vegan cheese: I have been eating a vegetarian diet for a while and now I am trying a vegan diet. But cheese is my downfall and so far all the vegan cheeses I have tried have been awful :(|||im really sorry to tell you this but i highly doubt that you are going to be able to find a good non dairy cheese. i know i never could. once you have been eating the real thing for so long its not going to taste right. cheese was also a tough one for me too, but i got over it eventually and now i dont even miss it. just focus on why you want to be vegan in the first place, if its a strong enough reason you wont need any substitutes.|||The best advice I can give you is that you need get over the mental attachment to cheese in your mind. There are no vegan cheese substitutes out there that will work out of the bag like the real thing. What you can do is creatively use other foods such as nutritional yeast flakes, garbanzo beans, almonds, silken tofu, etc to mimic the tastes and textures of cheese. If you're willing to pick up some heavy duty cooking skills, you can make vegan dishes out of things like pizza, alfredo, and even mac & cheese. I suggest you read The UnCheese Cookbook by Jo Stepaniak if you want to learn how to do any of that. If you are going to buy store made vegan cheese, that only brands that I've had a good experience with are Vegan Gourmet, and the vegan cheese made at the Whole Foods deli. With both of those, it does help if you add some extras to spice things up a bit, eating them out of the package would be most disappointing...|||Thats a tough one, LOL. 2 things.- Some "vegan" cheeses have casein in them, which is a milk derivative, so not 100% vegan. Unfortunately this tiny ingredient makes the "cheese" a bit tastier. If you want to avoid the casein, its harder to find a yummy/melty cheese. (Almost impossible, lol) For me, I like the spread "cheeses" I really like the "Tofutti" brand: "Better then cream cheese". Its delish! (And no casein!) ALso, if you havent discovered Tofutti "cuties", yet.....omg! Go to the local health food store and look in the "ice cream" section....heaven.|||For fantastic Europeon-like cheeses that are vegan, nothing beats "Sheese" in my opinion (though I haven't tried every vegan cheese, yet). It's imported from Scotland, and my favorites are the Gouda and smoked cheddar. They also have mozzarella, which I haven't tried, because I really like the mozzarella that "Follow Your Heart" makes. Toffutti "mozzarella" sliced cheese is good for pizzas also (it melts great). Toffutti American cheese slices are great for grilled cheese sandwiches. Also, if you like cooking and trying new recipes, pick up "The Uncheese Cookbook" by Joanne Stepaniak, and you can make your own vegan cheeses. The "Crock Cheez" recipe is excellent and goes great on crackers! It's all a matter of trying them and finding which ones please your personal tastes. Also, not sure if this is true for many vegans, but the longer I am vegan, the less I crave anything "cheesy". I rarely even put any vegan "cheese" on my pizza anymore. Good luck to you.|||I second the daiya suggestion. It is difficult to get, I got it from veganstore.com (ordered online) but I've been searching around for it, I've heard some whole foods stores carry it. It is amazing though, my non-vegan family/friends couldn't even tell the difference. I've only tried the cheddar but it's amazing, its great plain, melts well, and goes great with baked potatoes, tacos, nachos, grilled cheese, etc. No other vegan cheese has been so amazing, but my second favorite (which is easier to obtain from natural food stores or sometimes supermarkets) is follow your heart vegan cheese, the cheddar is pretty good and melts somewhat well, I use it mostly for sandwiches.|||I agree that most are awful. Vegan Gourmet cheese tastes ok but doesn't melt too well, especially on pizza. Daiya is my new favorite. It melts really well and doesn't have a horrible aftertaste. I was able to find it at a Whole Foods Market near me.|||I've heard good things about Daiya cheese, but it's not available where I live so I can't give you my personal opinion.