MADRID, 22 April. (EDITIONS) –
Cheese is also being reinvented and there are more and more vegetable or vegan cheeses, as an alternative to traditional cheese, and that are not produced from milk, but rather based on vegetables; soybean type legumes; vegetable oils such as coconut oil for example; seeds such as sunflowers; or grains, for example. Potato starch is usually added to give them elasticity.
In fact, there is a current of vegetable cheeses made from nuts that are very interesting nutritionally, according to Aitor Sánchez, the dietitian-nutritionist and food technologist, during an interview with Infosalus in which we talked about these new cheeses.
Now, not everything goes in this range of cheeses and not because they are vegan or of plant origin are they better than traditional dairy products. This expert explains that if we go to cheeses made from starches, from vegetable fats, the quality will be terrible; but if we opt for vegetable cheeses made from almonds and cashew nuts, for example, these ensure that they are very interesting on a nutritional level.
“With these, from a cheese we can obtain the same contribution of nuts in the diet”, highlights this expert coinciding with the recent publication of ‘What happens with nutrition?’ (Paidos).
He says that vegetable alternatives to dairy are being developed more and more, although he points out that dairy products do not require a substitute in our diet, just as there are no substitutes for fruits or nuts.
This Nutrition specialist affirms that if there are vegetable alternatives, it is above all for practical and culinary reasons, which start from the premise that we are a society accustomed to using dairy products, which has invented products that imitate them, but without the drawbacks that dairy products present. dairy production.
“In other words, its objective is not necessarily to provide the same nutrients as milk, but rather, for example, the first vegetable drinks were almond milk and coconut milk, products that nutritionally have little to do with the milk produced by a animals,” he stresses.
In this way, Aitor Sánchez maintains that, since vegetable alternatives are a “very diverse category”, their properties are defined from their reference ingredient, and not because they are vegan or vegetable they are better, “not everything goes”.
That is why this dietitian-nutritionist always recommends choosing those vegetable alternatives to cheeses that are made from nuts, tofu or soybeans, and minimizing other references on the market made from starches, flours, or coconut oils.
“Vegetable alternatives to dairy products are a very heterogeneous growing sector and we must know how to choose the healthiest versions among those available,” says this food technologist.
