“Daiya Real VEGAN Cheese that just might change the world”
Daiya Cheese (from their website)
IT Looks just like cheese
IT Shreds just like cheese
IT Melts Just like cheese
IT even Tastes just like cheese!
But OMG, it digests like whole foods, not cheese!
Pizza is a fun food.
However, for those that still eat dairy, you must be familiar with how it feels after eating a lot of pizza. For me that memory is 20+years old, but I still remember it well. Even many of the soy/rice cheese alternatives don’t digest that well in my stomach, and make me feel like I’ve been eating rubber.
Some of my expo sampling…
It’s one of the things that has always reminded me that it’s better to consume simple ‘whole foods’ over anything that’s been processed. While I didn’t consume a whole, large pizza pie at the expo, I did hang at the Daiya booth and try as many samples as I could get my hands on there.
It felt light once in my tummy, and I can say I had absolutely no heart burn or heavy feeling at all.
“made with whole-food plant-based ingredients”
33% less fat than typical cheese
Cholesterol Free
Trans Fat free
Dairy free
Free of all Animal products – Vegan / Parve
Free of Artificial Ingredients
Free of Preservatives
Free of Common Allergens: Soy, Casein, Lactose, Whey, Wheat, Barley, Corn, Rice, Gluten, Nuts
So what’s in this stuff and how come it’s so cheesy? As far as I’ve learned, the main ingredient in Daiya cheese is “Cassava”, which comes from the Cassava root: (from Wikipedia)
“The cassava, cassada, yuca, manioc, mogo or mandioca (Manihot esculenta) is a woody shrub of the Euphorbiaceae (spurge family) native to South America that is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates. Cassava is the third largest source of carbohydrates for human food in the world, with Africa its largest center of production. The flour made of the roots is called tapioca.” – link
Some of the other ingredients are Arrowroot and pea protein.
A friend here on HappyCow was up in Vancouver this past weekend sampling all the veg places and stopped in at “The Naam”. Turns out The Naam is one of the first places to use Daiya Cheese. He told me that it looked so real that he couldn’t eat it, and didn’t trust that it was vegan. Later he learned that it was Daiya cheese, (had he even known what it was) though he missed the Expo and didn’t know the story behind it (he was planning to join me there).
From what I heard, Daiya is going to be targeting food services/cafeterias which is a great strategy. Once people learn that “vegan” cheese can taste great, as good as real cheese, I really think it will help the overall opinion on vegan food.
The product has yet to launch in stores, but once it does, we need to all work on getting local pizzarias to start using it.
At the show, VegNews gave them the “2009 VegNews Magazine Best of Show Award”. Daiya was really the ‘hit’ of the expo this year for me and a lot of other folks (many non-vegetarians too). I feel a simple product like this is really what’s needed to help change the face of veganism.
Can’t wait until they start using it at places nearby. I’m spreading the word to local eateries, hope everyone else will too!
Check out their site (which is still being created): http://daiyafoods.com
Note: this is not a paid ad for Daiya, it’s just an awesome product that deserves all the raves!
16 Comments
Tatiana (20 comments)
March 19, 2009 at 10:02 amWow, I’m super excited!
JohnnySensible (31 comments)
March 19, 2009 at 10:43 pmGreat news for cows!
webmaster (15 comments)
March 20, 2009 at 8:22 amJust heard from Daiya foods on what makes their cheese so cheesy and thought to share:
Hi Eric
There isn’t one particular ingredient that make our products cheesy. It is the synergy of ingredients and process that make the cheese-like flavour, performance and overall characteristics possible. The ingredient that represents the highest percentage of the product is actually filtered water. We also use flours from a blend of tuberous roots and in general, we have had a singular focus on using only very healthy plant-based ingredients. But the ingredients are only one part of what makes Daiya so cheese-like. The process is equally as important and took almost 5 years to perfect.
We did not start out with a vision to create a commercial product, we just wanted to create a very healthy Vegan cheese alternative we could make for ourselves that satisfied our own cravings for one of the basic “comfort foods” – cheese, something we personally didn’t find existed in the marketplace to our satisfaction (again stressing our own personal preferences as this is very subjective). It took our own circle of friends
and growing legion of supporters who tried the products through many stages of development to convince us to take Daiya to market.
Hopefully Daiya products will fill a need for many people who are looking for an alternative to dairy-based cheese, regardless of their individual motivations. We certainly look forward to introducing many more products in the future because for us, product development is outrageously fun!
All the best,
Greg Blake
COO and Cofounder
Daiya Foods Inc.
b_fly1 (1 comments)
March 20, 2009 at 9:38 amSign me up!
