ALT DAIRYALT PROTEINFERMENTATION-BASED ALT PROTEIN
By Alessandra Franco Published on Aug 17, 2022 Last updated Aug 17, 2022
Not every alt protein cream cheese is made equal and that’s a great thing!
If you poll every one of your friends on what their favorite cream cheese is, you will not get anywhere near consensus. There’s an array of choices on the market these days from mild to tangy, spreadable to whipped, and savory to sweet. Not all cream cheese is made equal, so why should it be any different when it comes to alt protein cream cheese?
To prove I’m right, I tried as many different kinds as I could get my taste buds on. Tough job I know, but I’m just the gal for it! Not one cream cheese on this list is 100% like the other, which is exactly how it should be since you have your dairy-free, animal-free, fermentation-based, nut-based, hemp-based…. Clearly, gone are the days when the only vegan cream cheese option was Tofutti and I, for one, am pretty psyched about that. So even if you don’t agree with my reviews, I hope you will be inspired to branch out of your cream cheese comfort zone and try something new.
Editor’s Note: Some of the below products and brands are very new to the market and are only available at select retail and/or online locations in the U.S., and these can change frequently. Please check with the brand website for the most up to date information.
1) Modern Kitchen’s Animal Free Cream Cheese Spread ($30/3 pack)
Being a huge fan of everything Perfect Day, I was really excited to get a sneak taste of Modern Kitchen’s line of animal-free cream cheese.
Unless you live under a rock, you already know how Perfect Day revolutionized the alt protein industry with its bio-identical dairy proteins made via precision fermentation. You may be familiar with their ice cream sold under The Urgent Company brand. But what you may not know is that Perfect Day’s 2nd animal-free dairy brand, Modern Kitchen has launched a line of cream cheese currently selling DTC. It is the first animal-free dairy cream cheese on the market and how can it not be perfect, pun intended, when it’s dairy cream cheese, right? Well, spoiler alert, it is perfect. You get the exact same mouthfeel you get from eating dairy cream cheese down to the flavor and texture, aka how creamy and spreadable it is. If you’re someone who doesn’t want to have to sacrifice one iota in taste when it comes to your plant-based eating habits, this is most definitely the cream cheese for you. It’s animal-free, in other words, guilt-free with the same great cream cheese taste we all know and love.
Modern Kitchen’s cream cheese comes in three flavors: Spring Onion & Chive, Harissa Pepper, and Strawberry – and I tried them all. I really thought Spring Onion & Chive would be my favorite, but I was impressed with the other two flavors too. The Harissa Pepper cream cheese has just the perfect amount of spiciness to allow the pepper flavor to really come through and win over folks who can’t handle spicy foods like me. And then there’s Strawberry. I mean I love strawberries and I love cream cheese so match made in heaven truly. This strawberry cream cheese has got me thinking of all types of baking possibilities, like a vegan warm butter cake or a strawberry cheesecake.
I will say that I feel these guys should be in a category of their own because it’s almost unfair to compare animal-free dairy with plant-based dairy. It’s also really important to underline that if someone has a dairy or they allergy, this product will not be suitable for them.
Ingredients: (Spring Onion & Chive): Animal-Free Cream (Water, Coconut Oil, Non-Animal Whey Protein), Non-GMO Modified Potato Starch, Non-GMO Modified Corn Starch, Salt, Potato Protein, Contains 2% or Less of: Chives, Onions, Cultures, Rowanberry Fruit Extract (Antioxidant), Lactic Acid, Natural Flavor.
Bonus Points: Modern Kitchen has really cool and innovative packaging- I love the vibrant green, orange and red colors, which will definitely stand out from the sea of whiteness on the supermarket shelves. Typically, cream cheese packaging is mainly white because cream cheese is, well, white. Not very imaginative if you ask me.
Cons: This is definitely the priciest of all the options on the list. Plus, they don’t currently offer an original plain version but hopefully that’s in the works.
Overall Score: 10 out 10
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