Cheeseless "Cheese"

Being a former cheese-aholic, it was initially extremely difficult to accept faux cheeses as a fair substitute. I would more readily omit them from a recipe than search for a better brand or alternative. Maybe its the fact that I can't remember the last time I ate dairy and the memory of how it tastes is becoming fuzzy, or maybe its the fact that I found a brand of "cheese" that I actually like, either way my relationship with faux cheese has dramatically improved. Because of a recent food tasting for my completely vegan wedding menu, I was somewhat upset that despite my request the chef had added some real cheese to one of the entrees. My family enjoyed the stuffed mushroom covered with a slab of asiago cheese and it ended up making the final cut. But not being able to taste the main dish did leave me a little P.O.ed. However, he did say he would be willing to use an alternative for the actual wedding dinner, but refused to take the cheese topping off all-together. I had to find a tasty substitute for such an important meal, after all most of my family (and soon-to-be family) is still under the wrong assumption that all I eat is rabbit food. This wedding dinner became my way to force good tasting vegan food down (some of) my ever objecting family members throats. And after hearing much about this elusive (at least in my area until recently) brand of vegan cheese I had to try it for myself. Diaya (the brand) was as their tag line suggests "delisiously dairy free." My first experiment was with their italian blend flavor and some tofurky slices, to make a grilled sandwich of sorts. And despite its initial unique refrigerated texture, it melts into a very recognizable gooey mess of deliciousness. Although I was truly floored and completely consumed by cheesy ecstasy, my hard to please omnivorous fiance was not. He did however, finally admit its adequacy, and that it was the best faux cheese he had tasted (which as a total dairy slave is really a feat for him.) The next lab subjects were my mother and sister. This time I melted the italian flavor shreds onto some steamed broccoli. Total success! They admitted to being completely duped by the faux cheese, and stated "if I hadn't have known already, I would never have guessed." Now to be perfectly clear and honest, I am in no way being persuaded to promote this company, my blog is far to meager for that. I have just developed an obsession for this truly delicious "cheese" substitute as it finally allows me to indulge in my pre-vegan flavors of dairy without the dairy itself. This product has become important to me not only because of my wedding dish dilemma, but it eliminates the excuse others often offer that they "can't give up cheese." Since my initial testing, I've tried both the flavors available at my local Whole Foods, italian blend and cheddar, which I've used to make an amazing grilled "cheese" sandwich and the best tasting pizza I have ever created.