Violife Creamy Dairy Free Spreadable Cheese

I know, I know, yet another product review, but I really think this one is worth sharing!!

I found this in an independent health food store.

To be honest, I wan't expecting much. I've tried a few Vegan cream 'cheeses' (not many, because most contain soya, so are no good for me) and to be honest, I've not been that impressed so far! So when it came to this one, I was expecting to grit my teeth and grin and bear it.

However, I was really quite pleasantly surprised!

It was both creamy and cheesy! How about that?

What to look out for

In fact, it is the ONLY Vegan cheese that I have eaten that I don't feel the need to toast before consumption - normally ALL vegan cheese tastes better (to me anyway) toasted or cooked in some way! (And that, by the way, is my usual advice to anyone who struggles to like the stuff, but is desperate to find a decent dairy free cheese!)

On Udi's Sundried Tomato Bagels.

What's in it?

As you can see from the label this creamy cheese is free of all kinds of things. Dairy, soya and gluten being my main horrors to avoid, this one had my name written all over it! But you might well be wondering what on earth is in it?

Well here goes (it's quite a list)...

Ingredients: 
Water, Coconut Oil (21%), Vegan Flavours (Basil, Sunflower Oil, Water, Olive Oil, Salt, Sugar, Mashed Potato, Modified Starch, Acidity Regulator: Citric Acid, Herbs, Yeast Extract, Preservative: Potassium Sorbate, Antioxidant: Natural Rosemary Extract), Starch, Modified Starch, Sea Salt, Stabilisers: (Sodium Polyphosphate, Carageenan, Locust Bean Gum, Potassium Chloride, Carboxymethylcellulose, Guar Gum), Preservative: Sorbic Acid.

It's noticeable that there's quite a few long unpronounceable ingredients in there - it's obviously a highly processed product. There's also a few legumes in there - for those for whom this may be a concern!



Where can you buy it?

Well, unless your local independent health food or vegan store is stocking it, nowhere else on your high street as yet! It's worth asking, though, as most that I have visited have been open to ordering in new products.

Strangely, I can't seem to find Violife Creamy on my usual 'go-to' free from or vegan online shops. Most puzzling!


How much??

Of course, most free from products tend to cost more than we'd prefer... but at £2.35 for 200g (in my local shop), I think this is priced fairly enough in comparison to what else is out there that are both dairy and soya free (i.e. not much). 

Violife on Newburn's Gluten Free Sandwich Thins

Related Posts:

Other posts about dairy free cheese, can be accessed via links on the page about Dairy Free Substitutes

Let her eat cake! - On Inclusion for Food Allergy Kids and Free School Meals

'Baby' has been eating a LOT of fruit recently. Good! Good! She's been so reluctant to do so, up until now. Problem is, it's not because she enjoys it very much more than she used to...

What she'd really like to eat is chocolate cake.

Chocolate cake is normal in our house (although not every day, I hasten to add). We love chocolate, we love cake, we love the two together. Daddy likes it, Mummy likes it (more than is good for her) and so does 'Baby'!!

A Genius dairy and gluten free cupcake. Who would know that it's free from??

Now, picture this: 

I've just picked up 'Baby' from school. As I'm loading her and all her school stuff into the car she nonchalantly ponders aloud, 'I don't suppose we have any chocolate cake at home??'

Me (thinking that she's remembering the cake she's had in the past few days, as a result of her first school cake sale) replies guardedly,  'we might have.' 

I'm also thinking of the two Genius chocolate cupcakes that I bought in Sainsbury's the other day, which I squirreled away in the cupboard - well, you know, they were on offer! However, I don't want to give in to her request too easily - as (obviously) too much of a good thing isn't, always a good thing!

'Can I have some, when I get home?' she asks. 

'Maybe, ' I reply evasively, 'we'll see when we get home.' I'm being evasive, as she is a little sugar monster and it's hard getting her to eat healthy foods - sugar and chocolate are such a draw! I now rue the day I ever first gave her some, 'cos now she evaluates every food as to whether she enjoys it as much as she does anything sweet or chocolatey!

