One writer killed vegan cheese this week. Another revived it.

Two articles came out this week about vegan cheese. One said the category was failing. The other said it had finally gotten good. They were looking at different things.

The Economist spent four thousand words explaining why vegan cheese is a disappointment. Their main example was a Silicon Valley startup that pitched itself as a data-science company for cheese. By the end, you'd think the category was done.

Several people reached out to me after they read it. They told me I should contact the writer directly. Based on what was in the article, they adamantly believed the writer couldn't have known about us.

The Boston Globe came out five days later. It said vegan cheese has finally gotten good, and credited one thing: small companies going back to traditional cheesemaking technique. Cultures, fermentation, cave-aging, time.

They named Rebel. They quoted me. They quoted two cheesemongers who said our cheese holds its own at the counter. We live for these moments.

Both reporters wrote what they saw. The Economist looked at the lab. The Globe looked at the cheesemakers.

The lab version is in trouble. The craft version is finding its feet.

This is the work we've been doing for seven years. The reason our cheese tastes like cheese isn't a software tweak. It's because we've spent eight years studying dairy technique, learning from people who've done it their whole lives, and staying true to the craft. Every cheese is made by hand. Many are cultured. Some are aged in the cave for weeks.

The technique was already there. What we had to invent was getting plants to behave like milk. Naturally. Without the weird ingredients.

You can't shortcut that. Someone has to be in here, doing the work. Every day. Including the holidays.

Reading the two articles back to back, I felt grateful. Not because the Globe wrote about us. Because someone finally understood the importance of what we're doing, and how it translates into a product that competes with cheese.

The Globe said our cheeses are ready for the cheeseboard. That's what we built them for.

Thanks for being on this journey with us,

Kirsten
Co-founder, Rebel Cheese
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