What Is Vegetarian Cheese?
What Is Vegetarian Cheese? Vegetarian cheese is cheese that is
not curdled with rennet, an enzyme that occurs naturally in animal stomachs.Most vegetarian cheeses are curdled
with either plants,fungi, or bacteria.
Vegetarians who do not consume cheese with rennet generally choose not to because it
involves slaughtering animals to extract the enzymes.
Vegetarian cheese is hard
to distinguish from cheese made with rennet. This lack of distinguisability often forces vegetarians who are
ethically-opposed to harming animals to consume cheeses that contain rennet.
Even though more cheeses are being made with vegetable rennet,
it is usually impossible to spot the difference, unless the package is clearly labeled "vegetarian cheese."
Recently, some grocery stores have started doing this to aid vegetarian shoppers, who
would not otherwise be able to distinguish the difference between the vegetable and animal rennet
cheeses.
In addition to eating cheeses made with vegetable rennet, there are more alternatives
to eating regular cheese.
Vegans, for instance, do not consume cheese at all because it is an animal byproduct
and subsequently requires animals to be caged and suffer. Many vegans, however, do consume cheese
substitutes.
Chreese (http://www.chreese.com/) is one of these substitutes. Chreese is an all natural, non-soy,
cheese replacement that requires substantially less natural resources and energy to create than cheese with
rennet.
And chreese is just one substitute. There are a number of other all natural
alternatives you can find at local organic and health food stores.
If you are a vegetarian and you don't support animal suffering on
your behalf in any capacity, you may also want to consider adjusting your dietary habits if you consume cheese made
with animal rennet.
To reiterate, you have three basic options: you can look for grocery stores that
label vegetarian cheese;
you can purchase vegetarian cheese online; or you can purchase cheese alternatives
online or at your local organic or health food store.
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