Cheese analogue

[aquaplanage]

There I was, idly reading a newspaper on the train in the morning as part of my work-avoidancechillout regimen, when I was suddenly struck by a report about a consumer association study on commercially available pizzas in the Netherlands. Six of the twenty-nine pizzas sampled were topped with what the researchers called a cheese analogue -

Comments

[loic]

I've owned bacon salt. It's weird. Also kosher.

So there's "cheese" made without any milk products? What worried me a little more is that many of the awful milk substitute "non dairy creamer" products in the US (for example Coffee Mate) include sodium caseinate, a milk protein.

Non dairy creamers are an abomination to begin with. I don't understand why they exist in a world that can easily make tiny UHT milk things. They're mostly corn syrup and vegetable oil they're almost certainly worse for you than cream. BUT THEN WHY MAKE IT OUT OF MILK? The mind boggles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-dairy_creamer

Justification for dairy-based non-dairy creamer?

[aquaplanage]

Well, yes. I guess it might be a win for people who have a lactose intolerance. However, not for vegans. Or observant Jews or Muslims who don't want to mix the streams or whatever.

My question is: why on earth would a pizza shop put cheese analogues on pizza? Surely nasty nasty cheap (and quite possibly healthier than stuff from the poisoned wastelands around Naples) Mozzarella is much cheaper than vegan cheese substitute?

Anyway, I'm boggled.

Re: Justification for dairy-based non-dairy creamer?

[redbraids]

I have sometimes used non-dairy creamers on planes and so on, because of the lactose (and because nothing else was available). They are horrid, but it never occured to me they woudl actually have milk in them!

[delicious_irony]

I've never heard of a cheese analogue that was non dairy. The phrase conjures up for me images of the emulsified processed cheese products that come in individually wrapped slices.

I must research this! :)

[shrydar]

I've fond memories of Kraft Vegemite singles - individually wrapped slices of a blend of cheese product and vegemite. They were a disturbing shade of grey.

[emma_in_oz]

While in Montreal the TV ran a ticker tape saying that the tax on fromage was about to increase by 0.2%. This is breaking news in a country that takes cheese seriously.