Vegan Poutine Cheese Exists and You’ll Want to Put It on Everything

Nafsika’s Garden has now launched its complete range of dairy-free cheese — including vegan poutine-style — in Europe and the United Arab Emirates.

The brand is currently available in eight countries worldwide following a successful launch to more than 500 U.S. stores in 2020. Nafsika’s Garden produces plant-based cheese in various flavors, textures, and styles, such as edam, mozzarella, gouda, Swiss, and vegan poutine.

Nafsika Antypas, a vegan food advocate and the host of Plant-Based by Nafsika (2016 – present), founded the company in 2018. Her show is the first — and currently the only — leading mainstream vegan lifestyle focused television program. It features plant-based health, nutrition, and cooking demonstrations.

Antypas previously founded an organization called The Struggling Vegan to support people transitioning to a plant-based lifestyle. She has also written several books, including the upcoming Make the Plant-Based Switch, which includes recipes, menu plans, and helpful vegan “hacks.”

“My goal has always been to help make the world a more compassionate place,” Antypas told LIVEKINDLY. “In order to do that, I believe that I need to help the world go vegan. And so everything I do is toward making veganism mainstream.”

Nafsika’s Garden cheese is produced in Greece but initially launched in Canada, where the company is headquartered. According to the brand, it plans to launch its products to several additional countries in 2021 in response to the growing global demand for vegan cheese.

‘Veganism is at its peak’

More people than ever before are swapping animal-derived products such as meat and dairy for plant-based foods. While vegan milk is now relatively well established in the mainstream, dairy-free cheese products have experienced rapid, recent growth.

Last year, Transparency Market Research published a study predicting that the vegan cheese market would reach $2.5 billion before the start of 2021. While experts predict that the market could reach $7 billion by the year 2030.

The increasing popularity of vegan cheese is even causing large producers themselves to move away from traditional dairy and branch out into vegan options.

“Climate change, mounting concerns related to animal cruelty, and health are some of the leading factors that are driving the vegan movement worldwide. At present, veganism is at its peak and the trend is likely to continue in the near future,” explained the study.

Meat eaters and flexitarians are the primary drivers of the ongoing vegan boom. Primarily motivated by the personal and environmental health risks of meat and dairy, more and more people are supplementing their typical diets with plant-based foods such as vegan cheese.

Nafsika’s Garden products are now available in Canada, the U.S., Spain, the Netherlands, Malta, France, Italy, and the United Arab Emirates.