Natural grocery haul and cream cheese thesis

Yesterday I went to the Natural Grocery Store in Cheltenham. I love that shop because they have a huge range of stuff and they play relaxed old fashioned tunes.They also stay open late which would be really handy if I lived near enough to it. I think of it as something approaching an English Trader Joe's*. I wish we had Trader Joe's here or that at least they did mail order. The Natural Grocery Store is ahead of Trader Joe's in that respect. Check out there online store here.

 

I bought four Nana's cookies but I'd eaten the peanut butter one before I took this picture. I adore Nana's cookies! 

 

I also bought Granovita salad cream because I've never seen vegan salad cream before, only mayonaisse. I love it. To me it tastes exactly like the Heinz stuff I used to have on iceberg lettuce as a kid. I slathered it all over dinner last night and this evening too.

The thing I was most excited about though was the Provamel soft cheese. I've only ever seen one brand of vegan cream cheese, Tofutti. I love Tofutti but it's fairly pricey. Then yesterday I saw this Provamel spread and another one made by Pure. I didn't buy the one by Pure because I'm not mad keen on Pure margarine or their cheese slices. I bought the Provamel one because I usually love everything made by them. When I got home and tried it I was dissappointed! I suppose I had built it up too much for myself. It tastes fine, but it doesn't taste like cream cheese. It's more like a thick garlic yogurt ... which is a little odd. To be fair, it doesn't say anywhere on the packet that it's a cream cheese substitute. Anyway, now I'm on the lookout for Swedish Soft, which I've read good things about but haven't managed to find anywhere yet.

 

But enough about cream cheese. I started talking to Chris about it last night until we both agreed I should get a life! However I reckon that if I'm going to air my views on the subject anywghere then it has to be here!

* This reminds me of Chris's great idea. Why aren't there any green grocer/health food shops in this country that stay open late and have car parks? If there were, people would be able to use them the way they use supermarkets. Most people work all day every day it's hard to get to green grocers or health food shops so they end up going to supermarkets instead of supporting the local traders. I reckon Trader Joe's style shops would work really well in the UK but nobody's done it yet. I'd do it myself but frankly I can't be arsed.