• VeganCheesecake@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 month ago

    Cheese was the one thing that kept me from going fully vegan for some time. Don’t care about meat, don’t care about milk, but cheese, cheese is special.

    • The Picard Maneuver@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 month ago

      Similar boat here. I’ve been vegetarian for 18+ years now, and my meals have been vegan most days lately, but I don’t know if I’ll ever fully cut out cheese.

      • electric_nan@lemmy.ml
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        1 month ago

        Vegan cheeses have improved a lot. I’ve been vegan for almost 25 years, and the last few years have been the best for cheese alternatives. I don’t know if you’re in the US or if these are international brands, but Miyokos and Parmela Creamery both make some good stuff.

        • VeganCheesecake@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          30 days ago

          I feel like it varies quite wildly. Hard cheese seems to be pretty difficult to emulate well, while softer cheeses seem to be more doable (though there are some horrible ones). We have a local store that makes their own vegan replacements for stuff, and they have some soft cheeses that use the same mold as the originals, and they’re pretty good.

        • i_dont_want_to@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          29 days ago

          I love how much better it has gotten! I am however allergic to cashews (and pretty much most nuts…). Besides nutritional yeast, is there any decent vegan alternative to cheese that you would recommend?

        • NιƙƙιDιɱҽʂ@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          If you haven’t had cheese in 25 years, I can see how you’d think the snotty vegan approximations are acceptable.

          -A vegetarian who is also addicted to cheese

          • electric_nan@lemmy.ml
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            30 days ago

            Fair enough point on its face, but if you haven’t tried any new offerings lately, you should check in. I’ve made grilled cheese and quesadillas for vegetarians that couldn’t tell the difference. Probably the more specialty or fancier cheeses don’t have good substitutes yet. I hope they don’t bother replicating feta ;)

            • The Picard Maneuver@lemmy.worldOP
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              30 days ago

              Oh hey, I tried vegan feta in salads recently, and it was almost indistinguishable (to me), which was surprising! I didn’t expect it to actually be good, lol

            • Firestorm Druid@lemmy.zip
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              29 days ago

              There’s a bunch of vegan feta cheeses in Germany. The one we’ve been buying the most recently is from Lidl’s own vegan brand “Vemondo” and costs like 1,30€ for 150g. It’s really good - melts the same as “og” feta, has a good consistency when raw, and tastes like actual feta.

  • nefonous@lemmy.world
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    30 days ago

    I’m still waiting the rest of the world to find out that there are so many types of pizza with no cheese

      • nefonous@lemmy.world
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        29 days ago

        Plenty of them are, but of course depends on taste. One of the most common and classic pizza is without cheese (marinara). So plenty of people like it

      • DerisionConsulting@lemmy.ca
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        30 days ago

        Yes. Cheese can be overpowering for more subtle toppings, it’s also fairly high in salt. You don’t really notice the salt, unless you mix it with other topping that are also salty.

        BBQ sauce with jalapeno and nutritional yeast is pretty good. The nutritional yeast give that cheese-like funk without the salt combining with the jalapeno, or counteracting the sweet of the bbq sauce.

        Also, the cheese also ruins some flavours like kimchi, bruschetta, or chimichurri.

          • DerisionConsulting@lemmy.ca
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            29 days ago

            A little spice, a little tang, a little vinegar, and a decent amount of garlic.

            If the sauce is a little on the sweet side, you have your major flavour profiles to balance against the starch of the bread. And any tomato sauce gives it a little bit of a holopchi vibe.
            It’s nearly perfection.

          • DerisionConsulting@lemmy.ca
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            29 days ago

            Nutritional yeast is a flaky powder you sprinkle on after cooking, similar to another product of microbes often added to a cooked pizza; parmesan cheese.

    • PSoul•Memes@lemmy.world
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      30 days ago

      I’d rather have pizza with no cheese than pizza with no red sauce but again, it’s like saying I’d rather have no green cones than no red cones in my eyes. Having both adds and extra dimension.

