A few years back when I first heard of the Atkins diet I laughed. Now, I'm not one to go on diets; I eat what I eat, sticking to a food plan seems a bit bizarre to me. Still, this Atkins diet of avoiding carbohydrates was straight up looney tunes to me. I could never give up bread! I also love bagels and can't imagine avoiding carbohydrates, especially now that I ride my bicycle everywhere and need the extra energy.

Carbohydrates and fake cheese FTW!

So long story short, I do make a conscious effort to eat natural organic foods, as they taste better and food without artificial chemicals is a big plus for our health. This trend started about the same time I quit my full time job. Knowing I'd be without health insurance I made a conscious effort to put good food in my system. Naturally, my decrease in consistent cash flow also led me to seek out non-meat meals, for health and cost reasons.

Tasty fake cream cheese inside!

At some point I tried out Soya Kaas: A Natural Cream Cheese Alternative and found it not only looked and tasted similar to cream cheese, I actually enjoyed it better than cream cheese! As John's vegan brother says, "why eat dairy if you don't have to?"

Why indeed?

Value

At $3.99 per 8 oz. container at Whole Foods, Soya Kaas is not cheap, but it's not extraordinarily more expensive than regular cream cheese. Considering it also has no cholesterol and is relatively low in fat (9 grams per 28 gram serving), it's worth the extra $.75 - $1.00 over regular dairy cream cheese.

Score: 3.5 / 5

Quality

It looks like cream cheese, smells like cream cheese, spreads like cream cheese and tastes even better than cream cheese. What's not to like?

It's made out of 51% organic ingredients. In total the ingredients are Tofu (Filtered Water, Organic Soy Beans, Calcium Sulfate), Non-hydrogenated Soy Oil, Caseinate (which is a milk protein synthesized from dried skim milk, so it's not 100% dairy free), Lactic Acid (from corn), Citric Acid, Carob and Carrageenan (a seaweed extract) Gums, Soy Lecithin, Natural Flavors and Sea Salt.

Overall, the ingredients used and the awesome taste make Soya Kaas not just a tasty alternative to cream cheese, but a superior product in general.

Score: 4.5 / 5

Alternative music meets cream cheese?

Innovation

When I first say the blue and white container of Soya Kaas at Whole Foods, I thought no way that tastes anything like cream cheese. Even though this was after trying soy butter and other soy products, and admitting they were close in taste to what they were imitating, I still thought there was just no way it could taste like cream cheese. Still, being adventurous with my food intake, I figured frack it, let's give it a shot.

The first thing I noticed upon getting home was the remarkably difficult plastic wrap covering the fake cream cheese inside the container. For some reason Soya Kaas chose to make it extremely difficult to peal back the plastic wrap in one motion, instead using a piece of plastic that falls apart as you pull it off. Really got to hand it to them, I thought I've seen all the various difficult to open packaging there is but this one really just falls apart as you try to peal it. Annoying but unique.

Onto the "cheese"! As I've noted numerous times already, this white spread really truly does taste like cream cheese. It's actually better tasting than most cream cheese spreads I've had. Spread a bit of this stuff on a warm crisp bagel and it'll melt and sink into the nooks and crannies and generally taste wicked good. All I know is that the soy bean is nature's most magical creation. It contorts into so many different food items it's quite insane. Props to you soy bean, props to you!

Score: 4.5 / 5

Social Benefit

Aside from the small plastic container, Soya Kaas is great for the environment. By relying on soy beans and other natural products, instead of relying on cows, Soya Kaas has a positive impact on reducing green house emissions. Unbeknownst to many people, cows are a leading producer of methane, a greenhouse gas. Though it's biological in nature, these gases do have a noticeable impact on global warming due to the sheer number of cows in the U.S. and abroad. It's not so much that cows are bad for the environment, rather millions upon millions of cows concentrated in small areas are bad for the environment and bad for themselves. By choosing a product that does not rely on cows you're helping to reduce the global demand for cows and helping to make sure they get a little more breathing space and we get a little less cow gas blowing hot air around.

Score: 4.25 / 5

Soya Kass + Bagel = Delicious Breakfast

Freestyle!

This "alternative" to cream cheese tastes great! In fact, while writing this review I made myself so hungry I simply had to have another bagel with alternative cream cheese and strawberry jam and orange fig spread (hmmm real fruit sugar and fake cheese on bread....drooool). If you're concerned about cholestrorol, cow gas, or need a lactose free alternative to cream cheese, give Soya Kaas: A Natural Cream Cheese Alternative a shot. I cannot guarantee you'll like it but I love it!

Carbohydrates and fake cheese FTW!

Score: 18 / 22

Soya Kaas: A Natural Cream Cheese Alternative is available at Whole foods for $3.99.

Complete Score: 34.75 / 42 = 82.7%