amount of shreds you use though, because as I said it’s a very overpowering cheese.
Circling back to the packaging, that was something else that I wasn’t too crazy about. Because it’s encased in skin-tight plastic, it’s in no way resealable. Which means if you don’t use the entire wedge in one go, you’ll need to put it in a plastic bag or container to store it in the fridge. It does has a cardboard sleeve on it, which I think is kind of funny. It’s like they almost tried for sustainable packaging.
Now obviously, I’m not an expert in cheese making or anything, so I don’t know the specifics, but would it really be that bad/impossible to wrap these cheeses in sustainable packaging? Maybe they could figure out a way to only use cardboard for the packaging. Or at least recycled plastic!
I know sustainable packaging might not be high on everyone’s list of priorities when buying food – and you probably didn’t decide to read this article for this take – but I honestly think we need to start encouraging companies look into/start using sustainable packaging.
Vote with your dollar and/or write the company!
One thing I’ve learned from doing the research needed for all these reviews, and things like the Surprising Vegan series is that very few people actually take the time to write into companies with their concerns/suggestions.
If we don’t tell companies what we want, how can we expect them to deliver? If you think “oh, but my voice doesn’t matter because I’m just one person” think of it this way: what if 1,000 people had that same thought, so no one did anything?
Now imagine if that same 1,000 people decided that was bull and wrote in/made their voices heard.
That’s how change happens!
Even if you think they won’t listen, you literally have nothing to lose! Either things will stay exactly the same, or they’ll start to change for the better.
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