      • nefonous@lemmy.world
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        29 days ago

        In Italy cheese is absolutely not required, even if Margherita is the most common base so most pizzas have cheese. Even so, there are many types of pizza with no cheese, and many others with no tomato.

        It’s also very common to see pizza farcita, which you can imagine as a pizza sandwich. For example a very common one is “pizza e mortazza” in Rome, which is a pure puzza with no topping but filled with mortadella (a type of ham). But various kinds of fillings are possible

        Another example would be focaccia, most of them don’t have any cheese at all.

        There is even sweet pizza with no cheese, for example pizza with Nutella

    • Skates@feddit.nl
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      29 days ago

      What is this, Theseus’ pizza? How many of the traditional ingredients can you replace and still consider it a pizza?

      • nefonous@lemmy.world
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        28 days ago

        What defines something as pizza is the base, not the toppings. Of course there are some common and more classic toppings, but those include also no cheese pizzas

        • Skates@feddit.nl
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          28 days ago

          The base is bread. The pizza is defined as the base + cheese + tomato sauce + various toppings.

          a dish of Italian origin, consisting of a flat round base of dough baked with a topping of tomatoes and cheese, typically with added meat, fish, or vegetables.

          Source: the dictionary.

          • nefonous@lemmy.world
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            28 days ago

            The base is not bread. Even your definition doesn’t call it bread. It’s pizza. And a random American dictionary is hardly a source.

            Also, pizza is older than tomato in Europe…

            Here’s an Italian dictionary, if talking with an Italian wasn’t enough

            https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/pizza/

      • olutukko@lemmy.world
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        29 days ago

        marinara is one of the best pizza I’ve tried. can’t come up with other examples. but not everyone thinks cheese is somehow necessary

          • olutukko@lemmy.world
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            28 days ago

            thanks america, but you bread is like bun. I don’t take you guys seriously with food

  • FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
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    30 days ago

    Technically, dairy tolerance is mostly genetic. It doesn’t have any particular survival benefits in this day and age, though.

    • MisterFrog@lemmy.world
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      30 days ago

      Hence the reference to their bloodline. Most of the world is lactose intolerant, so I guess most people have a weak bloodline

      /s, because apparently it wasn’t clearly a joke?

      • FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
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        30 days ago

        Yes, I was trying to be subtle about the fact that this meme could be considered a racial supremacy argument. What you just spouted was racism, might want to amend with a /s at the end.

        • MisterFrog@lemmy.world
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          30 days ago

          Yes, it was a joke pointing out the absurdity of calling lactose intolerance weak.

          Added a /s, even though it should be fairly obvious

          • Bronzie@sh.itjust.works
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            30 days ago

            It was obvious. He is being a dick for no other reason than wanting to make you feel inferior to his moral perfection.

            I’m a little pissed you felt the need to edit your comment and wastes energy replying to his moronic comment.

            Good on you though. Stay nice!

              • Bronzie@sh.itjust.works
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                29 days ago

                Oh we’ve all seen you are both unfunny and a bit thick, but keep your incorrect accusations to yourself while the rest of us live life and have a little fun over a stupid picture

        • Bronzie@sh.itjust.works
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          30 days ago

          It’s not a racial supremacy argument, it’s a genetic trate developed mostly in regions where the consumption of milk was necessary due to the climate before we all got fridges and international trade.

          It has absolutely nothing to do with rasism as it is in no way or form connected to race. People in northern India are mostly tolerant while populace from the southern part are not.

          Dislike the joke? That’s fine, but get of your high and condesending horse.

          • LwL@lemmy.world
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            29 days ago

            Eh… while I think that guy is full of shit, race is an entirely made up concept and discriminating based on any genetic trait is the exact same as racism. Semantical arguments are kinda bad.

            It’s just that no one here was discriminating because the joke in the comment and the one in the OP only work by making fun of this kind of discrimination in the first place.

            • Bronzie@sh.itjust.works
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              29 days ago

              Appreciate the well written response.

              I disagree though. Sure, racism is just a word we made up, as are all words, but words must have fixed a fixed meaning or else they stop making sense or end up inaccurate. For racism, at least according to Miriam-Webster which I hope we can agree is a serious source, the word is defined as to discriminate, oppress, hold prejudice or produce a superior trait in a certain race. Rough snippet as I am on mobile, but feel free to read the definition in more detail.

