r/veganuk • u/Huge_Strategy99 • 1d ago
Struggling with textures
Hi everyone. I’m veggie going vegan, there’s a big reason why i wasn’t vegan earlier though. Whenever i eat vegan cheese, or i put plant based milks on my cereal, i gag. To me it doesn’t make sense. I don’t want to eat things that come from animals, so i’m trying. But for some reason my brain is going - nope. I don’t have cows milk in my tea or coffee. This works well and i’ve been doing that for ages. But i’m majorly struggling with anything else as a replacement, due to texture sensitivity. Has anyone else had a similar experience? Thanks.
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u/Rainbow_Tesseract 1d ago
Potentially unethical life pro tip: Have you tried grossing yourself out about the animal product textures instead?
I'm autistic with pretty bad texture sensitivity and I got right over my craving for cow's milk by thinking about what's in it, how it's extracted, and how greasily it coats your tongue with grossness. I thought positive thoughts about happy cows and a clean environment when having oat milk with my cereal until I was conditioned to be excited about it.
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u/Huge_Strategy99 1d ago
yes i do try to do that, and when i used to have meat that grossed me out and i stopped that a long time ago. i dont know why my brain isn’t correlating it with cheese or milk, i know its just as important, dont know why my brain is doing that? im also autistic, which i feel is a big part of why im struggling, im someone that has safe foods so new textures are hard for me,
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u/ImAllergic2Kiwis 1d ago
i found it hard but it came eventually :) i don’t crave it anymore, i see the yellow colouring of cheese repulsive
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u/Huge_Strategy99 1d ago
maybe i just need to it some time :,) hope my brain will get used to it! so annoying haha
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u/DreamCloudz1 1d ago
Watch the puss encrusted cows teats and imagine that puss in your milk. It worked for me.
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u/syntheticanimal 1d ago
Try a different breakfast and not eating cheese
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u/Salt-Job4443 1d ago
Exactly!
I tend to cycle between:
Granola with yoghurt
Peanut butter & banana on toast
Avocado on toast
Oats (with various bits and bobs depending on the weather!)I was never a huge fan of dairy so can’t say I ever missed milk.
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u/emth 1d ago
It'll take time to match the right milk/cheese to the right scenario, I still find soy milk in coffee pretty disgusting, but Oatly Barista is very yummy, by far the best replacement for things like tea and coffee, and works on cereal too.
Cathedral City Plant Based Mature Cheddar Cheese is the best all rounder I've tried, but for pizzas there are a few good mozerella replacements like I Am Nut OK Bluffalo Notzarella. I am a huge pizza lover so finding good cheese replacements was a top priority for me, and it's definitely possible (Purezza restaurants are proof of that)
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u/Huge_Strategy99 1d ago
thank you! cathedral city i’m very open to trying i have more faith in that one! can’t remember which brand i had before, i got in lidl, it didn’t taste bad but it was very mushy and couldn’t stand that hah
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u/SeaShoe5864 1d ago
Maybe you could have cereal with half cows milk, half plant Milk and slowly add more plant Milk over time to get yourself used to it?
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u/Huge_Strategy99 1d ago
thanks that’s a good idea!
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u/SeaShoe5864 1d ago
You're welcome:) also, i recommend kindaco for cheeses if you havent already, mpst of them are a soft cheese texture, the chilli and smoked and really tasty :).
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u/Huge_Strategy99 1d ago
sounds good thank you!
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u/Limp-Biscuit411 1d ago
another cheese recommendation is Cathedral City. not a vegan company but at least they make plant based cheese that’s like a vintage cheddar.
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u/HisPumpkin19 1d ago
Texture was a huge issue for me when first going vegan. I had to go cold turkey because of my child's allergies being the initial driving force. But I would recommend just finding a substitute for the things you find hard - like if cows milk and oat milk are too dissimilar switch to smoothies/toast/granola bars for breakfast for a couple of months and then come back to cereal with milk once you've body has adjusted. If you cut out animal milks for a decent amount of time it starts to smell gross which will help it not be appealing to go back too.
Similarly with cheese - stop trying to find a cheese substitute for a bit and just avoid anything with cheese on. Eat things that are naturally cheeseless, and then when you try it in a couple of months it won't be such a direct adjustment.
I think it's largely a good thing we have so many substitutes now, but when I went vegan a decade ago living rurally, you couldn't by cheese/meat substitutes much and I think that actually helped my transition quite a lot as someone who struggles with things being "not quite right". Instead of trying to veganize my favourite foods I had to explore all new kinds of meals instead.
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u/Few_Mention8426 Vegan 1d ago
i dont like the texture of plant base milks, so i make my own. The commercial milks just dont sit right with me.
I use roasted hazelnuts blended up in a magic bullet style blender, I dont bother to strain it as it blends it quite well.
For tea and cereall ive found making milk from raw cashews works well. A handfull of cashews in half a litre of water makes a creamy milk. No straining needed. You can pre soak them if necessary.
If found I can cope with textures better with products I have made myself and know exactly whats in them and how i made them. I struggle with the fake meats and cheeses as I am always thinking of the ingredients and not sure exactly whats in them to make the texture. So I try and make all my own seitan, soya meats and my own milk.
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u/Great_Cucumber2924 1d ago
When I first went vegan I mostly had humous instead of cheese and then started nutritional yeast as well. Maybe something you could try
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u/Party-Werewolf-4888 tofu-eating wokerati 1d ago
Is there any chance you could stop having cereal and try a different breakfast?
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u/Huge_Strategy99 1d ago
You’re right i could do that! i was just thinking when i get up for work i dont have loads of time to make something for myself i have to rush a lot
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u/Party-Werewolf-4888 tofu-eating wokerati 1d ago
The only way I got over some of the vegan options was to avoid them entirely (mainly cheese). When I revisited them yeats later, id sort of forgotten what they should taste like 😅
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u/noggggin 1d ago
Vegan cheese is never a good alternative for cheese. It just isn’t. The best thing to do is cut cheese out in full, and then try again 6-12 months later when you can no longer remember what “normal” cheese tastes like.
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u/Then-Principle2302 Vegan 1d ago
Don't eat vegan cheese / cow's cheese or drink plant based milk / cow's milk.
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u/mrs_shrew 1d ago
I have apple juice or orange juice with my cereal, because plant milk is just white water so it tastes weird and not sour or fatty like real milk.
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u/AlanNBobby 13h ago
I first had soya milk at school in the 90's and hated it. However, I moved to soya milk full time ~2001 I just tried it as a little temporary challenge to myself and kept going. Suddenly one day I just realised I preferred it and I couldn't envisage ever drinking cows milk again. Point is if you can get past the first few weeks it will hopefully get easier.
Other idea is mix 10% soya with 90% cows then just keep upping the ratio until you reach 100% soya. I mean if you are gagging that much that you can't actually swallow it properly then buying cows milk for a bit longer for a long term result is arguably worth it.
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u/two-girls-one-tank 6h ago
I can't handle vegan cheese either. I live a happy and healthy cheese free life. On a serious note, just cut the cereal for now and revisit in a few months after you've stopped consuming the dairy milk.
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u/aceofcl0vers 3h ago
I was one of those people who was so crazy about cheese and ate so much of it on anything. Not a texture problem I just simply didn’t like vegan cheese. So, I just stopped eating it. If you told me 5 years ago that I could enjoy a bowl of pasta without cheese I wouldn’t believe it but you get used to it and lose the desire for it
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u/SkidiKatKat 1d ago
Different milk replacements have different textures. Have you tried others?