CHEESE SLICES! Essential for grilled cheese, which is one of my favourites. Going vegan put a cramp in my ‘plastic Kraft slices forever and ever’ plan, but rest assured! Vegans do have options. I’ve tested two of those options and here are the results! Daiya Cheddar Style Slices vs Vegan Chao Slices (Creamy Original with Chao Tofu).

I’ve mentioned the Daiya slices before in one of my Vegan convenience food round ups, and I wasn’t in love. The smell was the unique ‘Daiya’ smell, sort of sweet but tangy. The unmelted slices were round and uniformly orange… but super plasticy looking. They melted well, but I really didn’t love the taste. Truth be told, I ate the one grilled cheese then binned the rest of the package 😦 Daiya has made great progress on the vegan cheese scene re: melting and texture, but I find I don’t really actively enjoy it when I’m eating it. It is an acquired taste, so maybe other people love it! I personally am not a fan.

Enter CHAO. I was looking for soy cheese at the grocery store and noticed this new brand on the shelves. I picked one of the packages up to read the label and a woman came up behind me to absolutely RAVE about how amazing the slices were. They were very persuasive and I decided to give it a try. I’M SO GLAD I DID. I totally loved this product. The smell was actually like real cheese, and the texture was more like real cheese rather than plastic – the little air bubbles were like swiss cheese. It melted fairly well and the taste was MUCH more palatable than the Daiya. Not sweet, much more savory and, for lack of a better word, “cheese-like”.

So, you guys, seriously. THE WINNER IS CHAO. I will definitely be buying this stuff again!!!