If you’re a vegetarian cheese-lover, then you should probably listen up.
Vegetarians, unlike vegans, still eat a lot of cheese as the popular diary product contains a lot of protein that many people would usually rely on meat for.
But some veggies are being left floored after learning there are some cheeses that aren’t as animal product-free as they thought.
There are so many delicious cheeses out there: from cheddar and feta to gouda and brie, and they’re arguably pretty hard to remove from your diet as they’re just tasty (hats off to all the devout vegans out there).
And some people are only just learning that’s there’s an ingredient in some cheeses that makes it none vegetarian-friendly – one cheese being parmesan..
Unfortunately, it has some stuff in it which may upset a vegetarian, so if you’re happy living that ‘ignorance is bliss’ lifestyle, then look away now because we’re about to expose how many traditional parmesans are made.
The coagulation process, by which this cheese is made, uses an enzyme called chymosin.
This gastric enzyme is introduced to the product by using something called rennet.
When a baby cow is killed, the cullers will remove its stomach and let it dry out.
After, the dishevelled stomach will be cut up into cubes and added to the cheese mixture.
Once the calf stomach is added, the mixture will then coagulate and hey presto – you have a block of cheese!
And it’s not just parmesan. Have you heard of Grana Padano or gorgonzola? Unfortunately, both of these products use calf rennet too.
Also cross Manchego, Emmenthal and the Yuletide staple Camembert off your list because they aren’t veggie either.
While this process has been going on for a long, long time, some are only just realising their dairy isn’t veggie-friendly.
One said online: “Today years old when I found out parmesan cheese is made from baby cow’s stomach & I could go cry. I’m just gonna have to go full vegan at this point.”
Another said: “Parmesan cheese isn’t vegetarian?!”
Someone else added: “I’m still shooketh!”
There are some vegetarian alternatives, however, so next time you’re shopping down the cheese aisle, best double check the label.