              Nobody with the ability to digest lactose feel superior to those who cannot. Nobody is discriminated against because they cannot digest it.
              Nobody really cares.

              And because it is in no way bound to a particular race only, it just cannot be racism. Using that word here waters out the definition of it.

              I am probably beating a dead horse here, but it has been bothering me for a while that the bar to throw this word at someone is not just low; it’s completely gone, and that is indicative of a serious problem.
              Calling someone a racist is supposed to be a serious accusation.

              I’m just a random guy arguing with a stranger online. It’s a waste of both my time and his as neither of us will change our minds. I just needed to vent a little and speak up against those who, in my humble opinion, willfully and maliciously sour the debate climate. It’s beyond rude to call someone that without it being true.

              Thanks for reading and have a great day.

              • LwL@lemmy.world
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                29 days ago

                I definitely agree with the point you’re making, though I’d just like to add that other dictionaries define racism as including discriminating by ethnicity, which is such a dubiously defined word it could be just about anything, and certainly can apply to your example of different parts of india.

                I am also very much influenced by the german definiton of the word, seeing how that’s my native language, which (according to duden) is “Lehre, Theorie, nach der Menschen bzw. Bevölkerungsgruppen mit bestimmten biologischen oder ethnisch-kulturellen Merkmalen anderen von Natur aus über- bzw. unterlegen sein sollen” - translated: “Teaching or Theory according to which people with certain biological or ethnical-cultural traits are supposed to be naturally superior or inferior to others”. This could of course include lactose tolerance (and I’d say if the comment hadn’t been a joke, it’d hit the definition perfectly)

                So I guess to a degree it wasjust a translation issue. The whole idea of using race to describe humans is seen as inherently racist here, so any definition of racism using that word feels 80 years outdated to me.

                Anyway back to work, cheers for an actual rational discussion, even if I think we’re only really in disagreement over semantics anyway

          • FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
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            30 days ago

            Right right, it’s not a racial supremacy argument it’s just that some ethnicities and cultures are naturally genetically superior to others (with a heavy correlation to skin tone). /Sarcasm

            • Bronzie@sh.itjust.works
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              29 days ago

              Hahaha you bloody idiot.

              Correlation does not imply causation. By your backwater logic nature itself is racist.

              It’s not genetic superiority, it’s adaptation and evolution. In the future we might all be lactate intolerant because we don’t need to not be anymore.

              I usually strive not to use ad hominem but for you I made an exception. That’s how moronic I find your total lack of critical thinking.

              Go outside and touch some grass man. Life’s to short to sit on a high horse.

    • xenoclast@lemmy.world
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      30 days ago

      Fancy ice cream place in town sells Lactaid for $0.25 in a big bowl by the cash register. Genius move…

      Or supporting a weak bloodline… you decide…

  • cmbabul@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    I really dont care for cheese as a general rule, the exceptions being unless it’s a on a pizza, potentially on a cheeseburger although I’d prefer it without, or otherwise incorporated into a recipe to the point where I can’t tell(I almost always can unfortunately). It’s based in sensory issues I have tried many times to overcome through trial and error, and I hate this aspect of myself, but this is a relatable screenshot from both romantic and platonic relationships over the years

  • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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    29 days ago

    Is it lactose intolerance? Because that’s a weak argument. Lactose can be broken down in the gut in one of two ways, for the lactose tolerant, this is through an enzyme called lactase, which you create in your gut naturally. It separates the lactose into smaller parts that can be digested normally.

    For the lactose intolerant, they lack (or at least underproduce) lactase in the gut, so the breakdown of lactose to its more basic chains is done through fermentation (or something similar), which produces significant amounts of methane gas. That extra pressure in the gut causes your body to flood the area with whatever water it can, which creates the unpleasant experience associated with lactose for the intolerant.

    But get this… Science has found a way to package lactase into a pill that you can take. I know right? Mind blown. So you take the pills before or during your lactose filled meal and… You’re fine. Amazing!

