When people who don't know me well learn that I don't eat cheese, their reaction is always something like "Oh hellllll no! No cheese? That means you don't eat pizza???" Once people find out you have opted to spend your life without pizza you pretty much get put into the same category as the weird kid who ate paste in preschool.
When I tell people that vegan cheese exists, they seem oblivious to this fact, as if I am making it up on the fly to regain cool points or something. Dairy free cheese is real, and though it does not taste exactly like the stuff that makes pizza extra delicious and not so great for you, it ain't half bad. This article by my fellow ChicagoNow blogger, Rachel Young, entitled Why Does The Cheese Stand Alone? News & Nibbles Monday is quite awesome, because it discusses vegan cheeses in depth.
If you are lactose intolerant then you probably need to know about dairy free cheese. And even if you have never actually been diagnosed with a milk allergy but you get a rumbley tummy after eating cheesy goodness, maybe you might wanna switch your diet up. Rachel wrote:
"The CDC now reports as many as 15 million Americans have some form of food allergy, with the top 8 being milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts (e.g., walnuts, almonds, cashews, pistachios, pecans), wheat, soy, fish, and shellfish. While a true allergy can cause a severe reaction and potential anaphylaxis, many more Americans have some form of sensitivity to these foods, resulting in milder symptoms and digestive troubles."
Rachel's article even links to a few recipes that you can try using the dairy free cheese so that you can see if you absolutely love it or totally hate it and wish that it had never been invented. Either way, if you're vegan, lactose intolerant, or a person who gets bubble guts after eating pizza, then tell everyone around you right now to shut up while you check out Rachel's article. There is even a recipe for a Light Peach Sangria at the end. I can't tell you if the recipe is any good or not because I don't drink. Yup, no cheese and no booze... that doesn't help me get outta that weird kid category at all, does it? Sigh. Oh well.