Bon Appetit Goes Nuts with Nooch

In a recent feature, food magazine Bon Appetit introduced its readers to the many culinary uses of nutritional yeast (aka, nooch). The article urged readers to use nooch in popcorn, and dressings, on toasts, sprinkled on roasted vegetables and pasta, and as a flavorant in pesto and gremolata. Web editor Rochelle Bilow uses nooch in her Olive Oil-ed and Salted Noodles recipe and raves that “it’s good enough that you’ll be swearing off cheese.” While a few of the publication’s suggestions include animal products, the focus of the article was on the versatility of nutritional yeast, which, according to Bon Appetit “has the same effect as shaved parmesan.” Features such as this one—and The New York Time’s recent article about tofu—expose new populations to an ingredient normally relegated to the vegan food sphere, allowing for a better understanding and wider usage of items that serve as competent stand-ins for animal products.