Multivore Meltdown

It all started with a bag of cheese...

I am a once a week grocery shopper, and yesterday I was going to stop by the store on my way home to pick up some vegan cheese for Prairie Boy. He loved his Smoked Gouda Cheese from Follow Your Heart Vegan Cheese. That's one of the things he misses the most is cheese, although to be fair he doesn't really miss much. I can guarantee he doesn't miss swollen knees and hands. So there's that.

Smoked Gouda!

I walked over to the produce department. Which, just as an aside, I kind of resent the fact that the vegan products are all housed in the produce section. Not that there needs to be an entire section devoted to vegan products, unless that's your clientele. Still, the produce section? Come on. I'm not a rabbit because we a few more veggies than the average household.

Anyway, I am in the 'vegan section' of the produce department, and they have a variety of vegan cheeses. I picked up a couple of bags of mozzarella shreds, and went home. When I got home, after what was admittedly a rough day already, I did what I should have done in the grocery store. I read the label...

I admit it. It was my own fault. I wasn't careful. What can I say? I am new at this vegan stuff.

My newly procured cheese was a "dairy-free" alternative...not animal product free. The very first ingredient was Casein. If you aren't familiar with code names for animal products, check this list! 

I plan to write more about the devious marketing schemes used towards the vegan and vegetarian demographic. But this is about the meltdown...and oh, what a meltdown.

Upon reading the ingredients, I just kind of lost it. I cried. I pitched a fit. Prairie Boy tried to console me. It was no use. I melted like a snowman in July. Then I cried over other things that were sort of related to the vegan thing. I cried over the  4 pounds of bacon in our freezer. I cried for the love of cheese. I cried because I felt like a horrible shopper, girlfriend, you name it. I cried.

And then I decided to drown my sorrows in $3 Pinot Grigio. Probably not the best idea, but it's what I did. Not gonna lie.

So if I have ever given the impression that this shift to a multivore family was a walk in the park, I am so sorry. It hasn't been easy, but it has been worth it. The health benefits have absolutely been worth every meltdown.

The only thing more indignant than my meltdown that night was me trying to explain to the store manager t he next day how his cheese in  the vegan aisle of the produce section was actually real cheese. His look was one of confusion and annoyance. Yep, I was that person now.

In summary, the only thing that melts better than actual vegan cheese is apparently and over-worked under-paid wannabe vegan momma.

For future reference, this is my favorite shredded mozzarella almond cheese. It does melt better than me!

Almond Mozzarella !

As always, when in doubt...fling it!