Living in New Jersey, it’s not convenient for me to visit Natural Products Expo West in California, but I feel like I travel their vicariously through all of my friends who post photos of the huge vegan-friendly event on Instagram every year. I was green with envy at all of the pictures of new vegan products popping up in my feed this year. I may not be able to make it to the expo to try various new foods, but sometimes those foods make it out to me and I get to try them in the comfort of my own home. Such was the case with new Mac ‘n Chao vegan macaroni and cheese.
Mac ‘n Chao is part of the new product line from Field Roast. They are frozen meals made with Field Roast’s Chao Cheese, and they’re easily cooked in a microwave or conventional oven. According to their website, “Chao tofu is a fermented soybean curd popular throughout Asia. Essentially it’s the traditional ‘cheese of Asia’.” It makes sense that a vegan cheese would be made with it, since chao is vegan in nature. And it only makes sense that Field Roast would create a vegan mac and cheese with it as well.
Creamy Mac ‘n Chao is made with Chao’s Creamy Original cheese. I find the original individual cheese slices to taste of coconut (which isn’t surprising since it’s made with coconut oil), but the macaroni and cheese didn’t share that same flavor profile for me. It’s creamy in texture and has a mild flavor.
The Chili Mac ‘n Chao is made with the Chao Tomato Cayenne cheese. I like the spicy flavor of the slices, and I preferred this mac and cheese over the Creamy variety. It has a nice kick of heat, and it contains pinto beans and Field Roast’s FieldBurger crumbles. I would have liked a few more beans and crumbles, to give a true chili-mac feel.
If the craving for macaroni and cheese strikes you, give Mac ‘n Chao a try!
I’m looking forward to checking out the other new products Field Roast has to offer this year, such as Hawaiian Sausage, Fruffalo Wings, and Sunflower Katsu Cutlets.
