When is Faux better than original?

10 Oct 2021

It’s exciting running challenges with any brand that is working towards a more sustainable future, its especially exciting when the brand is also one of our personal favourites!

La Fauxmagerie are the UK’s first plant-based cheesemonger - creating and selling the most delicious, decadent and inspired plant-based cheeses fit for the finest cheese board. Whether you are looking for alternatives to dairy for ethical or health reasons, or whether you are simply looking for your next culinary adventure, La Fauxmagerie have got you covered.

We sat down with co-founder Charlotte to chat a bit more about the motivations and concepts behind La Fauxmagerie.

WHAT WAS THE ORIGINAL INSPIRTAION FOR LAUNCHING LA FAUXMAGERIE?

After discovering artisanal vegan cheese brands and loving their products, we found ourselves searching far and wide for our favourites, which were mostly only available in certain market stalls at that time. What we really needed was a shop that offered easier access to all of the delicious cheeses we loved, which highlighted a huge gap in the market for us.  It was then that we decided to launch La Fauxmagerie in 2019 and become a hub for high quality, artisanal plant-based cheeses, so that people like us could shop for these products with ease!

We believe that going plant-based or dairy-free shouldn’t mean giving up on flavour and indulgence, and we’ve been proving that to our customers every day with our incredible range of cheeses, from our mould-ripened Brixton Blue cheese, to our melting, truffle-infused Camemvert.

From our small shop in Brixton Village Market launched in 2019, we’ve since moved to a much larger shop in Shoreditch, opened our online shop where we ship cheeses to customers around the UK and developed our very own range of artisanal cheeses. We’ve even opened The Cheese Cellar, under our shop, which is the UK’s only completely plant-based wine and cheese tasting venue!

YOU USE ALMOND MILK AS THE BASE INGREDIENT FOR SOME OF YOUR CHEESES, WHAT DO YOU SAY TO THOSE WHO WOULD QUESTION IF THIS IS AN ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY ALTERNATIVE TO COW’S MILK?

Whilst almonds do get a bad rap for the water required to grow them (which is higher than the amount required for oat or soy milk), it’s worth noting that almond milk still boasts a much lower environmental impact than dairy milk in terms of land use, greenhouse gas emissions and water use.

Almonds aren’t perfect, but they’re a great base for our cheeses and a huge improvement from dairy cheeses in terms of environmental impact and ethics. As for the SoCo plant-based milk challenge, you can easily switch to a plant-based milk with an even lower environmental impact, such as oat or soy milk.

WHAT ARE YOUR 3 TOP TIPS FOR SOMEONE WHO IS TRYING TO REDUCE THEIR CARBON FOOTPRINT?

• There are some great calculators online that allow you to calculate the carbon footprint of our most common foods. You can use this to pinpoint which foods you could swap to make the biggest difference to your food’s carbon footprint.
• Sometimes it’s hard to go cold turkey with your long-held eating habits. We’d advise starting with smaller, sustainable steps and going from there! One great way to do this is to set yourself challenges, which you can do through the SoCo app.
• Don’t beat yourself up too much. We all slip up from time to time, and changing habits takes consistent, sustained effort. If you make a mistake, dust yourself off and pick up where you left off.

You can take part in La Fauxmagerie’s challenge by downloading the SoCo app here. Just upload 10 images of you using plant-based milk in your teas, coffees, cereal or smoothies (limited time only).

SoCo FACT: did you know – to produce a glass of cow’s milk every day for a year requires 7,000 sq ft of land, the equivalent of two tennis courts – more than 10 times as much as oat milk. So, each coffee, tea, or bowl of cereal you have with plant-based milk is helping save the planet!