Day 2: Vegan Nachos

      Armed with my new vegan nacho cheese from follow your heart I attempted to make my first ever vegan nachos.  After I was told that I was not able to digest dairy I never thought I would ever be able to enjoy the rich flavor of nachos or pizza. Last night I enjoyed the second one, feasting on an amazing vegan pizza from follow your heart and today I am actually attempting to make nachos.

    I was hesitant at first when I opened the packaging, for the vegan cheese had a weird consistency. It was soft and malleable, unlike any other cheese I have come across. The cheese grated easily, almost disturbingly so, sliding off in a gooey clump. I added the cheese to the tortilla chips with olives, jalapeños, and salsa on top. I put it in the microwave for a minute crossing my fingers that it would melt. After two minutes in the microwave, thank god, it finally started to melt.

    While it didn’t have the same look as freshly melted cheese does, it still tasted absolutely amazing. The vegan nacho cheese was spicy with traces of different types of peppers. I was thrilled it had not only turned out how I hoped, but even better. After devouring the fiery nachos I cooled myself down with nondairy coconut mocha from Trader Joe’s for dessert.

    One of the interesting things I learned during this experiment with vegan cheese, was the different types of nondairy cheese that was available on the market. Many people simply eat soy cheese which often still has the protein casein that you find in milk products. Casein is the protein I told you about in some of my previous posts. It makes you feel relaxed and happy when it breaks down in the body and becomes casomorphins, as in “morphine”. Many people have a hard time giving up dairy because they are addicted to the protein casein.

    I talked to a Starbucks employee who informed me that Starbucks knows about the addictive tendencies that casein protein has on their customers. The employee reported that he watched a video through one of his work programs that explained that steamed milk has more casomorphins than normal milk for the steaming process breaks it down differently. This in fact is what gives you that warm fuzzy feeling when you go get coffee in the morning. Now I wonder, since Starbucks is obviously aware of this do they also include the casein protein in there soy milk alternative as well so that all their customer will feel addicted to that warm fuzzy feeling?

    People who are vegan on the other hand stay away from this soy cheese with casein, and find the few brands that carry soy cheese without it. Casein is often added to soy cheese to make it more closely resemble that of dairy products, but it comes with as price. Casein in fact is the most prominent thing in dairy products that is associated with health problems including chronic sinus congestion, constipation, and even symptoms resembling asthma. For more information on casein in soy products check out the article "Soy Cheese Products Deceive Consumers, Violate Vegans" by Mike Adams.