Sure enough, as I'd hoped, by the time we've done Waitrose and got home, she's forgotten. 

'Yippee!' I rejoice quietly inside.

A few hours later, Daddy comes home, and a few more vital facts of her day slowly emerge - the ones that she neglected to tell me earlier. Chief among them, is the fact that everyone else had chocolate cake for dessert, at lunch, today... and she didn't. 

The alternatives? Yoghurt or fruit.

'Baby' doesn't like yoghurt (they stock dairy free Alpro yoghurts at her school) and 'ain't that keen on fruit. Consequently she had no dessert today. Hence that request for chocolate cake.

Now, as an adult, I might wryly think to myself, 'Oh well, I don't need those extra calories anyway.'

'Baby' is four. She DOESN'T think that way. 

She sees chocolate cake, so naturally she wants chocolate cake. What kid wouldn't? At home, if anyone was having chocolate cake, she'd be having chocolate cake too!

I WISH I'd given her that chocolate cake.

She DID get a choice of dessert tonight. Mummy guilt kicked in, so she had LOTS of yummy choices.  But my heart was silently sobbing (okay, I may have been a bit pre-menstrual at that point) - for a little girl who loves chocolate cake and couldn't have any, even though everyone else did.

Thing is, this 'ain't the first time - the other day, it was a teacher's  birthday and that teacher shared cake with the class.... well... all except 'Baby' - she was given a digestive biscuit. 

Better than nothing, I suppose! But it's not the same, is it??

I'm guessing this probably won't be the last occasion that something like this happens.

Now maybe you're thinking I should be pleased that 'Baby' is eating ore healthily - all that fruit!! Well, yes, that is good, BUT... 'Baby's' had a LOT of extra vile tantrums recently. I thought we'd got over the worst of these - once things settled down, after our move. Up until now, I thought she was tired out by the long day. Casually, I've asked the around the other mums, but unless they're lying, not so many extra tantrums there! It could still be that she's tired...

But now I'm wondering whether these tantrums are a sign of something else. I'm beginning to think that maybe she is becoming more aware of the difference between herself and everyone else in her class is coming into focus - the effect of milk was buffered at home - we all eat pretty much the same. It's not quite the same at school!!

At 'Baby's' school EVERYONE has dinners. No opt out. I thought I was (almost) fine with that. As an ex-teacher, I completely agree with all the benefits of children sitting down and eating a healthy, balanced meal together (as long as you can ensure it's healthy and balanced, of course - I'm still not convinced that all free school dinners are). However, it's hard trusting someone else to feed your kid safely, when not even your own parents can manage it!! Especially the whole cross-contamination thing!

My reservations were overcome when I was assured (before she started school) that they already have children with milk allergy in the school and consequently always do a dairy free alternative of what everyone else has. 

Excellent news!! 

Clearly, however, they DON'T always have a dairy free alternative... NOT ALWAYS! I know they can do her cake - they did it, just the other week. So why not today? 

The school has been very good in many ways - much better than most, but then we're paying for her education - we opted for that course because the local primary quite clearly weren't au fait with allergies! When I raised the fact that 'Baby' has a milk allergy, at our local allocated primary school,the Headteacher said, 'Well she can have packed lunches, can't she??' 

At which point we decided to look elsewhere. 

Me, knowing that this particular school had been rated 'outstanding' by OFSTED, and that this Headteacher was very experienced and that school lunches were supposed to be provided in every school for all infants starting from the term when 'Baby' would enter school (see here), was speechless!! Never mind the, What will they do at milk time, to make sure that none is spilt? What will they do when they do cooking in class?? questions that were already raging in my mind!!

Thoughtfully, the school where we have sent 'Baby,' provide her soya milk served in a bottle almost identical to everyone else's - only a different coloured lid and her name mark it out as different from the others. They've also given her soya ice cream, when everyone else had 'normal' ice cream... It s unfortunate that this is not the norm in all schools.

