1. This mozzarella stick
I got an order of vegan mozzarella sticks from Champs Diner in Brooklyn. It’s a really big deal that vegan mozzarella sticks even exist, nevermind that they’re stringy and gooey and exactly how I remember dairy mozzarella sticks! This little guy was exactly what I had been craving — a delectable, cheesy treat with just the right consistency of breading and generously dipped in marinara sauce, the sauce of kings.
2. This mozzarella stick
Man, you know what’s fucking delicious? Mozzarella sticks. Such a decadent snack, especially for an appetizer – how do you possibly follow these guys with an entree?
3. This mozzarella stick
Man, this is a lot of cheese. This is a lot of grease. I waited over a fucking decade for vegan mozzarella sticks to exist and I’m going to enjoy every fucking second of this terrible food.
4. This mozzarella stick
My sandwich arrived and I’m still barely halfway through this mountain of mozzarella. My veins feel like they’re filled with greasy fried goo. I gotta admit – I am starting to have regrets.
5. This mozzarella stick
Oh god, how are there still more of these fucking things? I feel like every time I take a bite, more mozzarella sticks appear. You know when Caity Weaver spent 14 hours eating endless mozzarella sticks at TGI Fridays that one time? I feel like that, but it’s only been like 15 minutes.
6. This mozzarella stick
I don’t even want my sandwich anymore. I don’t even want to live.
7. This mozzarella stick
Oh GOD. OH GOD. This was a terrible idea. Whose idea was this?!?! This was my idea. Ugh.
8. This mozzarella stick
I feel like a plastic bag full of oil and I will never eat anything ever again.
You are an adorable vegan rock critter. :D
Can we do a breaded ravs version next time? If you’re alive, still?
at my old summer camp we used to call them “frav” and it was like, a once- or twice-a-session event that frav would be served and when it was it was as the main course and then one summer frav went away entirely and i imagine it’s because somebody told their parents that they had been served fried ravioli as a main course and their parents were horrified
Great idea for a twice weekly column
Great idea for a follow up to the exercise column
are you trying to kill me
This was awesome.
you know when you pitched this story i thought you’d found ten different places serving vegan mozzerella sticks in new york city. now i don’t know how to feel. SOMEBODY TELL ME WHAT TO FEEL
Well, tbh, I’m feeling kind of turned on.
Fried, gooey, melted cheeses with a ridiculously low carbon foot print and zero animal cruelty are kind of my jam.
I appreciate the ace and bi stuff, I really do, but us foodsexuals want some repping and some NSFW stuff,too.
JUST BE PROUD OF ME BOSS
I’M ALWAYS PROUD OF YOU
You should feel good that you have such amazing and wonderful writers on your staff.
AND photographers. ;)
Stef, you are adorable and I also kind of need your earings in my life.
This is without a doubt the most important article of 2015.
Stef, I thought for a second that you had stopped being vegan and I felt betrayed. Also, how can I get vegan mozzarella sticks shipped to my face?
I appreciate this.
I am so proud. Thanks for being so vulnerable and raw with us.
once upon a time that gawker article about mozzarella sticks was the best thing on the Internet
Then this was published
Thank you
I would probably kick a small child* if it meant I could find a decent dairy-free and soy-free cheese product. I have no idea if these are soy-free (probably not, because the Universe hates me), but they look fantastic. Too bad I’m not in NY.
*Not really. Little kids safety > Cheese, even if only marginally.
pretty sure they’re daiya, which is soy free if i’m not mistaken? i have no idea HOW they did it, but it’s not like i have any idea how to make dairy-based mozzarella sticks.
Stef, you are an unparalleled genius.
What will stef eat next??? Tune in this Thursday at 8/7 central to find out more.
I hope it’s pizza
you know me
I ate a bunch of mozzarella sticks at a friends house recently and I just had to lay my head down for a while because I felt like my blood had been replaced by cheese and grease. They were amazing.
I wish mine were vegan, though!
I almost didn’t click on this article because I didn’t need to salivate over multiple, unattainable locations of mozzarella sticks, but I did anyway because cheese, and I am so glad. SO GLAD.
I’m glad that you (initially) had more success with vegan cheese than Baltimore-era Mal Blum
Thank you for this life-changing information! I have to go try these next time I’m in NYC!
I have never looked at a picture of vegan cheese and thought ‘I need to eat this immediately’. Am intrigued. Will need to check this place of wonders out. Also, Photo #7. Hilarious and perfect.
Champs is great! Although I prefer their other food options to their mozzarella sticks. The best vegan mozzarella sticks I have ever had in my entire life are from a vegan italian restaurant in Long Island called Three Brothers. If you truly want to treat yourself, I suggest taking the trip there. It is very worth it! All their other food is absolutely fantastic too. They give you ALL the bread and Earth Balance before you get your meal, and will give you more bread if you ask! Like a real Italian restaurant!
I’m obsessed with Champs and this article was PURE MAGIC.
good shit right here
This reminds me, I have deep fryer and I’ve only fried one thing with it so far.
This was outstanding. OUTSTANDING. I hope Stef’s clickhole* becomes a regular feature.
* but not actually clickhole.
I’m so delighted that AS is still publishing this kind of high quality personal essay/journalism. Reminded me of this tour de force:
http://www.autostraddle.com/top-10-cookies-4698/
This was me when I had gluten free french fries at 5 Guys Burgers – the first few were the most amazing things I’d eaten in decades, and then my whole body rebelled against all of the grease and fat – I woke up in the middle of the night sweating grease.
And I won’t even go into my experience with gluten free onion rings.
Possibly stupid question:
are french fries not naturally gluten-free?
ok I KNOW I’ve seen an SNL skit or something with gluten free french fries, because…yeah, aren’t fries just normally potatoes and oil?
Sometimes they get “coated” in something glutenous, but I’ve been told more often than not it’s like cross contamination situation.
The breading on a fried something in the same fryer or what have you as the fries.
there is no such thing as too many mozzarella sticks. they are glorious.
This article was hilarious. I can’t decide if the pictures or captions are funnier.
This has been me in so many situations, most recently when I got excited to find vegetarian poutine in France and it turned out that 1 serving was at least a kilo box.
But I feel very strongly about labeling food correctly, which is why I can not call these mozzarella sticks. I can go for mozzarellaish sticks or fauxerella sticks or better-than-mozzarella sticks…
As much as I love a good mozza stick, I made my vegan BFF beer-battered avocado sticks one time and I would happily eat those instead forever (or until my grease filled veins also just gave up).