“I just don’t think I can ever give up cheese.” Perhaps THE most common statement made when talking with non-vegans about plant-based eating. Well, we didn’t think we ever would either. It’s funny how quickly a palette changes though. Over the years there have been some real “fake” cheese stinkers…and not in the way cheese-lovers LIKE their cheese to stink. They were, and some ARE, bad. However, the product line is indeed evolving and at a rather rapid pace. In fact, reviewing vegan cheeses quickly became such a vast (and expensive) project that we decided to start simple — one brand, one category. Category? Yep, you have spreadable cheeses, shreds, and singles/block-style. We begin our cheese quest with the latter.
Today’s brand is Violife, and the cheeses we’ve chosen are: Feta, Epic Mature Cheddar Flavor Block, Cheddar Slices, Mature Cheddar Slices, Smoked Provolone Slices, and Parmesan. Parmesan may seem like a strange one in this grouping but, hey, it comes in a blockish-like thing and where else are we gonna put it?! (Note: There is one more block of Violife that we did not rate: The Epic Smoked Cheddar Flavor Block. Unfortunately, neither of the 2 stores near us carry it. We’ll hunt it down though and compare it in a different taste–off. Stay tuned on that one!)
So here we go! We recently gathered a couple non-vegan cheese-lovin’ friends for an evening of Violife and gin. Before there was too much gin involved, we asked each taster to list the cheeses in order of Favorite to Least Favorite. Then we got a little pickier and asked them to rate how MUCH they like each one, 5 being “a lot” and 1 being “not so much.” AND it was a blind taste test, so they didn’t know brand or flavor.
Here are the results. And once again, these are in order of favorite cheese to least favorite, and each cheese gets a 1-5 rating, 5 being the best.
Auggie: Feta (5), Smoked Provolone (5), Epic Mature Cheddar (4), Parmesan (4), Mature Cheddar (1), Cheddar (1)
Eric: Epic Mature Cheddar (4), Smoked Provolone (4), Feta (4), Parmesan (3), Cheddar (2), Mature Cheddar (2)
Sam: Epic Mature Cheddar (5), Smoked Provolone (5), Feta (4), Parmesan (3), Mature Cheddar (1), Cheddar (1)
Jen: Feta (5), Epic Mature Cheddar (4), Parmesan (4), Smoked Provolone (3), Cheddar-Mature Cheddar (tied at last place, both at 1 rating)
Leigh Ann: Feta (5), Epic Mature Cheddar (5), Parmesan (4), Mature Cheddar (4), Smoked Provolone (3), Cheddar (3)
Overall, the Violife line faired well with everything but its Slices. Well enough to get dairy eaters to like them! While Sam is also vegan, Auggie and Eric are kinda cheese connoisseurs. You can see that the Feta AND the Smoked Provolone got the highest rating of FIVE (“5”) from Auggie, and then both the Epic Mature Cheddar Flavor AND the Parmesan got a rating of “4.” And then with Eric he gave the Epic Mature Cheddar AND the Smoked Provolone, AND the Feta a “4.” And then with the vegans in the house we’ve got a bunch of “5” and “4” ratings. The only thing that didn’t fare too well were the Cheddar and Mature Cheddar slices. They’re very “gentle” in flavor (some could say tasteless! LOL) but as Leigh Ann – who liked them both – pointed out, they’re not unlike American cheese slices, which are also very “gentle” in flavor.
As to a clear “winner?” Feta? Epic Cheddar? Smoked Provolone? You’ll have to decipher the ratings. They’re all three rated well so taste away.
Now, a note about the Parmesan. No one really liked the Parmesan when they were tasting blindly – but grating it would have given away what it was so Jen just cut it into thin slices. The guys could place neither the flavor nor the extra firm texture. However, when we revealed it as Parmesan and they re-tasted, they liked it much better, as if their brains could properly place it. That being said, who eats slices of Parm anyway? So we sent Eric home with the rest of the Parmesan where he grated it and put it on foccasia, liked it, and upped its rating to a 3.75. He said as a follow up that he wouldn’t choose it over real dairy Parmesan but if he was trying to give up dairy then the Violife Parm certainly “worked.”
Here is some audio from the evening. We were gonna transcribe it but thought it better if you heard for yourself.
Sam & Eric talk about cheese in caves
cheese funk funk to it like it’s been in a cave.”
“A cage?” “Cave! Cave.” (group laughter)
Auggie delivers his assessment
Auggie expounds
Eric talks Feta
We’ve each added a few notes/observances of our own:
Leigh Ann here…Having used the Feta quite a bit recently I can tell you it is a very versatile cheese, more so than dairy Feta. As Eric put it, “real feta is saltier.” The Violife Feta is loaded with richness but not saltiness, which lends itself to more versatility. I’ve put it on salads, melted it in quesadillas and tacos, put it on pizza, and eaten it plain right out of the package. BUT, I like them all. You’ll notice my lowest score for any of them was a 3. Sure, both kinds of cheddar slices are mild in flavor, especially when compared to the bolder-flavored Feta, Epic Mature, and, of course, Parmesan, but they serve their cheesy purpose very well on sandwiches, burgers, or even on crackers.
Note from Jen …. 1.) This was a total great taste-off for me because I guarantee you I would have never bought the Violife Feta. Not because I didn’t like dairy Feta back in the day. Just because I never ate Feta outside of the occasional Greek Salad in a restaurant. And the Feta ended up being my favorite. I LOVE IT! … 2.) Out of the 6 cheeses we tested, 3 were cheddar types, and the one additional Violife block we couldn’t find was also a cheddar type. So one brand, 4 types of cheddar. 20 years into veganism, I’d like more TYPE options. I’d like to have 4 different Bries to compare. 4 different Goudas. 4 different Havartis (a personal fav). 4 different Swisses. You get the point. There’s an abundance of cheddar! But I’ll still take it and I’m grateful I have the options I do compared to just a few years ago.
Now stay tuned for when we save up some money and compare the Daiya blocks, which is next. And eventually we’ll compare the best couple blocks from all the brands. (Follow Your Heart will DEF be in the mix. They’re pioneers.) Exciting!
My Biscuits Vegan Life 