Cheese and chocolate subs

[ComeOnEileen11]

I'm breastfeeding my daughter who potentially has an allergy to cow's milk. I'm needing to cut out milk products.

I've discovered oatly barista which I really like. So now that cups of tea are safe, I'm almost happy.

Just to complete things, please talk to me about pizza and chocolate!

What do you use on pizza? I've heard vegan cheese is awful...

What are the best chocolate brands to go for? Is it just in the supermarket with the regular stuff?

I'm already veggie and have been vegan curious so hoping that this works out...

Here’s some accidentally vegan things, quite a few chocolate choices you can find with the regular chocolate.

academy.plantbasednews.org/blog/accidentally-vegan-food

The best cheese for pizza is definitely Violife grated mozzarella.
Violife is one of the most popular vegan cheese brands, and in most supermarkets. Violife’s Prosciano block has a strong, nutty flavour and is ideal for grating over pasta dishes or using in other Italian recipes. I’m also impressed with their Mediterranean block which has a taste and texture that’s very close to real halloumi.
I’ve found that Cheddar-style block from Sainsbury’s is virtually identical to cows’-milk Cheddar. It crumbles slightly but also has a firm block texture. You can grate it, melt it, or cut it into chunks or slices – basically, this is a perfect all-purpose cheese. Sainsbury’s also do the best Greek style alternative to feta which I would serve in a vegan Greek salad or crumbled over roasted veg.
Tesco has a great range of vegan cheese, from plain Cheddar-style to blue cheese.
I don’t make my own pizzas all that much. Pizza Express do an amazing vegan pizza now sold on supermarkets. It’s quite expensive though so I usually get Goodfella vegan falafel or spicy vegetable salsa pizzas.
Nomo's vegan chocolate bars are the best there is. And I’ve tried an awful lot of vegan chocolate. There are dozens of great vegan alternatives out there but nothing comes close to replicating the taste, texture and melt of milk chocolate like Nomo. If you can’t get hold of it, try the Ombar Mylk for some seriously creamy chocolate, with just the right melt factor! Nomo is usually in the Free From section, but I’ve seen Ombar by the regular chocolate in Sainsbury’s.

Best vegan chocolate is hotel chocolat but most dark chocolates will be vegan anyway.

@Ricekrispie22 thank you! That's a wonderfully detailed analysis! I'm pleased that our homemade pizza nights can still be a thing, as well as some chocolate options!
@Loveinatimeofcovid thanks for this too. I'm not against dark so I think I will explore these options too... I've heard it means you eat less of it too
@FatherBrownsBicycle thanks! This should be handy!

I am having pizza tonight. I buy Kirstys (gluten free) vegan ready made pizza so it officially does have a cheese alternative on it already but i fill it with extra toppings. I use it just as a base.
You will find dairy free ones (but not gf) in the free from freezer.

I'm not mad on most vegan cheeses but i find they have their place. Very few of the supermarket ones are worth it to eat on oatcakes. I have had delicious artisan ones from fancy vegan markets and they are delicious but VERY expensive. Nice as a treat though.

I use the soft cheese equivalent on my pizza, its more like the stuff they use at Pizza Express. I just use spoonfuls on top of my extra toppings. It doesn't dk the stringy mozzarella thing but its nice.

I also don't mind the violife halloumi and the hard block of parmesan alternative. But I'm struggling to find that at the moment.
I make a 'cheesy' pasta with ordinary violife and Engivita which is really nice.

I second Nomo bars, i have the fruit and crunch one every Friday night. It reminds me of a biscuit yorkie!

My vegan DD likes the Applewood smoky vegan Cheddar. It melts really well.

We're not vegan but one of my children is allergic to dairy and eggs, and another was dairy allergic but has grown out of it. So we do eat quite a lot of plant based food and was dairy free for over 5 years whilst breastfeeding,
I second the suggestion of Nomo chocolate - the caramel one is particularly nice IMO. Tesco and Sainsbury's own brands aren't bad. For more special occasion chocolate a lot of the more expensive dark chocolates are vegan and Booja Booja do some gorgeous truffles etc. My son likes some caramel centred chocolates that we get from Holland and Barratt but I can't for the life of me remember the name sorry. They are wrapped in gold foil and in a white box!
Can't help with cheese sorry as I've never found a non dairy cheese that I like, though there's a couple mentioned here that I've not tried that I might look at. My son has other allergies too including being incredibly sensitive to cashews which rules out a few of the vegan cheese options so we tend to just do without.
As an aside, I bought some Elmlea plant "cream" the other day and really liked it. We usually use Alpro, but I thought the Elmlea was nicer. And if you are ok with soya, I think the best ice cream is Swedish Glace. Vegan Magnums are quite nice too.

I am not vegan but love hard cashew ‘cheese’. Recipe below. The only chocolate alternative I know of is cacao nibs - but I usually used 100% chocolate (from hotel chocolate) for my dairy allergic DN as it was ok for him.

lovingitvegan.com/sliceable-cashew-cheese/

I'm (recently) dairy free, and was a big cheese lover before. I find fake pizza cheese utterly vile, sadly! But hummus, or even better, hummus made with white beans, works well for me. As does just making pizzas with no cheese- anchovies if you eat them, capers, maybe olives, and rocket once it's cooked, swirl of good oil. Or just tons of lovely veg roasted or out of jars. The swirl of oil as you serve it makes a big difference.
I do miss cheese, but i don't miss it on pizza, oddly.