BUT, the thing is, I believe that inclusion HAS to be consistent. It's good that they have a lot of stuff nailed, however, the occasions where inclusion is neglected, to my mind, equates to exclusion - these occasions are the ones which the child (and the parent) ultimately remembers!! 

And what does it DO to the child?? Long term...??

'Baby' HAS been very tempestuous recently.

Maybe it's a feeling of being different, left out, excluded, insignificant, that's exploding in completely irrational, hot, fierce, outbursts that can go on for an hour or so. After all, it would make ME feel cross, wouldn't it you?? I find it interesting that as one *report that covered the pilot studies of free school meals noted, the thing with Reception-aged children like 'Baby' is that they are reluctant or even unable to speak up - to advocate for themselves... 

It's too true! And not just concerning food allergies - 'Baby's' even been too timid to tell them when she's missed the toilet!! So much so, that she's walked around with wet underwear, until it's dried by itself!! At least one little friend has done the same!

And I am cross - for her! And for all the other little (or not so little) kids to whom this kind of thing also happens. 

I DO wonder what these kind of occasions do to 'Baby's' little soul... I don't want her to become angry, a 'victim,' or an 'outsider'...

PLEASE! Let her eat cake too... or let them ALL (unless they're allergic to it) eat fruit and yoghurt!!

(But NOT kiwi fruit 'cos that's a very common allergen and I can't eat it!!)

*apologies for the lack of a reference here - I know I read it in one of the reports, but cannot now ,for the life of me, find it!

Dream a little dream of... Salted Caramel Almond Dream

You can keep your Haagen Dazs... and your Ben and Jerry's!! 

Yeah! I really mean it!!

'Cos now I've got this:

Drool! Drool! Drool!

This, my friends, is Almond Dream Salted Caramel and I don't think I'll be sharing any of it with anyone... not even Baby... well she's got her Swedish Glace, anyway!

And as I've had to go on a bit of a hunt for it - round three stores no less ('cos not all of the branches of Waitrose that are supposed to be stocking it actually have it on the shelves just yet), I think I might just deserve it??

It is, I have to tell you, absolutely gorgeous!!

Just look at it:

Gorgeous huh?

What's in it??

There's only one problem, for me - it contains soya!! Not just soya lecithin (which, as it is a refined oil, which has all the proteins removed, is okay for me) but soya protein. 

Nooo!!! Boo hiss!!!

Soya!! I think I'm gonna struggle later (I'll draw a veil over the finer details). Looks like I'm gonna have to pass this one over to Baby after all - it's not worth upsetting my insides, even for this one!! Good job I enjoyed the Mint Choc Chip, so much!!

So, what else is in it??

Ingredients:
Water, Cane Sugar, Almonds (5%), Tapioca Maltodextrin, Vegetable Oil: Safflower, Brown Rice Syrup, Stabilsers: Guar Gum; Locust Bean Gum; Carageenan, Emulsifiers: Sunflower Lecithin, Soya Lecithin, Natural Flavouring, Salt (0.3%), Colour: PLain Caramel, Cocoa Butter, Soya Protein, Thickener: Pectin.

Besides the soya, other allergens include almonds.

Legume sufferers also beware!

Other allergen information states:

No added ingredients of dairy origin.

Manufactured in a factory that also handles peanuts, other nuts, eggs.

It's also gluten free!



