I had been hearing a LOT of buzz about Field Roast’s new vegan CHAO cheese alternative and when I happened to check out the little vegan section at my local Safeway grocery store, lo and behold…what did my eyes spy? The creamy original slices. Yay! I wish I could have found all three flavors, but I will update this post just as soon as I do.
I must say, I was not sure what to expect because many a vegan cheese has let me down before. I can’t be the only person who has thought, “I could definitely be vegan…but, the CHEESE!”
I am sure the first thing you are dying to know is…”How do they taste?” Straight out of the package…I was thoroughly impressed. I mean thoroughly! Yum…these were SO good. Yes, they were definitely living up to the hype.
The taste is subtle, mild. Much like Swiss or provolone. The smell is very neutral. They are a slightly more, shall we say, rubbery? than their dairy-based counterparts. I expect this is from the tofu as an ingredient. The slices are packaged all together. No individual wrappers here, but they are very easily separated.
So let’s talk about the ingredients for a minute. Water, coconut oil, corn and potato starches, fermented tofu, sea salt, olive extract used as a preservative and beta carotene. That’s it!
But do they MELT? And STRETCH like “real” cheese? For this experiment, I would be making…you guessed it! Grilled cheese sandwiches.
I hope you can see this…
Melted just.like.regular.cheese. Mind BLOWN!
At about $4.99 (which I felt was really reasonable), you can search here to see if the Field Roast CHAO Slices are available near you.
Have you tried these? If so, leave me a comment and let me know what you think!
11 comments
I just went full vegan a week ago, and the thing always holding me back was cheese.I’ve been known to eat cheese–just cheese–as an actual meal. I saw these at my local grocery store and decided to try them. O.M.G. They taste, feel and melt like cheese. A mild, average cheese, but a cheese nonetheless. As you said above, Mind Blown.
OMG I love these!!!!! They are waaaaay better than the Go Veggie Vegan Slices I tried. My local Walmart is carrying the creamy original Chao Slices for $5.98 a package. These are amazing!!!!!!!
Chao cheese is better than real cheese. O had to quit dairy due to multiple sclerosis and arthritis. Tried the Chao and it taste just like real cheese. Since switching to almond milk and chao my inflammation is nearly gone. Its well worth trying
Thank you so much for sharing this! I honestly have yet to find another vegan cheese I like as much as Chao 🙂
These are very tasty but for even more flavor, try Miyokos English farmhouse cheddar. I can only find that particular flavor at whole foods… your other cheeses are softer and have less flavor. The farmhouse cheddar is aged with miso. It has so much flavor my non-vegan friends like it.
I recommend this cheese to all my health coaching clients looking to transition off dairy. It’s fantastic! I’m hoping they transition into other forms like shredded ‘cheese’ too.
Check out another new cheddar slice from Violife that I just found too. It’s getting so much easier to make healthy changes with all these great products!
http://www.changeBITES.com
You can shred the slices when they’re stuck together in a block, just like you do regular block cheese!
I do this too! 🙂
Great idea!
I have tried a lot of vegan cheese too and had pretty much given up on finding anything edible but the chao cheese? Amazing! I wish it had protein to justify the fat content but 60 calories a slice is still good. My favorite way to eat it is with triscuits… I miss basic cheese and crackers and am so happy to be back in appetizer heaven
I wrote this review awhile ago and I still feel it’s the best vegan cheese I’ve tasted! 🙂