In an office block in south London a chef was trying hard to prove that vegan cheese wasn’t disgusting. Violife, a brand that makes dairy-free products, had asked him to make a multicourse lunch to show off its cheese alternatives. The chef, Duncan Parsonage, served up a fake-meat Cuban sandwich topped with gooey mock mozzarella, tortilla chips with whipped Greek White (a version of feta) and, to top it off, a doughnut filled with imitation cream cheese. It was all tasty enough, but it was clear that the cheese needed dressing up. Even Parsonage confessed the products would struggle to hold their own on a cheese board. As vegans know, ersatz cheese can be waxy and bland—and nowhere near as good as the real thing.

I swore off animal products several years ago, when the vegan-food craze was at its peak. Propelled by wellness influencers and Netflix exposés of the meat industry, veganism became aspirational—and lucrative. Venture capital and celebrity finance poured into firms such as Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat, the latter of which boasted Bill Gates and Leonardo DiCaprio among early investors and went public in 2019 at nearly $4bn. In 2021 Oatly, a Swedish oat-milk firm that was backed by Oprah Winfrey, Jay Z and Natalie Portman, was valued at around $13bn. Its chief executive hailed the stars’ investment as “a clear indication of where the world is heading”. Food, like popular culture, was going woke.

During the pandemic, however, it became clear that investors had overestimated consumers’ appetite for vegan alternatives. Sales of plant-based meat and milk have since stalled, weighed down by higher prices and growing suspicion of ultra-processed foods. Beyond Meat is now worth less than $400m and Oatly has lost 97% of its peak value. Yet although the companies at the forefront of the vegan-food revolution are worth less, most of their products are still widely available. Fortunately for people like me—and for anyone with a dairy allergy or intolerance—plant-based milk is pretty good. Last year it accounted for 13% of American milk sales, while Square, a payments firm, has said that oat milk is chosen for one in three coffee orders made through its platform. Even cafés in the back of beyond serve oat-milk lattes, and most supermarkets stock several varieties.

But there is one dairy alternative you’re unlikely to spot in shopping trolleys, even if that trolley contains dairy-free ice cream and chocolate. Vegan cheese makes up less than 1% of the American cheese market, and sales were 10% lower at the end of 2025 than a year earlier. Clearly I’m not the only consumer who finds it offputting.