Where can you buy it??
Well, I can't guarantee that you'll find this particular flavour in any given store, but the following branches of Waitrose are supposed to be stocking Almond Dream ice cream: 

Abergavenny, Abingdon, Admiral Park (Guernsey), Alcester, Allington Park, Alton, Altrincham, Amersham, Ampthill, Andover, Ashford, Aylesbury, Banstead, Barnet, Barry, Bath, Beaconsfield, Beckenham, Bedford, Berkhamsted, Biggin Hill, Billericay, Bishop's Stortford, Blaby, Bloomsbury, Brackley, Bracknell, Brent Cross, Bridport, Brighton, Bromley, Bromley South, Buckhurst Hill, Buckingham, Burgess Hill, Bury St Edmunds, Buxton, Byres Road, Caldicot, Cambridge, Canary Wharf, Canterbury, Cardiff Queen Street, Caterham, Caversham, Chandlers Ford, Cheadle Hulme, Cheam, Cheltenham, Chesham, Chester, Chichester, Chippenham, Chipping Sodbury, Christchurch, Cirencester, Clifton, Cobham, Colchester, Comely Bank, Cowbridge, Crewkerne, Crouch End, Crowborough, Daventry, Dorking, Droitwich, East Cowes, East Grinstead, East Sheen, Eastbourne, Edgware Road, Egham, Ely, Enfield, Enfield Chase, Epsom, Esher, Exeter, Farnham, Finchley, Fitzroy Street, Fleet, Foregate Street, Formby, Frimley, Fulham, Gillingham, Gloucester Road, Godalming, Goldsworth Park, Gosport, Great Malvern, Green Street Green, Greenwich, Hailsham, Hall Green, Hampton, Harborne , Harpenden, Harrogate, Harrow Weald, Headington, Helensburgh, Henley, Hereford, Hersham, Hertford, Hexham, Hitchin, Holloway Road, Holsworthy, Horley, Horsham, Hove, Huntingdon, Hythe, Ipswich, Jesmond, John Barnes, Kenilworth, Keynsham, Kingshill, Kingsthorpe, Kingston, Knutsford, Leeds, Leek, Leigh On Sea, Leighton Buzzard, Lewes, Lichfield, Lincoln, Little Waitrose John Lewis Southampton, Little Waitrose at John Lewis Watford, Littlehampton, Locks Heath, Longfield, Lutterworth, Lymington, Maidenhead, Malmesbury, Market Harborough, Marlborough, Marylebone, Meanwood, Melksham, Menai Bridge, Mill Hill, Monmouth, Morningside, Nailsea, New Malden, Newark, Newbury, Newmarket, Newport, Newton Mearns, North Walsham, Northwich, Norwich, Oadby, Oakgrove, Okehampton, Otley, Oundle, Oxted, Paddock Wood, Palmers Green, Parkstone, Parsons Green, Peterborough, Petersfield, Ponteland, Pontprennau, Portishead, Poundbury, Poynton, Ramsgate, Reading, Red Houses (Jersey), Richmond, Rickmansworth, Ringwood, Rohais (Guernsey), Romsey, Ruislip, Rushden, Saffron Walden, Salisbury, Saltash, Sandbach, Sanderstead, Sandhurst, Saxmundham, Sevenoaks, Sheffield, Sherborne, Shrewsbury, Sidcup, Sidmouth, south Harrow, South Woodford, Southampton, Southend, Southsea, Spinningfields, St Albans, St Helier (Jersey), St Ives, St Neots, St Saviour (Jersey), Staines, Stamford, Stevenage, Stirling, Stourbridge, Stratford City, Stratford Upon Avon, Stroud, Sudbury, Sunningdale, Surbiton, Sutton Coldfield, Swaffham, Swindon, Teignmouth, Tenterden, Thame, Thatcham, Tonbridge, Torquay, Tottenham Court Road, Towcester, Trinity Square, Twickenham, Twyford, Uckfield, Upminster, Wallingford, Walton-le-Dale, Walton-on-Thames, Wandsworth, Wantage, Warminster, Waterlooville, Wellington, Wells, Welwyn Garden City, West Byfleet, West Ealing, Westbury Park, Westfield London, Weston Super Mare, Weybridge, Whetstone, Willerby, Wilmslow, Wimbledon, Wimborne, Winchester, Windsor, Winton, Witney, Wokingham, Wolverhampton, Woodley, Wootton, Worcester Park, Worthing, Wymondham, Yateley and York.

