A couple months ago, I wrote a post about the one and only Mac n Cheese I could safely have, Annie's Gluten Free Vegan Mac, which is also soy and garlic-free.
A couple weeks after I wrote that post, I was at Whole Foods, casually browsing the mac n cheese aisle, when I stumbled upon this new brand that claimed the pasta was Vegan (which means it contains no animal products such as milk or egg) and made from only 3 ingredients: rice, lentils, and peas. Intrigued, I looked at the ingredients label, saw that the cheese sauce powder had paprika in it (which doesn't agree with me), and with a sigh, put it back on the shelf.
And that's it, end of story. See y'all later!
Just kidding.
After setting the box back on the shelf, I realized there wasn't just one, but three different flavor options for this brand's, Modern Table's, vegan mac. The one I'd looked at was cheddar, and I didn't even bother looking at the one labeled "Spicy Southwest" (I'm still not even bothering to look at the ingredients online because I'd be willing to bet some good money that it has garlic, chili powder, and paprika in it). But then there was the last one, the White Cheddar.
Let me first explain my method of checking labels. First, I look at the very bottom of the ingredients list for the Common Allergens list in bold to check for the big ones- dairy, egg, soy, nuts, etc, because if I see any of those, the food is already out of the question. If I don't see any of them, I scan the full list for garlic, or onion, or any of the other random allergies I have. And if I don't see any of those, I start to really get suspicious and do my careful read-through.
This was one of those careful read-through moments. And I had to read the list about 5 times before it finally sunk in that I could have this new mac n cheese!
When I got home I fired up the stove, cooked up a box- using Earth Balance Soy-Free Butter and Rice Dream rice milk for the cheese mix- and tried it. Honestly, Modern Table's mac is way better than Annie's. It's SO good! I think I might be obsessed.
Modern Table also has a variety of plain lentil pastas, the 3 mac n cheeses I listed above, and an Alfredo as well as Parmesan and Herb sauce pasta, too. You can check them all out at moderntable.com
Anyway, I definitely recommend picking up and trying a box. So far I've only seen it at Whole Foods, but I'm sure there's some other places that will start carrying it soon, since I think they're a relatively new brand.
