Holy shit, there's a decent vegan cheese? I like my meat but I understand that the current status quo isn't sustainable, and cheese is the number two thing the vegan industry has been struggling with making a good substitute for (number one being bacon.)
Blue cheese is a bit strong for most people, I can respect that, I'm one of those people. The trick is knowing what to pair with blue cheese to help balance it out a bit.
You want my recommendation for how to enjoy some store-bought blue cheese? Try it on a burger, with some sliced avocado instead of lettuce. The meat and the dense fruit balance out the blue beautifully, you get all the nice taste of a blue cheese without feeling like your mouth got nuked from orbit by smelly cheese.
Avocado's a silly thing to try to sell blue cheese to a blue cheese hater with anyway, it's almost completely flavorless. What you want is a bright, tart fruit, like a strawberry or an apricot. The sugar and tang of the fruit kind of countersthe funkiness and complements the creaminess of the cheese. Could be fresh fruit or in a jam/compote or whatever. Throw that shit on a cracker and enjoy the ride! Or continue to hate it, lol, that's also acceptable.
Yeah. I'm a vegetarian and the only things preventing me from being full vegan are cheese and ice cream. Once I can tackle those addictions, I'll be very happy going full vegan.
I just wish the US government would shift subsidies from meat and dairy to alternatives. The modern stuff is very good, it just costs like twice as much! Last time I went grocery shopping, the oat milk was almost the same price as the cow milk, so I bought two gallons, because it also keeps much longer than cow milk.
I've had vegan ice cream before that was so much better than any ice cream I've had before but I don't remember which brand it was and I'm so mad about it. It had this really nice chewy bouncy texture. So good vegan ice cream exists. Now if only I can find it again.
Yeah, try the Follow Your Heart brand. I think the name is pretty cheesy (pun intended) and it usually costs more than common brands like Daiya, but it tastes significantly better and melts more like actual cheese.
If you skip the mass produced stuff, there are plenty of great naturally fermented plant-based cheeses. But in my experience it always feels like something is missing, which probably has to do with dairy's addictiveness. How do you compete with drugs?
Shredded cheese substitutes aren't bad, especially if you plan on just melting it anyway. I'm not sure i would be willing to use vegan cheese on a cheese and cracker plate, but plenty of the stuff out there is suitable for melting on top of a sandwich, or in potatoes.