...Of which there are four flavours:

Mint Choc Chip (see previous  post), Salted Caramel (as above), Praline Crunch and Velvety Vanilla.

How much is it??

At £3.74 a tub (472ml), given the cost of some of the other dairy free ice creams out there, I think it is incredibly good value!! Bargainous, in fact!!


Update Feb 2016:

Now also available from Asda and Morrisons supermarkets. It is cheapest at Asda - priced £2.50.

Related Posts:

Co-yo Morello Cherry Yogurt

Ice-a-cream-oh!

Bessant and Drury's Dairy Free Ice Cream

Co-yo Ice Cream

Free From Creamy Iced Vanilla Dessert - Tescos

Dream a little dream of... Mint Choc Chip Almond Dream

Stop the flippin' clock!! 

Just throw it across the room, will you??

Those of you wondering what on earth I'm on about will just have to read the post about Co-yo's Morello Cherry Flavoured yoghurt, to understand that comment, because I don't have time to explain it all again here!

I think I could be in some state of delirium, or maybe it's just a huge sugar rush, but I think I have just tasted the absolute BEST dairy free ice cream ever, ever, EVER!!

Ever since I first heard of this ice cream via various American bloggers, I have been sooo longing to try some and here it finally is:

Feast your eyes on this!

I just couldn't believe it, when I heard (via Hananh Banana Bakery, on Face Book) the other day tha it had come to our shores, but here it certainly is!!

It is quite simply every bit as good as I had imagined it would be and then even better, better, BETTER!

I am NOT usually a fan of adulterated chocolate. I'm even less of a fan of mint choc chip (except after dinner, on an odd occasion) but this Mint Choc Chip Ice Cream blew my socks off!! It's like After Eights churned up with cream. Yummy, yummy, YUMMY!!

What's in it??

Ingredients:

Water, Cane Sugar, Almonds (7%), Vegetable oil: Safflower, Tapioca Maltodextrin, Dark Chocolate Chips: Cane Sugar; Cocoa Solids;Cocoa Butter; Emulsifier: Soya Lecithin; Natural Vanilla Extract, Potato Starch, Stabilisers: Guar Gum; Locust Bean Gum; Carageenan, Emulsifier: Sunflower Lecithin, Rice Starch, Sea Salt, Natural Peppermint Flavouring, Natural Flavouring. Dark Chocolate Chips: Minimum Cocoa Solids 44%.

Allergen information states Almonds, but an additional statement read:

No added ingredients of dairy origin.

Manufactured in a factory that also handles peanuts, other nuts, eggs.

And it's gluten free!

Those of you allergic to soya, and unable to handle soya lecithin, will not be able to have it, though, and anyone sensitive to various forms of legume might have to watch out for some of the other ingredients.

Where can I get it??

Waitrose! 

Yippee!! 'Cos up to now, they've only had Swedish Glace, which I can't have. I had to travel to three different branches of Waitrose to locate some today, but I think the trek was still worth it!

The following branches of Waitrose will be stocking it (but not all have it on the shelves yet):