The Vegan (2 comments)
March 28, 2009 at 7:40 amI was also at the Natural Products Expo and I tried this cheese and it was unbelievably delicious. Now mind you I didn’t try the pizza, just the melted cheese. I don’t eat soy or gluten any more so I couldn’t try the pizza but if I had some of that cheese I could make my own pizza with a gluten free crust. But to the point, I have tried, over the years every vegan cheese on the market and this was the best I have tasted and by far the most like cheese. And what is especially good for me is that it is made from, well, I am not sure exactly what it is made from. 🙂 Although Eric did give us a good idea. The one thing I know it’s not made of is soy and for me that’s wonderful. I would give anything to be able to buy this cheese. Thanks for posting about this Eric!!!
treehugger (2 comments)
March 30, 2009 at 2:55 amI’m super excited and intrigued by this – can’t wait to try it.
The Vegan (2 comments)
March 30, 2009 at 1:04 pmI called Greg(COO and Cofounder) just now to find out if there was any way to get some of the cheese sent to me in dry ice or whatever. I told him I had to have some but he said due to regulations and so on he can’t do it.
As Eric said, they are going to do food service first which means possibly restaurants or companies incorporating it as one of their ingredients in one of their products. It is a while away from being available to the retail public. He said 9 months if that happens but it really sounded like it could be a lot longer.
I went to their website as he instructed me to do and left them my e-mail address to notify when the cheese is available to me.
I don’t think it is posted in this thread but I have may have missed it.. Here is their website:
http://www.daiyafoods.com
veganvamp (1 comments)
May 4, 2009 at 11:39 amThe vegan store sells them at $5.49 each. Here’s the link:
http://veganstore.com/209.html
desertrich (1 comments)
June 28, 2009 at 11:16 amI’ve had the Daiya cheese on a pizza at Cruzer Pizza in Los Angeles. It’s absolutely outstanding as a cheese substitute. Very low in fat and tasty. This is going to be a blockbuster product once it gets into more places.
webmaster (15 comments)
June 29, 2009 at 12:52 pmAlso now available at Whole Foods Markets in California- statewide. Stores that offer vegan pizza are phasing out their old inventory of vegan cheese and now beginning to use Daiya, and at no extra charge! -Yummmm!
EricaD (1 comments)
December 7, 2009 at 10:53 amhttp://www.solutionstosavor.com is now carrying Daiya cheese in 5lb bags-it will be shipped frozen so use what you want and freeze the rest until the next time that you need it!
Fallopia Tuba (3 comments)
December 24, 2009 at 8:03 pmI’m disappointed; I’ve noticed Daiya contains palm oil, so I have to boycott it. Orangutans are dying to fulfill your cheese-product cravings, and that’s just not right.
Yes, I know Daiya is an amazing cheese; I was getting it every day on a piece of awesome pizza, and the neighborhood pizzeria has trouble keeping up with demand. But there’s no reason for them to have to use palm oil, and orangutans are losing their habitat. Palm oil is an environmental disaster in many ways, and I’m not buying into it.
I know I’m in the minority here, but there are several other vegan cheeses on the market, and until Daiya changes their formula, they’re not getting my dollar.
norman123 (1 comments)
January 2, 2010 at 12:59 pmI asked them about the Palm oil a few months ago and they said they never used it and never plan on using it. Palm oil ended up on their ingredient label as a mistake – they planned on testing it but neglected to remove it. They have since removed it from all labels and their website.
Norman
Fallopia Tuba (3 comments)
January 2, 2010 at 3:04 pmTrue; that’s the response I got the other day from Daiya:
“Thank you for your feedback on our Daiya vegan cheese.
You must be referring to a very old package of our food service product as we only placed palm oil in the ingredient listing as an ‘and/or’ option in the spring and early summer. Palm oil was never actually used in our product, it was on the label as a potential ingredient only. We have since removed any reference to it on our ingredient listings and we have no intention of using palm oil at any point in the future.
Following is a list of our ingredients as used currently in food service. Please note our ingredient listing may change for our retail product which we are launching this spring. You may also find our ingredient listing on our website on the ‘Home’ page under the ‘Ingredients’ tab. You may have to wait a few moments for the tab to become active as the flash introduction plays (the tab is directly underneath the ‘Home’ link on the top navigation bag).
“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, Pea Protein, Salt, Inactive Yeast, Vegetable Glycerin, Natural Flavors (from plants), Xanthan Gum, Sunflower Lecithin, Natural Vegan Enzymes, Natural Vegan Bacterial Cultures, Citric Acid, Natural Color.
“All the best,
“Trudel
Daiya Consumer Relations
cr@daiyafoods.com“
bubblelife (1 comments)
February 13, 2010 at 4:33 pmI love love love this cheese! I thought I would never have pizza again. Oh how wrong I was. I order it online and put it on my homemade gluten free crust. yummmyyyyyy
VeganCizzy (1 comments)
July 16, 2012 at 7:43 amSo glad to here it doesn’t contain palm oil! So glad it doesn’t contain soya as it can be a bit of an overpowering flavour and not remotley cheesey. I would totaly get it shipped over to the UK frozen in a big block but I’m gonna need need a bigger freezer! I wonder if they will sell it to large health/veggie food shops in UK?