Unless you’ve been living under a rock these past few years, you know that veganism is having a major moment right now. It has broken through the “new fad” perception to become the new norm. And as anyone who’s lived in and around Toronto knows, being a vegan in the city is nothing short of a delight. Even us hardcore meat-eaters can’t deny that vegan meals are colourful, flavourful and straight-up lip-smacking. And we have the expertise of creative chefs and brands like Violife to thank for it.
Just ICYMI Violife is a massive vegan brand that’s garnering a lot of love, from foodies and chefs alike, for revolutionizing dairy-free cheese. With their 13 different varieties of cheese, the brand brought the same gooey deliciousness to plant-based cheese as the dairy cheese.
Violife also happens to be the only brand that’s offering a money-back guarantee to anyone who doesn’t love their cheese alternatives. As cheese-fanatics (and sceptics) ourselves, we obviously gave Violife a try. And boy, did we love it!
Apart from ensuring that vegans are no longer culinary outcasts, the brand is also championing the dairy-free lifestyle in quite a unique and interesting way. They recently dared the IG-fave chef, Matty Matheson, to take the Dairy-Free Dare. To our and his other followers’ surprise, he accepted. Soon after, restaurants in the 6ix and beyond started to take the dare as well.
Below are five of our favourite restaurants – three in town, one in Hamilton, and one in staycation-favourite Prince Edward County (PEC) and their new Violife-loaded additions to the menu. No matter which camp you belong to − dedicated vegan, testing waters or meat-lover − these melting, gooey delights are tots worth trying.
La Bartola
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Of course, La Bartola is topping the list. The plant-based Mexican resto just added a new quesadilla to their menu with Violife’s Mediterranean Style “Grill Me” vegan cheese.
That Planted Fork
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This all-in-one vegan foodie paradise has a multiverse of “sandos” with two new ones just added to its Hamilton Market portfolio. Of course, they are made with Violife Cheddar slices. The Chicken Bacon Ranch one with chickun and tempeh bacon mixing with that Violife tastiness is calling us out to the Hammer.
Morning Parade Coffee Bar
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This Gerrard St café has quite a following for its vegan breakfast sandwich, The Parade Special, available all day. This vegan sausage and tofu scramble sandwich oozes deliciousness with Violife Cheddar style slices.
One Night Only Pizza
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The popular pizza place has now introduced its first vegan pizza, The Danforth Vegan, made with Violife Mozzarella style shreds that are stretchy as hell! The vegan cheese is so darn delicious that ONO is also offering it as a replacement for all their other signature pies. Spice Potato, here we come!
Adega Wine Bar
The PEC wine bar sure lives up to its ‘darn good wine, darn good people’ promise. And they’ve now extended that promise with a darn good vegan cheese board curated with four varieties of Violife. Get into Violife’s Creamy with chives, Feta style, Parmesan style, and the EPIC Smoked Cheddar style.
Think you can take on #DairyFreeDare? Here, check out the Violife Insta and website for all the recipe inspo you need. And once you’re done drooling over the mouthwatering pics, hit your nearest store to select the dairy-free cheeses of your choice. FYI, they are available at many natural specialty stores, and just about all supermarkets including Walmart, Loblaws, Sobeys, Metro, Longo’s and many others. You can check out the full list here.