Abergavenny, Abingdon, Admiral Park (Guernsey), Alcester, Allington Park, Alton, Altrincham, Amersham, Ampthill, Andover, Ashford, Aylesbury, Banstead, Barnet, Barry, Bath, Beaconsfield, Beckenham, Bedford, Berkhamsted, Biggin Hill, Billericay, Bishop's Stortford, Blaby, Bloomsbury, Brackley, Bracknell, Brent Cross, Bridport, Brighton, Bromley, Bromley South, Buckhurst Hill, Buckingham, Burgess Hill, Bury St Edmunds, Buxton, Byres Road, Caldicot, Cambridge, Canary Wharf, Canterbury, Cardiff Queen Street, Caterham, Caversham, Chandlers Ford, Cheadle Hulme, Cheam, Cheltenham, Chesham, Chester, Chichester, Chippenham, Chipping Sodbury, Christchurch, Cirencester, Clifton, Cobham, Colchester, Comely Bank, Cowbridge, Crewkerne, Crouch End, Crowborough, Daventry, Dorking, Droitwich, East Cowes, East Grinstead, East Sheen, Eastbourne, Edgware Road, Egham, Ely, Enfield, Enfield Chase, Epsom, Esher, Exeter, Farnham, Finchley, Fitzroy Street, Fleet, Foregate Street, Formby, Frimley, Fulham, Gillingham, Gloucester Road, Godalming, Goldsworth Park, Gosport, Great Malvern, Green Street Green, Greenwich, Hailsham, Hall Green, Hampton, Harborne , Harpenden, Harrogate, Harrow Weald, Headington, Helensburgh, Henley, Hereford, Hersham, Hertford, Hexham, Hitchin, Holloway Road, Holsworthy, Horley, Horsham, Hove, Huntingdon, Hythe, Ipswich, Jesmond, John Barnes, Kenilworth, Keynsham, Kingshill, Kingsthorpe, Kingston, Knutsford, Leeds, Leek, Leigh On Sea, Leighton Buzzard, Lewes, Lichfield, Lincoln, Little Waitrose John Lewis Southampton, Little Waitrose at John Lewis Watford, Littlehampton, Locks Heath, Longfield, Lutterworth, Lymington, Maidenhead, Malmesbury, Market Harborough, Marlborough, Marylebone, Meanwood, Melksham, Menai Bridge, Mill Hill, Monmouth, Morningside, Nailsea, New Malden, Newark, Newbury, Newmarket, Newport, Newton Mearns, North Walsham, Northwich, Norwich, Oadby, Oakgrove, Okehampton, Otley, Oundle, Oxted, Paddock Wood, Palmers Green, Parkstone, Parsons Green, Peterborough, Petersfield, Ponteland, Pontprennau, Portishead, Poundbury, Poynton, Ramsgate, Reading, Red Houses (Jersey), Richmond, Rickmansworth, Ringwood, Rohais (Guernsey), Romsey, Ruislip, Rushden, Saffron Walden, Salisbury, Saltash, Sandbach, Sanderstead, Sandhurst, Saxmundham, Sevenoaks, Sheffield, Sherborne, Shrewsbury, Sidcup, Sidmouth, south Harrow, South Woodford, Southampton, Southend, Southsea, Spinningfields, St Albans, St Helier (Jersey), St Ives, St Neots, St Saviour (Jersey), Staines, Stamford, Stevenage, Stirling, Stourbridge, Stratford City, Stratford Upon Avon, Stroud, Sudbury, Sunningdale, Surbiton, Sutton Coldfield, Swaffham, Swindon, Teignmouth, Tenterden, Thame, Thatcham, Tonbridge, Torquay, Tottenham Court Road, Towcester, Trinity Square, Twickenham, Twyford, Uckfield, Upminster, Wallingford, Walton-le-Dale, Walton-on-Thames, Wandsworth, Wantage, Warminster, Waterlooville, Wellington, Wells, Welwyn Garden City, West Byfleet, West Ealing, Westbury Park, Westfield London, Weston Super Mare, Weybridge, Whetstone, Willerby, Wilmslow, Wimbledon, Wimborne, Winchester, Windsor, Winton, Witney, Wokingham, Wolverhampton, Woodley, Wootton, Worcester Park, Worthing, Wymondham, Yateley and York.

When you hit Waitrose, you'll be looking for a tub like this:

How much is it??

A measly £3.74 a tub for 472ml, which, given the cost of some of the other dairy free ice creams out there, it is (quite frankly) bargainous!!


Update Feb 2016:

Now also available from Asda and Morrisons supermarkets. It is cheapest at Asda - priced £2.50.



Related Posts:


Co-yo Morello Cherry Yogurt




Ice-a-cream-oh!



Bessant and Drury's Dairy Free Ice Cream



Co-yo Ice Cream



Free From Creamy Iced Vanilla Dessert - Tescos