Cheesy come, cheesy go as vegans eye a cheddar future at awards

A delicious alternative - or a crime against food? The jury was out today.

Cheeses made of nuts, coconut oil, flours and vegetables were judged at the New Zealand Vegan Cheese Awards at The Butcher's Son in Herne Bay.

About 50 products were entered from around the country in eight categories.

Food and beverage judge Aaron Pucci was blind-tasting the vegan cheddar, mozzarella, feta, cream cheese, ricotta, parmesan, blue cheese, brie and camemberts.

He said winning cheeses had to be "delicious" and "look great as well", and there were "some real standouts".

But Pucci said culinary experimentation meant chefs "don't always get it right".

Some of the products were destined for cheeseboards, others were "designed for melting on your toasty, or ones that are designed for adding to your burger".

Vegan and vegan cheesemaker Alara Varnel was also judging the morsels today.

The first time she sold vegan cheese at a market, "nobody would try it".

"No one would even taste it. And that was because I was saying this is cheese made from nuts. And they just looked at me like I was nuts."

Starch is used to give vegan cheeses stretch, she said.

"So it could be potato starch or tapioca starch. Tapioca is the traditional method that will give it that stretchability. And then you put that in there with some coconut oil, which at a lower temperature is going to have that firmness."

Jasbir Kaur, vice president of the New Zealand Chefs Association, was also scoring the entries.

She is not a vegan, but she likes cooking with vegan cheese, and seeing the reactions.

"I made a chocolate cake with vegan cheese in it. And I hadn't told people. And then when I told them ... I got that surprise reaction."

Colmar Brunton research in 2019 showed 1 in 3 New Zealanders were reducing their meat consumption - and in one year, the number of flexitarians grew 18 per cent.

Kaur thought vegan products were a clever way to get more people through the door.

"If you have a vegan or a gluten-free person [in a group] - that prevails [over] which restaurant you're going to."

The award winners will be announced on Monday.