Although we knew that no dairy products would be found in the small shop in Újbuda, we still smelled cheese as we stepped inside. Say Cheez Raw caters to raw vegans, and so its products contain no products of animal origin, nor are they cooked or baked. While these conditions might seem extreme, the “cheeses" here are not only ethical, but extremely delicious as well.
The scent of cashew milk is similar to that of cow milk, explains Mercédesz Sebestyén and Roland Pacskó, so we didn’t fully imagine the cheesy smell. The initially vegan couple turned to raw veganism after some experimenting with shorter fasts, and they allegedly feel much lighter and energetic after doing so, even needing less sleep. Cheesemaking was initially a hobby for Mercédesz, but thanks to their friends’ positive feedback and encouragement, the couple decided to start their own enterprise. Although vegan and raw vegan foods already became part of the metropolitan lifestyle in Hungary, dairy-free vegan cheeses are still considered a novelty in Europe. The question remains: how are these specialties made?
Vegan cheeses are usually made from various kinds of nut milk with a similar procedure to producing regular cheese, but when it comes to the raw vegan varieties, the nuts are soaked instead of being treated with heat. According to Mercédesz, the result is much easier to digest, richer in minerals and enzymes, and much healthier in general. The soaked nuts get blended and seasoned, mixed with probiotics, and then dried at 42 degrees Celsius – or not, in case we want it to become soft cream cheese.
The products of Say Cheez Raw are made from cashews, almonds, and walnuts, and seasoned in many ways: with pepper, spirulina, oregano, lavender, dill, and so on. We tried a platter with cheeses flavored with paprika and chives, basil, dates, and spirulina, served with dried tomato-paprika, spirulina-cayenne pepper, and spicily seasoned crackers, as well as sprouts. Although their goal isn’t to reproduce traditional cheeses, the tart and full-bodied flavors could probably fool us. Our favorite item was a date-infused cheese because of its sweet and salty taste, and to our greatest surprise, we were completely full after finishing the platter. We also tasted a spreadable soft cheese, seasoned with dill and goji berries, and herbs de Provence.
In addition to the cheeses, we can also eat sugar- and sweetener-free apple pie (890 HUF per slice) made with dates, walnuts, and cinnamon, “energy balls” made from regular and Brazil walnuts (250-300 HUF), and half-liter smoothies made with spinach, banana, apple, spirulina, and homemade almond milk (980 HUF).
The intense flavors and filling nature of Say Cheez Raw’s products are probably due to the fact that all ingredients they use, from cashews to spices, are 100% organic: the fruits and vegetables come from MOM Biopiac, and the cheeses contain no additives, starch, or thickener, either. Since everything is made without baking or cooking, through meticulous and lengthy work, prices are understandably a bit on the higher side: soft raw cheese costs 1,800 forints, while aged raw cheese is 2,100 forints. The cheese platter, including five types of cheese of your choice, costs 2,600 forints with the aforementioned sides, and we can take away the products in DoReMi’s compostable packaging. While Say Cheez Raw’s cheeses won’t seduce us into raw veganism, we might cheat on traditional milk-based cheese once in a while...
