Young Englishman, Brad Vanstone had to go to The Netherlands to carry on his family's traditions except this generation is making plant-based cheeses with nae a cow in sight.
Named after his Brad's Grandfather's Devonshire dairy farm - Willicroft, established in 1957 and reimagined in 2018, his plant-based cheese is now in all the 340 Albert Heijn supermarket stores across The Netherlands and Belgium and online!
The grated Young Dutch is an alternative to dairy Gouda with 7.5 times less emissions and the Italian Aged is an alternative to dairy Parmesan with 2.5 times less emissions and Willicroft's 1st organic product. The Greek White, not yet part of the Heijn lineup, is a phenomenal 25 times less emissions than its animal feta counterpart.
Source: Willicroft
Source: Willicroft - Celebrating outside an Albert Heijn store in the Netherlands
Brad Vanstone is a young man with serious concerns about the future of Planet Earth. Not happy to sit around watching from the sidelines, Brad set about sourcing appropriate sustainable ingredients and settled on beans, peas and legumes with a few cashews on the side.
'The demand for beans and pulses continues to grow each year in Europe however the bulk are imported from outside the EU. These ingredients will lower our emissions due to reduced processing and transportation and will act as the gateway to us beginning our transitional farming projects where we help dairy and arable farmers transition away from dairy by planting the ingredients on their land', says Brad Vanstone.
Like any other plant-based start-up hours of research and experimentation goes into product development.
'I began eating a mainly plant-based diet on moving to Amsterdam. I found the transition easier than I'd imagine with the exception of cheese. Unable to find many plant-based cheese alternatives in the supermarket, I started making it at home. Months of experimentation later, and with some basic knowledge of dairy cheese making from time spent growing up on my Grandparents dairy farm, I founded Willicroft in 2018'.
Willicroft Recipes Young Dutch Toastie - Shakshuka with Greek White - Lemon Risotto With Italian Aged
Brad Vanstone adds 'We're reimagining how we consume cheese combining age-old techniques with a more planet-friendly ingredient base. With Mother Nature as our CEO, we're placing the planet's future front and centre behind every decision we make'
Willicroft is now available in more than 500 Dutch, Belgium and Scandi supermarkets
'We opened up the first plant-based cheese store in the Netherlands, we're aiming to demonstrate that plant-based cheese can be just as decadent as its dairy alternative', says Brad Vanstone
Other products include an original Fondue sauce and a straight-up original cheese sauce.
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