New Vegan & Gluten Free Products Just Keep Rolling In

London Olympia was host to the Natural & Organics show last weekend.  I went along to see what new products were being launched. Also, to just take in the atmosphere.  When you get a gathering of people who are passionate about what they do, and care about their consumers AND the planet, the atmosphere is quite electric.

Held over three days Natural & Organic have zoned areas Beauty & Spa, Health, Living and Food.  Primarily, my interest was in the FOOD but I did stroll though the other zones to see if anything caught my eye.

I thought I'd share some photo's with you.  I was heartened to see many of the Continental European, and American products I love to enjoy when I am travelling are beginning to make their way over here, together with great 'home grown' foods emerging. 

There was a feast of exciting new chocolate, more coconut products than you can shake a stick at and a substantial amount of gluten free foods.  All making it easier and tastier to be vegan and gluten free.  The days of feeling like you are missing out are numbered (not that I do, research and persistance pays off in many ways).

Hodmedods
Chia Pod

Veganicity

Life Food

Ohso now have a sugar free version 63 calls

Apricot Kernel Butter from Sun & Seed. Extremely good for you and delicious.

A salad/cooking oil made from milk thistle.  Milk thistle is a great detoxifyer and liver strengthener and cleanser.  Erbology also had delicious no sugar sea buckthorn jam

My Award For Best New Vegan Chocolate  - Goes to Pana Chocolate  With quite a few flavour combinations, the chocolatier from Australia certain knows flavour!  Soon to be in the UK.  

Best Museli I've tasted.  Made with raw vegetables.  It has the perfect balance of sweet and crunch.  Filling too!  from Primrose Kitchen

Seitan made from spelt that SOME people with gluten sensitivities are able to tolerate.    If you know you can then you'd enjoy these products. I cannot so I did not try them.

Gusto Kola. Sugar and artificial sweetener free.  It is loaded with botanicals and actually tastes like cola.  I was surprised!  

Raw Ecstasy

Delicious cookies.  Soon to be sugar free.  Punku Quinoa cookies.

A (shy) Michelan Starred chef Chris Horridge is making his own range of sugar free, healthy vegan sorbets. The coconut wasabi ripple was INCREDIBLE!  Yi

Delicious vegan cheese made from almonds.  Soy free!  Vegecheese

Food For Life are coming over from the US with their vegan and gluten free breads.

Look out for these new products.  MANY of which will be in the large UK supermarkets.  The big stores have caught on.  Which of course is great but I am also wary of larger companies getting on the band wagon and touting foods as  health foods but when you look at the label they are stuffed full of processed sugar, crappy fats and fillers.  All the above are both delicious and healthy.  The best combo!

Does Cheese Have To Be Made From Dairy to be good? Mozzarella Alternative. Free Of Lactose!

 
 I've been reviewing quite a number of vegan cheeses lately (I will include the links at the end of the article). Most, if not all, have been produced in the USA.  This cheese, MozzaRisella is made in Europe.  Italy to be exact.  I decided to try it for myself and chat with the guy who is bringing this dairy free cheese to Britain.

With zero cholesterol.  Lower in fat than dairy mozzarella.  It is better for not only those who eat a plant-based diet but also those with lactose intolerance, or those wishing to eat healthier.  It is true of any cheese though.  Moderation.

It is more expensive than dairy based www.galbani.co.uk  But, allergy free food, when first to market are usually more expensive. However, they are usually also have more of an artisanal quality.  Quality ingredients, respecting nature.

Cheese is often sited as the sticking point from a animal based diet to plant-based one.  So, in my mind, the more plant-based cheeses I can write to you about the better.  Once you've opened the portal to vegan cheese, you quickly step out of any incorrect assumptions about dairy being the only way to make cheese and expand your experience to differing ingredients, much like when you first heard about goats cheese, right?!

So, what's it taste like? Does it stand up to the flavour test?

MozzaRisella comes in three guises.  

Original - a firmer cheese, similar to mozzarella, light and creamy, but not quite as cool and silky.  It found it's niche, paired with fresh basil and vine tomatoes. I crumbled some on one of my gluten free pizza crackers, tore off a few basil leaves and cut heirloom toms and finished with a light drizzle of olive oil.  Scrumptious!

SmokeyRisella - infused with turmeric for a smokey flavour.  I admit I just sliced, and ate!

CreamyRisella - like a smooth cream cheese, with a hint of tang.  I wondered if it would make a good gananche (mini chocolate bites were just cooling from the oven at the time) incorporated naturally sweet carob flour, a dash of agave nectar, vanilla seeds and a pinch of salt and whipped with a spatula to create a simple ganache for mini, chocolate bits.  Incredible!

They all melt too!  Check out their really cute video

CreamyRisella dolled up as a tantalising ganache, sat atop a mini bite.

So, I wondered just how they managed to make cheese from rice.  In their own words, here is how…

By following the natural rhythms of germination we activate the seeds of brown rice (only Italian origin) in spring water flowing at 600m above sea level in the heart of Lessinia Park - Piccole Dolomiti. In this stage, when the buds are at their maximum vitality, we transform the germinated brown rice in a delicious and balanced ”vegan milk” thus achieving the BioSuRice: laboratory tests confirm the presence of precious and balanced nutrients in germinated brown rice, useful for people wellness. It is, among vegan drinks, the most similar to breast milk.

INTERVIEW!

I wanted to find out more about the people behind MozzaRisella.  I told them of my curiosity and this is what Mauro, at London HQ, had to say.

'Basically , a cheese producer (of three generations) in Italy, was vegetarian, and was becoming vegan.  He was looking for an alternative and he met a dynamic young company specialised in germinated whole rice milk. which had just invented what we call MozzaRisella Today.  The two put their heads together.  It took another year before arrive to create the MozzaRisella.  The project has started and is growing. He still producing cheese back in Italy, as you cannot stop a business in a day and unfortunately the non vegan are still more than us vegans.  But they are conscious of what they started is the future, and they are looking to stop their cheese production as the MozzaRisella production will increase'. 

At the beginning, MozzaRisella was only a vegan cheese substitute for pizza (this was the concept) but later they discovered that in the organic and natural shops in Italy, there is more and more demand for vegan products, not as much as Germany or England, but is growing a lot, and they found support from many people and associations.  Mauro Vendramin, a Venetian and the UK distributor, has known the producer  (Alessandro Menegon) since he was 15.

'two years ago  he came to see me in London with the prototype of Mozzarisella.  To be honest I could not believe it! I decided to help them creating the brand and the marketing. So in the end at the base of the project, some vegan and vegetarian, young entrepreneurs, (including some volunteers) and lot of friendship has bought about MozzaRisella today. 

In times of climate change, land shortage, obesity and heart disease, it is good to see another sustainable food product on the rise.  Try it.  Or maybe you have already?  Let us know.  Click on the comments link below.

other cheese reviews by A Vegan Obsession:  Dr. Cow  Cheese Making Workshop 

Para mis amigos italianos .. aquí es donde usted puede conseguir MozzaRisella en Italia!