I’d Like a Glass of Ice Water Without Cheese Please…

As a vegan, it irks me so much when I go into restaurants and order something off of the menu thinking that it will be vegan, and then there’s cheese or whipped cream on it. When I read a menu that says spaghetti and marinara, I shold be able expect just that…speghetti and marinara, not spaghetti, marinara, plus cheese. Also, if I ask for black beans, I should be able to get just black beans, not black beans plus cheese that I didn’t ask for. I also learned to request no whipped cream when ordering my beloved virgin strawberry daquiris, or they may automatically put whipped cream on.

What’s so hard about asking us if we want cheese or whipped cream before putting it on. When I was at a lounge about a week ago, the waitress asked me if I wanted whipped cream on my daquiri rather than just automatically putting it on, and I appreciated receiving my daquiri with no whipped cream. It was still delicious.

If I had my way, only vegan cheese and whipped cream would exist, but as long as dairy is around,  please specify on the menu if an item comes with this so those of us who are vegan, lactose intolerant, or just don’t want dairy can request the item without the dairy products, or order something else.

Sure, we could just send the order back, but then the food may just get wasted.  Many people become vegans out of concern for animal rights and enivironmental issues, and wasting animal products does nothing to benefit these issues.

Part of the problem could be lack of familiarity with what veganism is, as many people seem to think it’s just vegetarianism. I attended the screening of an indy animal rights film called “Bold Native”  that took place in a mainstream restaurant (not entirely vegan or vegetarian). I noticed the pinto soup on the menu and asked the waitress if it was vegan. She assured me that it was and then asked if I wanted cheese on it. Thus, people may misassociate vegan with just no meat like dairy and egg eating vegetarians…instead of no animal products (including meat, dairy, eggs, etc.). Here’s an entry I previously wrote defining the terms: http://veganvixen1.wordpress.com/2011/08/30/vegetarian-and-vegan-terminology/ .

Fortunately, there are vegan friendly restaurants where we can order everything (or almost everything) in a vegan form, and some restaurants that are entirely vegan.

Smile and Say Cheese–Vegan Style

Some dairy eating vegetarians have told me that they have trouble going vegan because they don’t want to give up cheese. I can relate to this, having been a major cheese eater (especially melted cheese) when I was a dairy eating vegetarian, and I certainly did not want  to give it up.

Nonetheless, I still became vegan and gave up cheese at first because I had trouble finding vegan cheeses that agreed with my taste buds, and some tasted downright terrible.  Then, when I was at a vegan picnic, somebody told me about “Follow Your Heart” and “Daiya” vegan cheeses, saying that they taste really good and melt like dairy cheese. 

She was right and I’m thrilled that I can now have cheese again as a vegan…just when I thought I’d never find a vegan cheese I like.   My favorite vegan cheese is the mozarella.  It’s unbelievably delicious on vegan pizzas!  Like many vegans, I believe very strongly that dairy milk needs to be for calves, not humans.  Yet, another major reason to eat vegan cheese rather than dairy cheese is because the vegan cheese lacks cholesterol, so it won’t clog up the arteries as much. 

Though Follow Your Heart and Daiya cheeses are vegan, read the labels when buying other brands to amke sure they’re vegan (unless you know they’re vegan).  I noticed that some non-dairy cheeses still contain milk derivatives on the label.  I saw an almond cheese and thought, “Yay, here’s another cheese I can eat!”  Then, when I read the label, I say that it contained a milk derivative. 

Does anybody know of any other delicious vegan cheeses?