    Science.

    • PraiseTheSoup@lemm.ee
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      29 days ago

      It all sounds great on paper but as someone that is lactose intolerant I can tell you that those little lactase pills do not always work and a single small ice cream cone is enough to completely ruin my evening.

      Cheese is fine though. The vast majority of cheeses are actually naturally low in lactose, because most of it is in the whey.

    • RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world
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      29 days ago

      My father is foodie. He fucking loves cheese and milkshakes and lots of dairy. He claims lactaid pills don’t do much for him. I wouldn’t know because I can pretty much eat anything.

  • chemicalprophet@lemm.ee
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    30 days ago

    I have a thoughts this a lot since dietary restrictions became the new badge of courage. I’m from the olden days where we were embarrassed and shamed for our shortcomings… My least favorite is the person with a dietary restriction they aren’t even up to speed on. Damn my toxic masculinity! Thanks, Dad…

    • I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world
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      30 days ago

      It was pretty tough working at a bakery stall at farmers markets when people were just starting to jump on the gluten free train. I’d have folks come up to me and start screaming at me that they needed spelt bread because of their celiac disease, and I was a heartless bitch for not having any. Explaining that spelt actually has more gluten than regular wheat was not a good idea, nor was explaining that to be safe for a person with celiac disease, bread would need to be 1) free of gluten containing grains, not just wheat and 2) baked in a facility where the air is not thick with wheat flour dust, depositing itself on every surface. “Give me my special bread! IT MAKES ME FEEL SPECIAL!!!”

      • Chetzemoka@lemmy.world
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        30 days ago

        Those people also frustrate the hell out of my aunt with actual celiac disease. She’s basically had to stop eating in restaurants because there’s no real way for her to differentiate between “gluten-free” and “no, no really, we cooked all of this in a completely separate area of the kitchen with dedicated utensils that never come into contact with anything from the other side of the kitchen”

        She has a couple of places she can trust, but just trying out new places for funsies is not a thing she could ever do.

      • chemicalprophet@lemm.ee
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        30 days ago

        A work in progress. When I notice it in myself I announce it so people, especially my kids, know I’m out of line, don’t endorse the behavior, and am working to change. It’s truly a struggle. But like GI Joe says, knowing is half the battle! Stay gold🖤

  • Kallioapina@lemm.ee
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    1 month ago

    This is really a thing ive been wondering about USA… Dont you have lactose free products? I mean, if the tiny Nordics can and do produce lactose free versions of pretty much everything, in pretty much every possible place, why cant you?

    Is it a sadism/eugenics thing (kidding but not 100% kidding)?

    • colmear@discuss.tchncs.de
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      1 month ago

      One interesting thing about lactose free products is, that most aren’t lactose free. They only contain the enzymes to digest the lactose. If you are lactose intolerant this is perfectly fine, but if you’re allergic to lactose it doesn’t change anything for you

        • colmear@discuss.tchncs.de
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          1 month ago

          I‘m not from the US (Germany) and neither have I much experience with lactose free products. I know someone who is allergic to lactose though and when I was buying stuff for him he told me the exact brand of stuff I needed to get due to the issue I mentioned.

          • Kallioapina@lemm.ee
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            1 month ago

            True enough - I have to very careful when visiting local Lidls and browsing their products (though Finnish Lidls tend stock a lot of local lactose free stuff, luckily), else one invites the shitrocket.

            But again this invites my query, invoked earlier on another comment in this thread - Germany is a much larger market with lots of immigration and the tech exists. Why not sell it to people, when there is also volume available?

        • Promethiel@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          Like most “but why US” questions, the answer starts with ‘M’ and rhymes with ‘oney’.

          The dairy lobby is powerful in the US, for reasons I’ve never bothered to look into the few times one of their tantrums end up on the news.

          It’s a matter of the Nexus of regulatory capture, unrestricted money in politics, and historic Inertia is my surface understanding of why ‘Dairy’ is such a bristly thing here.

