Why is vegan cheese nicknamed Gary?

Question

I have a friend who is a vegan and for some reason she, and many other people, seem to call Vegan cheese Gary.

Why is vegan cheese nicknamed Gary though? Where did this come from?

I am from the UK by the way, so this may be only applicable to the UK.

Alexander Rossa · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-27T18:56:06.287

15

This started as a reaction to a rant from one dairy lover who was offended by vegan cheese being called cheese. Excerpt from the rant suggesting the vegan cheese being called Gary:

"Call it Gary or something just don't call it cheese because it's not cheese!"

The relevant part of the rant as an image is here.

The internet responded and so did the real world. Facebook page called 'It's not Vegan Cheese, it's Gary' has started and it collects humorous images and memes about vegan cheese being Gary.

Some supermarkets follow the trend as well - for example Sainsbury's (a grocery shop for those that are not from the UK) launched this ad on Facebook:

So vegan cheese is called Gary because of one particular non-vegan having first-world problems about the implication of it being cheese.

edited Mar 27 '17 at 18:56

answered Mar 27 '17 at 18:26

Alexander Rossa

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Just been ninja'd. Well met! – Mar 27 '17 at 18:27
You could have left the answer here as well, multiple answers are okay as long as they are not identical :). – Alexander Rossa Mar 27 '17 at 18:31
Also, this blatantly ignores that tofu variations have been called "soy cheeses" long before mainstream western veganism... – rackandboneman Jan 07 '19 at 16:57

Why is vegan cheese nicknamed Gary?

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