Three Alternatives To Cheese You Will Love

Making sure that everyone gets along during the festive season is practically impossible. Aside from your family arguments about what Christmas film is the best of all time or whether the lights on the tree should be coloured or white, this time of the year is also when it gets extra difficult to ensure that everyone’s different dietary requirements are catered for. Even if you’re having a non-festive dinner party with a group of friends who don’t celebrate Christmas, it’s far from easy nowadays to make sure everyone at the table is satisfied.

Cheese, as most of you will know, is an incredibly delicious substance. A good macaroni cheese always hits the spot but, as most of you will also know, cheese is something that’s come to be quite polarising. With an ever-increasing number of people choosing to follow a plant-based diet and seek out quick vegan recipes for supper rather than a heaping cheeseboard, knowing whether or not you can whip out the Stilton has become a bit of a minefield. And it’s not just the vegans you need to think about. According to research from Kantar, for most of you, cheese is the hardest to give up when switching to a plant-based diet. Taste perception is the number one reason and having tried one too many gummy renditions that taste like chalk, we can certainly vouch for that.

Thankfully, product development has come a long way in the last couple of years and there are plenty of delicious alternatives to cheese out there that you can buy to help fill that gap in your soul without sacrificing flavour. Coming straight from France, the land of cheese, Nurishh offers a fresh take on plant-based alternatives to cheese that everyone will love. They’ve set out to prove how easy it is to amp up plant-based dishes with alternatives to cheese that actually taste and look good, and it’s safe to say that they’ve done just that. These are three alternatives to cheese from Nurishh that you should be adding to your shopping basket.

A whole baked Camembert is a classic festive option. Of course, Mob being Mob we’ve made an incredibly non-plant-based version that we’ve lathered up in ‘nduja; however, if you want a version that’s free from meat and lactose then this Nurishh Plant Based Alternative to Camembert is a great shout in dishes like our Vegan Herby Puff Pastry Twist. It comes in the same classic paper and wood packaging you’d expect from the real thing and melts amazingly in the oven with a bit of rosemary and garlic. Basically, treat this alternative to cheese how you would treat a Camembert and we’d be willing to bet that a good deal of your dinner party guests won’t even be able to tell the difference. Though, admittedly, that might have something to do with all the mulled wine you’ll be drinking.

Try it in our Caramelised Onion & Potato Pithivier.

A delicious spread made with sunflower seeds and bamboo fibre instead of the usual miscellaneous vegetable oils you’ll find in a lot of alternatives, this stuff is great for any time of the year. The festive move is to spread a thick layer of it onto some crackers while you watch telly. Not only does this alternative to cheese taste great but it’s also a source of calcium, protein, Vitamin B12 and – not to forget – a good source of fibre. Yep, that means you don’t have to feel bad about going HAM on the tin of Quality Street.

Try it in our Shroomy Nut Roast Rolls.

Want to cut down on your Parmesan intake without giving up accesss to that wonderful umami flavour? Try a bit of Nurishh Gran Vegiano on top of your next bowl of pasta. This alternative to parmesan comes pre-grated (making it super accessible) and is made from a unique recipe that contains half the fat than the competition*. Sounds good, right? It's super easy to amp up any dish and give it a little Italian twist without upsetting any of the lactose-intolerant friends you’ve got round for dinner

*compared to similar already-grated alternatives to hard-cheese/parmesan.