THERE ARE FEW things more disappointing than finding out you have a dairy allergy or lactose intolerance.
In a world where we’re constantly getting Buzzfeed food porn videos shoved in our face every time we go on Facebook, it hurts to see slow motion shots of melted cheese and recipe after recipe for dishes that could put you out of action for days.
Vegans, who willingly forego dairy, share the pain. The number of alternatives is slowly but surely growing (and the pricing is becoming more reasonable), but it’s hard to recreate the very distinct textures that dairy based products have unfortunately made us accustomed to.
Here are some of the best alternatives. These are welcome treats for all dairy/lactose intolerant people (and vegans).
Pizza
1. DiFontaine’s (Dublin 2)
Most vegans are satisfied to say that they don’t miss any foods. However, nobody on this planet can say that they don’t enjoy a good pizza. DiFontaine’s are willing to recreate their huge pizzas with vegan cheese if you provide it.
However, it may get a little easier than bringing the cheese to them because at the moment they’re reaching out on Twitter to see if the interest is there to make it a permanent fixture on the menu. The results of the poll look pretty promising so far.
Veghuns, who run an excellent Instagram sharing every delicious vegan meal they find, even accompanied the pizza with Moodley’s vegan garlic mayo for the full experience.
2. Milano (Dublin, Cork and Limerick)
Milano have always been pretty decent when it comes to accommodating people with different dietary needs – if you brought them vegan cheese they’d make your pizza with that instead.
Thad a vegan option on their menu for a while now. In the old version, rocket was used as a substitute for cheese, but now they’ve launched a new ‘Giardiniera’ pizza that has artichoke, asparagus, red onion, olives, tomato, vegan mozzarella and garlic oil.
That also means that they have the vegan mozzarella in stock and can sub regular cheese for it if you ask, so you don’t need to bring it along yourself anymore.
Their dough-balls and sorbet is also vegan/dairy-free so if you’re looking for a three course meal somewhere, this is a good call.
This pizza has even been endorsed by rapper JME who is a proud vegan and constantly shares amazing looking vegan food in London.
Jme / Twitter
Jme / Twitter / Twitter
3. Zizzi (Suffolk Street, Dublin 2)
You really can’t have too many pizza options. This Italian just opened on Suffolk street and they have got vegan cheese and a very flexible attitude to accommodating special requests.
The pizza photographed above is vegan, believe it or not. The toppings are butternut squash, artichokes and peppers but they’re happy to allow customization. They also have some dairy-free dessert options too.
4. PizzAmore (Cork City)
It’s not just Dublin that has the good vegan pizzas. PizzAmore in Cork offer dairy free alternatives to cheese on pizza and it really doesn’t look any different to a regular pizza.
Cakes and treats
5. Rolling Donut (Dublin 1 & 2)
Gutter Bookshop / Twitter
Gutter Bookshop / Twitter / Twitter
These are probably actually nicer than the regular recipe for their donuts. Compared to some of the extremely over the top and sickeningly sweet donuts around the city, these are so light and they’re made with coconut oil so you can almost pretend that they’re healthy.
6. Cakes – Bliss Bites Bakery (Galway)
If you’re on the west coast and looking for something that will sort out a sweet tooth but not make you incredibly sick, Bliss Bites Bakery make a range of lovely cakes that are stocked in McCambridge’s and 37 West.
They’ve even got a range of vegan superfood cheesecaks with varying flavours like pumpkin spice (in autumn, of course), chocolate caramel and chocolate raspberry.
7. Garlic cheese chips – McGuinness’ chipper (Camden Street, Dublin 8)
Cheese laden hangover food is not only for those who can process dairy properly. McGuinness’, which is known better as the vegan chipper, make a good attempt at bringing garlic cheese chips to the vegan and lactose intolerant masses.
8. More cakes – Blazing Salads (Dublin 2)
Blazing Salads have a decent selection of vegan cakes and treats with everything from apple pie, to cheesecake, to cookies.
9. Even more cakes – Nutshed (Limerick and Dublin)
Nutshed is a vegan Limerick based dessert company. They stock in a couple of places like La Cucina and Canteen. They’re also in Limerick’s Milk Market every Saturday. They also can be found in certain Dublin markets and cafés depending on the time of year (e.g. the Dublin Christmas Flea Market).
Everyday snacks
10. Alpro Yogurts (any decent supermarket)
You really don’t realise how good yogurts are until you can’t eat them anymore. Now you can though. These Alpro yogurts are identical both taste and texture-wise to any regular old dairy yogurt.
They come in a rake of flavours but the peach and pear is particularly good. The banana and strawberry tastes exactly like a Petit Filous, which is extremely nostalgic. Their ‘Go On’ yogurt range is also pretty good for anyone who misses thick yogurts.
11. Amy’s Kitchen Rice Mac & Cheeze (Nourish and other health food stores)
This frozen mac and cheese is extremely comforting and can be microwaved in minutes. The portion looks pretty small for the price (upwards of €4, depending where you get it), but I have tried eating two in one go and it’s impossible. One is plenty, but it still works well as a side dish. It tastes and smells extremely cheesy and really can satisfy a craving.
12. Vego bars (Holland & Barrett, most health food stores)
These bars contain an Italian hazelnut paste, hazelnut cocoa cream as well as whole hazelnuts which make for a pretty interesting texture. All of which is wrapped up in dairy free chocolate that is completely fairtrade.
13. Free From Yogurts (Tesco)
If you’re on a budget, Tescos dairy free yogurts are really impressive. The entire dairy free selection in Tesco is actually pretty impressive. Of all Irish supermarkets, they seem to be the only ones making a real effort on the vegan cheese front. They also have some fancier yogurts if kids Petit Filous style yogurts aren’t your style.
Ice Cream
14. Sorbet – Gino’s Gelato
When it’s scorching out, (which somehow, it has been for a suspiciously long time) you don’t have to feel left out while your friends are milling ice creams and you’re stuck with a Calippo. Gino’s sorbet is extremely creamy and sometimes it’s hard to believe that it isn’t actually just ice cream.
Gino’s Gelato have locations all over the country: Waterford, Galway, Newbridge, Bray, Blanch and several in the city centre. They usually have at least one sorbet option on sale in each store at a time.
If you’re in Dublin city, there are two Gino’s on Grafton Street and another on George’s Street and they often have different flavours in each store so it’s worth shopping around.
One problem is the fact that they use the same machines for making the ice cream as they do for the sorbet, and while they obviously clean them, they can’t guarantee that traces of milk (or nuts/any other ingredients they use) won’t get into the sorbet.
For this reason it’s not suitable for someone extremely sensitive to dairy, but it’s unlikely that the sorbet has come into contact with milk (better safe than sorry).
15. Coconut milk ice cream – Aldi
After trying every dairy free ice cream that supermarket fridges have to offer, the Aldi ones definitely come out on top and are the best option price-wise. Alpro have a selection of flavours but Aldi’s coconut ice cream is slightly better in terms of creaminess.
16. Swedish Glace dairy-free ice cream (most supermarkets)
This one is pretty good too, the only problem is that while it’s creamy, it can get a little bit tiresome. If you mix in some chocolate chips, the problem is more or less solved though.
17. Nobó ice cream (most supermarkets)
If you want a more expensive treat, Nobó do some more exciting treats (they’ll cost at least €5 for a large tub though) like their chocolate and toasted almond ice cream. This one’s really good, the only problem is the almonds are only on top of the ice cream. Their salted caramel one is also lovely too and is a really nice accompaniment for a brownie.
