Violife Vegan Cheese – An Honest Review from a Non Vegan*

It’s 2022, and we’re now living in a world where everyone should be looking at ways to do their part to live a more sustainable life. One of the best, and easiest ways to do this is to make changes to your diet, choosing to consume less meat and animal products. I’m not saying you need to adhere to a strict vegan life, but embracing days like Meatless Monday and swapping dairy milk for plant based milk can really make a difference. Not just to the environment, but to your health too. None of my family are vegan, or even strict vegetarian, but we do try. So when I was sent a selection of Violife vegan cheese, I was excited to see what we made of it.

My partner, daughter and I are big into cheese, but all three of us accepted the challenge to try, and I have to admit, for the most part, we were all pleasantly surprised!

What is Violife?

Violife is an 100% vegan brand of award winning plant based cheese alternatives. But not only will you find Violife vegan cheese, but they do cream, butter and even “chocolate” spread. Violife is free from dairy, preservatives, casein, lactose, gluten, nuts and soya. So what is it made from? Coconut oil, of course! But don’t worry, it doesn’t taste of coconut, at all. This was a main concern of my daughter. I have always felt like vegan cheese has had a bit of a bad rep? Like it doesn’t melt properly and tastes weird so I was interested to see how a brand that claims to “melt, grill & grate, toast & roast, they are easy to cook with and to spread” fairs. They’re bold claims right?

So what are my completely honest thoughts, and are there any I would buy again?

Original Flavour Grated

Starting with the most versatile, the grated. I’m a huge fan of pre-grated cheese due to the fact I don’t have a clue where my cheese grater is these days. It’s just so convenient to have in the fridge. But how did we get on?

The first time I used it was in an air fryer grilled cheese sandwich. It took a little longer than regular cheese to melt but it did get there (the brioche was a bit on the crispy side). But once it was melted and I went to eat it, I genuinely 100% could not taste the difference. It was amazing. In fact, it was a little lighter than the cheddar I usually get. The flavour was there though.

I was worried it was all in my head, so I decided that my partner and Liv should blind test it on some fajitas. They also really liked it and it tasted no different to them. It’s a winner for us, and we would absolutely switch to it. 10/10

Epic Mature Cheddar Block

So the mature cheddar block was next. Unfortunately I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the grated. I think with it being mature the taste was stronger and it definitely wasn’t as akin to the cheese we’re used to. I’ve had it a few times on a sandwich and it just wasn’t to my taste. The texture was good though! However, I feel like grated it will work very similar to the pre-grated. I will be using it later today on a baked potato. The block is solid so I’ll be able to use the potato peeler to grate it. 5/10

Le Rond Camembert Flavour

Camembert is one of my absolutely favourite cheeses, especially at Christmas. I just really love melt-y cheeses. I was really interested to see how the Violife vegan cheese version worked. As I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it I found a recipe for baked Le Rond spaghetti. I love baked cheese pasta, so easy to make. I prepared the cheese by popping it into a ceramic dish, popping on some olive oil and garlic then baking in the oven. It took a good 40 minutes to get a to a melted consistency. I poured it onto my spaghetti and topped with onions caramelised in balsamic vinegar for a delicious vegan dish.

Thoughts? It had a very weird taste, but not in a bad way? Just in a “not what I was expecting” way. It melted well and mixed in well. I would definitely buy it again. Unfortunately my daughter was not a fan and said it was too strong for her. 7/10 (but 3 from LB)

Slices – Smokey Cheddar and Original Cheddar

I think of all the cheeses I was most apprehensive of using the slices. I’m not a fan of the cheddar ones that are diary based. I find them quite dry and hard to melt in comparison to what my daughter calls “plastic cheese” that you find on burgers. I decided to again do a blind test with my daughter and partner with a chicken burger. My daughter had original, and my partner smokey. And guess what? They couldn’t tell the difference! Instant winner! They melted a lot faster than the other violife vegan cheese we’d tried and they didn’t have a stranger or strong taste. Same texture (especially the smokey) as the slices I would normally buy. 10/10

As you can see, we were all suitably impressed with some of the Violife vegan cheese products. I would 100% buy the slices and grated again. And I would consider the Le Rond. Not only that, but I would be open to trying some other Violife vegan products, especially as so many of these recipes look great.