what is Groviera Cheese

Michael "Dog3" Lonergan

Now I understand your question better.

Normally, vegetarian means someone who does NOT eat meat, poultry, fish or shellfish. Vegetarians normally DO eat grains, beans, nuts, vegetables, fruit, milk and eggs.

Normally, vegan means someone who does NOT eat meat, poultry, fish, shellfish, eggs or milk. Vegans normally DO eat grains, beans, nuts, vegetables, and fruit.

The problem is that a great many people who call themselves vegetarians and vegans bend the definitions such that they eat whatever they want and confound the well-meaning people who are trying to serve them something that fits their diet. You run into vegans who are sure that white sugar isn't a vegan food, and I've told the story of the lady who went on and on about how she'd been vegetarian for 20 years, accepted my admiration and compliments, then later in the conversation revealed that she ate turkey on Thanksgiving and other poultry the rest of the time. She probably thought KFC was a vegetarian restaurant.

What's meant by vegetarian cheese? It should mean that the rennet (coagulating agent) comes from a non-animal source. The oldest cheeses use a rennet that's made from some intestinal source of the animal. I'm not sure of the exact science here, but the rennet is such a small amount, practically microscopic, that lots of vegetarians wouldn't consider it meat, but others would. A vegetarian cheese uses a different rennet. Again, I'm not sure of the chemistry part of the lesson.

Vegan cheese is another question altogether. Since vegans don't eat milk, it should mean some sort of cheese-like substance made from tofu or beans or something that's not milk. But I like to make fun of vegans on this list so I suggest that there are people out there who proclaim themselves to be vegans, then go out and eat cheese made from regular milk. We've got a customer like that in the wine and cheese shop, but that's not the craziest thing about her. I'd be glad if it were.

--Lia