Hey y'all, just in the posting mood today! I was writing another post and thought about my love for good vegan alternatives. I am not personally vegan, but as someone who takes great pride and pleasure as a cook serving other people food, I want to serve my vegan comrades as best as I can, so I try to taste test a lot of vegan stuff. I'm not a carnist who believes that the vegan option can never taste as good, I just have a lot of allergies so I have to be cautious about eating things that aren't meat. However I've tasted and heard from vegans, certain things like cheese simply aren't as good as the non-vegan counter part. I feel like we hear about this stuff way too much though, as there are so many interesting flavors vegans use that carnists don't.
My personal pick for this topic is coconut aminos. Soy sauce is a great way to add umami flavor into almost anything you're making, so I was disheartened at first when I heard that soy sauce wasn't vegan. But one of my vegan friends got me a bottle of coconut aminos to try, and it blew my mind. The extra sweetness in it makes so many things you'd use soy sauce for way better. Teriyaki sauce should always be made with coconut aminos, fried rice gets a slight sweetness that really lends well to the veggies in it, it's so fucking good.
As much as I love sour cream, there are some instances where a vegan cream tastes better, usually due to the butteriness of cashews. I also prefer oat milk over regular, but sadly oat ice cream can't quite compete with frozen custard in terms of flavor. Maybe if it was some sort of coconut cream and agar combination.... 🤔
For a vegan ice cream look for So Delicious. They use cashew milk.
They're usually really expensive but I'll grab em on sale, they have a lemon vanilla one that is AMAZING it tastes like eating a blended up lemon meringue pie!
They definitely are pricey. I look at it as a "treat yourself" purchase and get one once every couple of months.