What Is Vegan Cheese? Everything You Need to Know

If you've ever found yourself wondering whether vegan cheese is actually worth the hype, or how on earth a cashew becomes something you'd want on a cheeseboard, you're in the right place. We're La Fauxmagerie, the UK's first plant-based cheesemonger, and cheese (of the dairy-free variety) is quite literally all we do. So let us walk you through it.

What Exactly Is Vegan Cheese?

Vegan cheese is any cheese made entirely without animal products. No dairy, no rennet, no compromise... just plant-based ingredients crafted to deliver the same depth of flavour, texture, and satisfaction you'd expect from a well-made dairy cheese.

The term covers a broad spectrum: from soft, spreadable cashew cheeses and crumble-ready fetas to aged, pungent blues and smoky hard cheeses. Just like traditional cheese, the best vegan versions are the result of real craft: fermentation, ageing and careful flavouring... not just a clever ingredients list.

What Is Vegan Cheese Made From?

Different bases produce very different results, and knowing your way around them helps you find the style you'll love.

Nuts — Cashews and Almonds

Often, our gold standard for artisan plant-based cheese. Cashews are naturally high in fat and incredibly smooth when blended, making them ideal for cultured, spreadable cheeses with real tang and complexity. Almonds offer a slightly firmer texture with a subtle nuttiness, brilliant for aged cheeses and blues. Our Camden Cultured range is cashew-based; our Brixton Blue and Balham Blue are crafted from an almond base.

Coconut Oil

Widely used in commercial vegan cheese for its high fat content, which helps mimic the richness and meltability of dairy. It produces a clean, neutral base so you shouldn't taste it... though the results can vary hugely depending on what's added alongside it.

Soy

One of the more accessible bases, soy-based cheeses have been around since the early days of plant-based eating. They tend to melt well, making them a popular choice for slices and shreds. Flavour complexity is harder to achieve, but quality has improved significantly over the years.

Other Bases

You'll also find cheeses made from oats, sunflower seeds, macadamia nuts, and even peas. The plant-based cheese world is incredibly creative, and makers are constantly exploring new bases to get closer to the textures and flavours we know and love.

How Is Vegan Cheese Made?

The process varies depending on the style, but at its best, vegan cheesemaking mirrors traditional dairy methods more closely than you might expect.

For nut-based cheeses, it typically starts with soaking and blending the nuts into a smooth, creamy base. Probiotic cultures are then added to begin fermentation (this is what creates that characteristic tang and depth). From there, the cheese may be flavoured, seasoned, pressed, coated, and aged, depending on the style.

Our Brixton Blue, for example, is matured slowly to develop its properly pungent character. Our Camden Cultured range is fermented for a savoury, sophisticated bite that rewards patience. None of it happens overnight, and that's rather the point.

Does Vegan Cheese Taste Like "Real" Cheese?

We think the best ones transcend the comparison entirely. The early days of plant-based cheese were, to put it gently, a mixed experience. Rubbery textures, odd aftertastes, and a distinct lack of anything resembling flavour complexity. That era is well and truly behind us.

Artisan vegan cheese - made with quality ingredients, proper fermentation, and genuine craft - can be velvety, pungent, smoky, tangy, earthy, or luscious. It can pair beautifully with wine. It can anchor a cheeseboard. It can make you forget you ever needed dairy in the first place.

That said, some believe that it's worth approaching vegan cheese on its own terms rather than as a direct replica. A cashew blue is not trying to be a like for like Roquefort. It's trying to be something brilliant in its own right and when it succeeds, it really succeeds.

Is Vegan Cheese Healthy?

It depends enormously on what you're eating. Nut-based artisan cheeses tend to be made with simple, whole-food ingredients and often contain fewer additives than their mass-produced counterparts, dairy or otherwise. They're naturally free from cholesterol and lactose, which makes them a kinder option for the significant portion of the population with dairy sensitivities.

Some commercial vegan cheeses lean heavily on starches, gums, and refined oils to achieve texture, so if you want to avoid these it's worth checking the label. As with most food (although not always) the simpler the ingredients list, the better the result tends to be.

Is Vegan Cheese Better for the Planet?

The environmental case for plant-based dairy is well established. Dairy farming is one of the more resource-intensive parts of the food system, requiring significant water, land, and feed, and producing considerable greenhouse gas emissions. Shifting to plant-based alternatives, even partially, makes a meaningful difference.

At La Fauxmagerie, we believe the future is plant-based — not because dairy is the enemy, but because making thoughtful choices about what we eat is one of the most impactful things we can do. And when those choices taste this good, the argument makes itself.

Where Can You Buy Quality Vegan Cheese in the UK?

The market has grown enormously in recent years. You'll find plant-based options in most supermarkets now — but for genuine craft and flavour complexity, it's worth seeking out artisan producers and specialist retailers.

La Fauxmagerie was founded in 2019 with exactly this in mind: to bring the cheesemonger experience to plant-based cheese, with a curated range made to be savoured rather than simply substituted. Our cheeses are available online and through selected stockists, and we'd always recommend starting with a selection if you're new to the world of artisan vegan cheese. There's a lot to fall in love with.

Ready to Try It?

Whether you're dairy-free by necessity, curious by nature, or simply a cheese lover who's open to something new; there's never been a better time to explore what plant-based cheese can do.

Browse our range and find your new favourite. We promise it won't take long.