Cheese currently has the third largest climate footprint among major food products.
That's because it is both emissions and water-intensive due to the methane emitted from milk-producing cows and the water required by the crops that feed them (estimated to be over 500 gallons per pound of cheese).
However, recent innovations in the vegan cheese industry have resulted in realistic products that mimic the unique properties of dairy cheese for the first time. If they can be made to taste the same - or very nearly the same - wouldn't it be tempting to switch allegiance to this new vegan cheese?
Preliminary analysis suggests that these animal-free cheeses use less than five percent of the water and land required by dairy cheese production and less than twenty percent of the carbon dioxide emissions.
One pioneer, San Francisco-based startup New Culture, uses precision fermentation to make vegan mozzarella. It's so good that Nancy Silverton's Michelin-starred pizzeria - Osteria Mozza in Los Angeles - has started using it.
Meanwhile, Climax Foods uses machine learning to pinpoint ingredients matching the texture and flavour profiles of blue, feta, and brie cheeses.
Both innovations are a notable culinary leap forward from the current supermarket options (which often consist of hyper-processed, flavourless offerings that dissolve when heated) and are expected to become less expensive than dairy cheese as the companies scale up.
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