          • The_v@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            Dairy’s really got their power in the 1940’s-1950’s when most farmers had around 10 head of dairy cows they milked. If was a major source of income to most rural American farmers. These farmers established dairy associations that were and still are highly politically active.

            Most of them established a association fees based upon the amount of milk they produced. So they had a lot of money to spend on lobbying and voting power in rural communities. They then used that power to shape national policy and do national marketing campaigns.

            With the consolidation of the industry since the 1980’s their voting power has declined but the money for lobbying keeps flowing. Since the u.s. government is controlled by legal bribery at this point…

            • Kallioapina@lemm.ee
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              1 month ago

              That does not really explain the lack of use on the technology (which you do have, to make milk products lactose free) and the lack of products/marketing on lactose free milk products.

              Isnt USA all about making new products for new consumers? If we can do it here, in a much smaller markets and with less resources, why cant it be done in the USA? You do have lots of lactose intolerant people there, through immigration alone - why on earth dont you, salesmen of the planet, want to sell that to them?

              Thats why I do kinda of suppose that maybe its an cultural/social issue?

              • Alexstarfire@lemmy.world
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                30 days ago

                Isnt USA all about making new products for new consumers?

                If the corps that make the original product are making the alternative, yes. If they are not, then no. Just see all the fighting over meat alternatives and even lab grown meat. The meat industry is fighting pretty hard to make sure they can’t market them as meat or meat alternatives.

    • Codex@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      We do. Vegan soy cheese is in a lot of groceries now, but usually only specialized restaurants will offer fake cheese as an option. We’re just starting to get fake meat in various eateries, and that’s still mostly limited to burgers.

      A few pizzerias around here will offer a cheese -less pizza or other vegan options (fake cheese, onions paste instead, etc).

      Edit: oh we also have milk and cheese but engineered to be lactose free. I’d say that’s even rarer in restaurants than vegan options though.

      • hydroptic@sopuli.xyz
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        1 month ago

        oh we also have milk and cheese but engineered to be lactose free. I’d say that’s even rarer in restaurants than vegan options though.

        That’s really surprising. Lactose-free milk has been really common here in Finland for gods know how long, probably 20 years at least. Low lactose even longer.

        Not sure I’ve ever seen low lactose or lactose free cheese though, although it’s not something I’d pay attention to. I thought many cheeses are pretty low in lactose to begin with due to the process naturally converting it to something else?

        edit turns out lactose free cheeses are also extremely common, I just didn’t know because I can digest lactose without pooping

        • breakingcups@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          Fun fact! Practically all hard cheeses are lactose free!

          You can check for yourself by checking the nutritional label for sugars. If it’s 0, you’re good!

        • Kallioapina@lemm.ee
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          1 month ago

          Katsopa tarkemmin. Esimerkiksi Arkijuusto on ollut laktoositonta viimeiset 5 vuotta, vähintään. Eikä todellakaan ole ainoa. T: Juusto rakastava, laktoosia paskova.

          For english speakers: we have had lactose free cheesw for a while, and it is delicious.

          • hydroptic@sopuli.xyz
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            1 month ago

            Ah, näinpä tietenkin. Ei tosiaan ole tullut kiinnitettyä huomiota kun minuun laktoosi uppoaa ilman että paska lentää (no, siitä syystä ainakaan)

      • Kallioapina@lemm.ee
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        1 month ago

        Fair enough, but it is also an observation based on other observations (through american culture’s past and current hegemony on global internet’s english speaking portion) about the cheesyness of america.

        Edit: also I’m finnish, our humour is kind of dry and tries to be witty, like think of the brits. So read it through that lense.

    • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
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      1 month ago

      The US supports a lot of food allergies and alternatives, but I’ve never seen lactose free cheese at a pizza place. People either get no cheese or take a pill to make eating cheese less of a problem.

      • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
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        1 month ago

        I thought many cheeses don’t even contain (or a very small percentage) of lactose. I’m lactose intolerant and only have issues with milk and ice cream but never cheese.

  • OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
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    1 month ago

    Why judge someone for not consuming dairy in the first place? Like, what, you only date baby cows?