Uh oh, this is really in a cheese soufflé

Say wine, snacks or haute cuisine and the gourmands at online food magazine FavorFlav know where to drink, how to eat it and what to cook. This time our cheffies serve you: uh oh, this is really in a cheese soufflé.

When you bite into your cheese soufflé (and don't burn your tongue), you taste cheese. But in some soufflés, there is only three percent real cheese! What on earth is in those fried flaps then? Fortunately, the Food Inspection Service looked into that.

A cheese soufflé does not contain Gouda cheese, Emmental, or tasty Edam, but processed cheese. This is made from the leftovers of the cheese factory: all the cheeses that fail because the shape is not right, because they are torn or have started to mold, go to a factory that melts them down and adds some water, melting salt, and emulsifier. Processed cheese looks suspiciously like spreadable cheese, and not at all like a slice or block from the cheesemonger, but okay, at least it's made from cheese.

Science fiction soufflé
So that processed cheese goes into the soufflé. But in small amounts, some cheese soufflés contain only three percent cheese, the Food Inspection Service discovered. What is the rest? That is analog cheese. Sounds like science fiction because it is cheese made without dairy, from plant-based ingredients like palm oil. By adding some salt, color, and flavoring, it starts to resemble cheese a bit. Even if you've never put ‘analog cheese’ on your shopping list, you've probably eaten it at some point. Those bright yellow slices of melting stuff on your hamburger, the strands on your pizza, the creamy layer in a ready-made lasagna: all fake cheese.

Not on the list
Analog cheese is never listed in the ingredients on the packaging. Everything it is made from (palm oil, salt, flavorings) is, but good luck recognizing analog cheese in that. So next time at the snack bar: a portion of fries with an analog cheese soufflé, please. Fortunately, they don't taste any less.