My mother has been having some pretty bad GI problems the last few weeks, and we’ve yet to figure out why that could be. She does eat a lot of yogurt, so she’s going to try cutting down on that, and if that solves the problem, there’s a possibility that she’s become lactose-intolerant.
This poses a problem: She loves cheese, and I make great macaroni and cheese, and neither one of us wants to give up cheese. I’ve looked up dairy-free cheese options online. A company called Follow Your Heart makes dairy-free sharp cheddar cheese and dairy-free smoked gouda, which are the two cheeses I use in my mac and cheese.
My son and his partner are vegan and love cheese. So I have had lots of different vegan cheeses and plenty of them are delicious. However they don’t taste like cheese they just have a cheese-like taste.
Their products are good. I agree that the gouda tastes better than the cheddar; the mozzerella is better still. The American is good too. I haven’t tried their feta yet.
The best mozzarella I’ve found is Daiya. I used to also say the same about their cheddar when it was melted, but they reduced the amount of flavor in it, so it now tastes more like American cheese to me. (Not the processed stuff, but the legit cheese, which is a light cheddar.) I also snack on their provolone.
I do like their cheddar mac-and-cheese, though. It comes in a liquid. And I figured out you can heat the (rice) noodles in just enough water to cover for 5-6 minutes in the microwave, and it works fine. So I get my microwave mac.
If it turns out your mom is lactose intolerant she may not need to give up all cheeses, because the process of cheese making turns lactose into lactic acid. Some cheeses still have more lactose than others. The harder cheeses in general are lower in lactose.