A fabulous guest post from co-blogger Nothoney
That’s right, vegans. If you’re going ga-ga over the new vegan cheeses such as Teese and Daiya, you’re just as guilty of animal cruelty as if you were eating blocks of dairy cow cheese. Not to mention the negative effects on human health …
Vegan cheeses are mostly oil, which makes them just as bad for your health as dairy cheese. Look at the ingredients for the new vegan cheese craze, Daiya: “Purified water, natural whole ground cassava and/or arrowroot flours, high oleic sunflower and/or safflower and/or identity-preserved high oleic canola oil, coconut oil and/or palm fruit oil, pea protein, salt, inactive yeast, vegetable glycerin, natural vegan flavors (derived from plants), xanthan gum, sunflower lecithin, natural vegan enzymes, natural vegan bacterial cultures, citric acid, natural color.”
Here’s the ingredient list for Teese, mozzarella style, the other OHMYGODITMELTS vegan cheese: Organic soymilk (filtered water, organic soybeans), corn maltodextrin, soybean oil, palm oil, sea salt, carrageenan, vegan natural flavors, corn derived lactic acid, natural vegan color.
The ingredients for Sheese, mozzarella style: Filtered Water, Vegetable Oil, Soya Concentrate, Salt, Spirit Vinegar, Flavourings, Lactic Acid (dairy-free), Thickeners: Xanthan Gum & Carrageenan, Yeast Extract.
Finally, the ingredients for Cheezly, mozzarella style: Water, non hydrogenated vegetable oil, tofu, soya protein, rice starch, thickeners: carrageenan, locust bean gum; salt, dried yeast, tricalcium phosphate, spirit vinegar, acidity regulator: trisodium citrate, raw cane sugar, flavouring, yeast extract.
An ounce of dairy mozzarella cheese contains 6 grams of fat, 3.7 grams of saturated fat, 22 grams of cholesterol, and 6 grams of protein. That’s 28 percent of the calories from fats.
An ounce of the Daiya cheese is about 50 percent fat. It’s WORSE for human health than dairy cheese. Coconut and palm oils contain the highest percentage of saturated fats of all oils.
Also, when you buy some products that list “vegetable oil” as an ingredient, you have no idea the source of that oil. It’s likely palm oil.
So, if you decided to try a vegan diet because it’s healthier and you love the taste of the new-and-improved vegan cheeses … FAIL.
However, if you chose a vegan lifestyle because you want to minimize your negative effects on the planet and on non-human animals, and you’re indulging in vegan cheese and other products that contain palm oil … BIG FAIL.
I am regularly frustrated by vegans who are concerned only with preventing cruelty to farmed animals and don’t consider wildlife. Oil palm plantations in Indonesia are destroying wildlife habitat, specifically that of our red-haired cousins – orangutans. Rainforests support 500 times more species than North American forests. Elephants are regularly poisoned when they raid oil palm plantations for food because they are starving due to habitat loss. These elephants often take up to a month to die from the poison.
The UNEP estimates that an area of Indonesian rain forest the size of six football fields is cut down every minute of every day. The palm oil and timber industries are guilty of truly horrific ecological atrocities, one of which is the systematic genocide of orangutans. When the forest is cleared, adult orangutans are generally shot on sight. In the absence of bullets they are beaten, burned, tortured, mutilated and often eaten as bush meat.
SIX FOOTBALL FIELDS OF RAINFOREST DESTROYED EVERY MINUTE OF EVERY DAY. FOR PALM OIL.
So, my fellow vegans, let’s reconsider our choices and do some research and be certain that what we’re eating is sustainable and humane. We’re setting a poor example for the people we hope to convince to become vegans when we eat such non-foods as vegan cheese (among others). What does it say about our movement if we can’t set an example of living healthy with whole foods and not all this processed crap? What does it say about our hope to make more vegans in the world when we can’t even steer ourselves away from craving things that remind of us of carcass?
Palm oil isn’t just in vegan cheese, it’s found in everything. READ LABELS. Know where your foods come from so you can determine if the label lists ingredients specifically. Read labels on personal products and cleaning products and stop buying those that contain palm oil.
There are many issues connected with palm oil: the extinction of orangutans, Bornean sun bears, and other wildlife; palm oil as biodiesel fuel; the negative climate effects of deforestation, etc.
Here are some links about palm oil that you may find helpful: