Aside from “where do you get your protein,” probably the #1 issue I hear from non-vegans is “oh I could never do that, I could never give up cheese.” Last week I got to spend time chatting with someone who is aiming to solve that problem, Daphne Medina, owner of Door 86 Vegan Cheese. She told me, “I love cheese, and I love to go into those cheese shops and buy really good cheese, so my thing was just to see if I could make some really funky vegan versions of the stuff that I would normally eat. If I’m going to go into a cheese shop and buy cheese, then give me the weirdest, funkiest, cheese that you have.” Taking a look at her cheese menu, I would say she’s succeeded. The list starts with traditional cheese flavors previously lacking from the vegan cheese world, like Brie and Gruyere and the always necessary cheese ball, and moves on to some truly original flavors, like Agave-Shallot with balsamic swirl, Sriracha Cheddar, and Young Chevre with Smoked Bourbon Coconut Caramel. The chevre is even nut free, while the others are all based on cashews. Daphne listed the sriracha as one the most popular and one of her personal favorites, because she likes spicy food. She’s also recently created a garlic pimento, as an “ode to the South” since she and the business are now located in Tennessee.
Aged brie
I found Daphne through her Kickstarter (which has 4 days left! Go check it out!), but it’s been a journey to get to that exciting place. She’s a self-taught vegetarian of about 17 years, and then went vegan because “you can’t teaching yourself without getting into the moral and ethical issues of the atrocities to animals.” After a brief hiatus she found her way back to the vegan world because of some health issues, because as she and many people say “food is medicine.”
Vegan cheese ball
It turns out it’s also medicine for the mind, as she was also going through some dark places emotionally, and started just getting in the kitchen and cooking, making her way through everything in Artisan Vegan Cheese. That turned into experimenting with the recipes and then selling locally, and the rest is history! Going forward she wants to be able to give back, stating that she would love to be able to support other projects that help heal, like establishing a farm sanctuary in Tennessee, or donating a percentage of profits to an animal sanctuary.
Sriracha cheddar cheese
Near the end of our conversation I asked Daphne her advice for new vegans, and her answer perfectly echoed the sentiment I try to bring to this blog and to all my coaching and events:
“It’s a journey, we’re all on it, and everyone’s just so different. One of the things I dealt with early on, especially when I first decided to go vegan, was it was all or nothing. And I really would get discouraged, because if I ate something that had eggs or milk in it, if I found out later, I really got upset, and felt like I was failing the test. So the one thing I had to learn was just to be a little bit kinder to myself in that journey, because it doesn’t happen overnight, and it’s not easy to start being mindful of the products that you’re buying. So my advice is to not be so hard on yourself and to let it evolve. It’s ok, do the best you can, and keep going.”
Blueberry stilton
Don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s ok. Do the best you can. And keep going. Baby steps. And make the process a little easier for yourself by not having to give up cheese entirely, because now you can splurge on Door 86.
I can’t wait to try it!
:)
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Daphne
