Trying Vegan Parmesan Substitute: Is Nutritional Yeast Gross?

This week, Steven and I tried something very different on the Lifestyle portion of my YouTube channel. We decided to film ourselves trying an ingredient we have been curious, and to be honest, slightly critical of in the past: Nutritional yeast.

As you may know, I love to cook, and am constantly watching cooking channels on YouTube to find new recipes to test out. When looking for healthy meals, I go to my favorite YouTube foodies, Fablunch and Jenny Mustard for inspiration. They just so happen to be vegan and gluten-free. And because Steven and I aren't, many times we use milk when they use non-dairy milk, cheese when they substitute chopped pine nuts for it, you get the picture. And this particular cheese substitute that most resembles parmesan, has always had us curious. We never quite liked the look of it on screen, or the idea of something replacing parmesan, but we figured you can't knock something until you try it. And when I saw a bag of it on sale while grocery shopping, I figured now was as good a time as ever, to try the infamous vegan fairy dust, proclaimed as "every vegan's best friend," nutritional yeast.

If you've never heard of it, nutritional yeast - nicknamed "nooch," according to food blogger Kathy Hester, "Nutritional Yeast is a deactivated yeast related to brewer’s yeast, which is used as a fermentation agent in beer making. The yeast is grown on a food source — some brands use molasses — then harvested, heated, dried and crumbled. This process deactivates the yeast, and creates a wonderfully nutty, tasty and versatile ingredient."

So check out what Steven and I have to say about the taste of this product...and the smell. Apparently the health benefits of this product are endless. So if a healthy or dairy-free substitute for sprinkled cheese is of interest to you, make sure to do your own research to see if this product is right for you.

To be clear, this is not a video shading vegans. Clearly I find a lot of vegan recipes that interest me online. This is just a reaction video to show our honest first impressions on the product at hand. Now let's get to it!

If you thought any of the recipes featured looked good, check out the recipes for them in the videos down below. I may post my own videos as to how I make these in the future.

Steamed Edamame by Jenny Mustard

Recipe at 0:59 mark

Mushroom Risotto by Fablunch

Recipe at 3:01 mark

Creamy Avocado Pasta by Fablunch

Recipe at 4:30 mark

We hope you've enjoyed this experiment. If you find it entertaining, don't forget to give me a like on Facebook and subscribe to my YouTube channel