Product Review: Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese, Herbs and Chives

I don't like cream cheese. I'm just going to put that out there. Cream cheese frosting? It's okay. Occasionally. Like once a year, or on carrot cake. Cheesecake? I'll pass. Cream cheese on a bagel? For the most part, spare me.

But at some point back, I had a vegan carrot cake at the R. Thomas Deluxe Grille in Atlanta. If you haven't been there, you should go. I make a point of stopping there whenever I happen to be in Atlanta (and not just in the airport). I'm getting distracted from the point though. To say the least, after that visit (where I also shared, family style, several other dishes with my traveling companions), I learned to like fake cream cheese. It's not as strong as "regular" cream cheese, it doesn't leave an oil slick on my tongue, and well, in all honesty, it doesn't taste particularly like cream cheese.

For a long time, I only used fake cream cheese for vegan cream cheese frostings. And so, I wasn't buying it often or using much of it. But then, during my most recent move, I accidentally picked up a Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese Herbs and Chives. I think I actually intended to buy plain, for some specific purpose. Rather than returning it when I realized my mistake, I opened it and tried it (mostly because, in the past when I've been convinced to eat cream cheese, it's been flavored with other things).

It tasted like Thanksgiving to me. Stuffing, to be exact. And that was a lovely addition to my new GF yeast-bread endeavors, as well as to just making me feel like I was getting something more savory. It's smooth, creamy, and doesn't have that particularly tofu-y taste of the plain version of this mock cream cheese (or other mock cream cheeses). It spreads easily--perhaps more easily than traditional cream cheese--and where I'm living, it doesn't cost anymore for a tub of Toffuti than it does for organic cream cheese.

Tofutti makes other lactose- and milk-fat free varieties of "better than cream cheese," but I haven't seen them in my stores yet. According to the website, I should also be able to find garlic and herb (I wish!), garden veggie, French onion, and smoked salmon flavors--hopefully they'll come to a store near me soon, or better yet, maybe Tofutti would like to send me samples to review (fingers crossed!). The smoked salmon Tofutti product, in case you were wonder, is not vegan.

Since I first accidentally purchased the Herbs and Chives version, I've been purchasing it regularly. It's comforting to eat, nice and melty, and helps dress up my GF breads.