Vegan Cheesecake

                I recently went to one of my absolute favorite restaurants, Watercourse. A completely vegetarian restaurant, they also have the option to make every single item on their menu vegan. One of my absolutely favorite desserts, cheesecake was also on the menu. When I ordered it, my waiter informed me that they were out of regular cheesecake, so I would have to have a vegan version of the dessert. While I shouldn’t have been surprised that Watercourse had a vegan option, I just couldn’t quite bring myself to believe it, how could such a thing exist? My curiosity peeked, I had no choice other than to order the unbelievable dessert, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. The texture was almost perfect, and the taste was just right, the gluten free crust was so close to the actual thing that if someone didn’t know better they would have believed it to be the real deal. My experience with vegan cheesecake got me wondering, how exactly they made and what products they used.

                The number one ingredient in the cheesecake was vegan cream cheese, a product I had never seen before. Vegan cream cheese is primarily made from tofu, a product made from mashed soybeans. Tofu was originally created more than 2000 years ago in ancient China, evidence of its creation on a stone slab which depicts the production of tofu between the years A.D. 25-220 (History of Tofu). Today tofu is a staple ingredient in almost all vegetarian and vegan diets. A rich source of protein, tofu is readily eaten in order to substitute for animal protein in vegetarian and vegan diets. Tofu is made through a simple process: soy milk is first boiled, once the milk has cooled a bit a coagulant is added (normally calcium sulphate), the mixture is then left to sit for 15 to 20 minutes, after sitting the coagulated soy milk is sifted through cheesecloth, finally the solid pieces are put into a mold and left to sit with a weight on top of the mixture to help form a brick, after 20 minutes a new solid brick of tofu is ready to be cooked with (History of Tofu). Organic tofu is a relatively simple and easy product with only salt added to it to make it congeal, however when tofu is modified to imitate other textures and taste similar to those of meat and dairy products, numerous things must be done to the product.

                Within the vegetarian community, it is often a safe rule-of-thumb, that if a product imitates meat or dairy it’s not very healthy; vegan cream cheese is no exception. Vegan cream cheese is created by firstly blending tofu, to the blended tofu palm kernel oil is added along with “Carrageenan, pectin, maltodextrin and salt ... selected as emulsifying and stabilizing agents needed to produce an emulsion paste with the desired texture, viscosity and firmness” (Zulkurnain). Once the desired texture is reached, different flavors and chemicals are added to the mixture to imitate the original product. Once the taste has been matched, the product is ready to be used just like the original. The large amount of palm kernel oil in vegan imitation products has always worried me. I stay away from animal products to be a healthier individual, avoiding things like saturated fats, hormones, and antibiotics. But when eating imitation foods I am subject to just as many health concerns as if I was eating the original; such as saturated fats, large amounts of chemicals, and pesticides.

                Personally I do not think there is anything wrong with enjoying an imitation product every now and then, but consuming them often and in large amounts can lead to an unhealthy lifestyle. I loved my vegan cheesecake, and for my lactose intolerant vegan boyfriend, the lactose free cheesecake was reminiscent of family celebrations growing up. The ability that companies have to recreate the items I willingly gave up years ago absolutely astounds me. It also makes me question if being vegetarian or vegan means as much as it used to 50 years ago when imitation products were few and far between. In giving up animal products willingly, does it show a lack of resolve and a weakening of the mission statement of each and every non-meat eater, or has giving up animal products become so common place that vegetarians and vegans can now openly eat pseudo meat without apprehension? I don’t claim to know the answer the answer, but what I do know is that either way, I am going to enjoy my vegan cheesecake, but only so long as I do so in appropriate moderation.