Loane Nader 7:00 p.m., February 23, 2023

The French and cheese, it's a great love story!

But sometimes, some are not lucky enough to be able to eat it, for health reasons or out of ecological conviction.

This is exactly why vegan cheeses exist, which columnist Amélie Escourrou presented in "Bienfait pour vous".

As General de Gaulle said, "how do you want to govern a country where there are 258 varieties of cheese".

Not only are there more than 1,200 today, but the former President of the Republic was far from imagining that in the future, vegan cheeses would be added to the list.

If the most connoisseurs see it as sacrilege, vegetable cheese is just as rich and qualitative as that made from animal milk, and this is what Amélie Escourrou comes to defend in Bienfait pour

vous

. 

But what interest do these products have, when there is a cheese for all tastes and all occasions?

First, these are foods "that help a lot of French people, those who vegetate their diet, those who are lactose intolerant or more serious, allergic to milk. And then, there are also those who have to watch their cholesterol levels", as Amélie Escourrou, vegan columnist, explains to Julia Viganli and Mélanie Gomez.

Demand is therefore growing, and these products, whose market should be worth 4 billion dollars next year, promise to reconcile many with these traditional French dishes.

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What are they made from?

These renowned cheeses are made in the Swiss mountains, in the canton of Bern.

The New Roots plant-based cheese dairy is located there and makes it a point of honor that its creations are the result of exclusively artisanal work, using cashew nuts.

The latter, from organic farming, "arrive by boat only once a year to minimize the carbon footprint".

They are then mixed with water from the Swiss mountains to obtain cashew milk.

The team of artisan cheesemakers, one of whom has also become vegan, adds vegetable ferments.

The same process as that of a classic cheese is then put in place: curdling, draining and then maturing.

The cheeses offered by New Roots have diversified over time.

"They started seven years ago with this one, which is made Camembert style. And now they also offer ricotta, fromage frais and even raclette!"

But imitating the taste of cheese is no small feat.

If the appearance of vegetable camembert is identical to a normal camembert, it remains very different in the mouth according to Mélanie Gomez, who has tried the experiment: "I find that it does not taste like a camembert, but I find it very good. It's much softer". 

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What advantages do these cheeses have?

And from an ecological point of view, vegetable cheeses are really more advantageous than traditional cheeses.

"To produce them, we emit about eight times less CO2 than for a cow's milk camembert and about half the water", assures Amélie Escourrou.

Another benefit, for example, although it is not less caloric, camembert made from cashew nuts will be composed of good fats, thanks to its saturated fatty acids, and can be consumed without moderation by someone who has cholesterol.

Eating good, healthy and green, what more could you ask for?