In my family’s universe, meat is the sun around which vegetables, beans, and grains revolve. Take it away, and dinner descends into chaos. As the cook of the family, I’m constantly trying to find ways to reduce our meat consumption. But the mouths I feed, mine included, still crave the taste of meat.

Eating less meat and more vegetables can be really difficult—in part because the current meat replacements are so lacking. Do you really crave tempeh? Or a black-bean burger? Yet a solution might already await in your refrigerator—an ingredient that’s easily as savory and satisfying as meat. Toothsome and funky, rich with umami, it makes up for meat’s absence, and then some. If there’s one thing that can turn meat-eaters into plant-lovers, it’s cheese.