Best I Ever Had: Vegan Mac + Cheez

vegan Mac and Cheese

at Greentruth Plant-Based Kitchen

I have a secret: this food photographer is a huge fan of cheese and also lactose intolerant. It sucks. I’m often left with the painful choice if eating the dish before me is worth the pain it will mostly likely inflict. (Now, if it’s a cage-aged cheddar from Lancaster County, for example, then the pain is worth the experience.)

While on a shoot this summer at Greentruth Plant-Based Kitchen, located on beautiful tree-lined North 2nd Street in Easton, I was intrigued by a dish on the menu, Mac + Cheez. Greentruth is the brainchild of Sarah Hinch. Hinch was inspired by her own healing journey through food to build a restaurant where she could share her passion for sustainable vegan and organic dishes as well as heal her friends and community through food. Despite her passion and attention to healing food, I was still skeptical if there could possibly be a vegan mac and cheese that was worth eating. Honestly if a dish trades the feel and taste for an over processed facsimile of a traditional dish, I would rather pass. This foodie would rather enjoy food that is honest and highlights the ingredients for what they are. 

During my shoot, Sarah insisted I try the vegan Mac + Cheez. I discovered that her version of the iconic dish was not what I had expected. In my years of trying other non-dairy mac and cheese dishes, I was often disappointed with chemical and oil concoctions that were as unhealthy as they were disgusting. Greentruth’s version, however, is made with roasted butternut squash carefully blended with coconut milk, cashew cream, and nutritional yeast—which is often used in vegan dishes to mimic the flavor of cheese. Their Mac + Cheez dish was both creamy and cheesy tasting, providing all the flavor and mouthfeel of real mac and cheese. The gluten-free fusilli pasta was a perfect base. 

Greentruth Plant-Based Kitchen makes dishes that stand on their own merit, using honest ingredients prepared simply. Now when I get the craving for mac and cheese as well as nachos, I don’t have to make any sacrifices to enjoy it. Hinch’s creative approach to cooking proves vegan food doesn’t have to trade flavor for health. Be sure to check out the rest of their 100% organic menu for more vegan remakes of traditional dishes and other plant-based fare, currently being served through indoor and outdoor dining or takeout, all of which can easily be ordered online.

Greentruth Plant-Based Kitchen
134 N 2nd St
Easton
484.560.5136
Greentruthorganic.com

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