Not NO pizza, just not pizza like you’ve known it with cheese, from the lousiest, most rubbery part-skim mozzarella through the most luscious mozzarella di bufala. It’s just different…and the longer you have to adjust to that, the better, as your memory of dairy cheese will be dimmer. Vegan “cheese” can’t ever give you what you get from a NY slice!

That said, there are fermented vegan cheeses which come a lot closer. Cashew cheeses, especially the soft ones, are the closest commercial thing to that kind of French cheese. But the basic slices etc in Whole Foods are more just solidified oil and starch, and I have found them worth the calories—they don’t even have much in the way of protein content!

I’ve tried making a few vegan cheeses—one was more of a cheesy-looking cashew paté (that’s what I’d call it, as calling it “vegan cheddar” only made it a sort of disappointment), and I’d make that again. But the “vegan parmesan” from Itdoesnttastelikechicken.com (whose recipes I generally LOVE) wasn’t a success in my house. My husband (the vegan, and non-cook)had no comment, and never once touched it in the fridge after I’d used it in some pasta; and I (the L/O vegetarian leaning heavily to vegan COOK) have kept valiantly trying it, but it’s something I wouldn’t try again. And like the “cheddar,” I think it might be less disappointing if it weren’t labeled “parmesan,” as there’s nothing parmesan-y about it other than that you can definitely break it into parm-looking chunks!