Our Story: Behind Every Wheel

Madeira´s first artisanal, plant-based cheeze manufactory

Veganaria started with a simple problem: almost nowhere, on this island or anywhere else, made plant-based cheeze worth taking seriously. So we built the place that would.

Two founders, a rented kitchen, and a lot of trial and error – that’s still how every recipe here begins.

The mission:

Cheeze worth choosing on its own - not measured against anything else.

Our Philosophy

We could make this easier – more additives, faster fermentation, a longer shelf life. We haven’t, because the easier way is the one that tastes like it.

The difference:

Every shortcut skipped shows up somewhere: in the texture, the aroma, the aftertaste. So we skip the shortcuts instead. The hard part was never adding more. It was knowing what to leave out.

Affinage

Affinage is the French word for the craft of ageing cheese – traditionally, dairy cheese. We apply the same discipline to cashews and almonds: live cultures, controlled humidity, hands that turn each wheel on schedule. The microflora doing the work are the same family that shape flavour in aged dairy cheese. We just gave them a different starting material.

What's Actually in it

Almost everything we make starts with cashews – one of the most mineral-dense nuts there is, especially in copper and magnesium. The one exception is Brin’eese, our feta alternative, made with almonds, among the richest natural sources of vitamin E.

Our aged Curados carry close to 20g of protein per 100g – in line with a real Camembert, not a coconut-oil block. Cam’bert sits close to 15g. Fibre runs close to 4.5g, in a category that usually has none.

No coconut oil, ever – the ingredient that gives most plant-based cheeze as much saturated fat as full-fat dairy. Ours carries 8–9g per 100g. Less than half.

No lactose. No cholesterol – plant-based fat has none to begin with.

Culinary Partnerships Across the Island

A kitchen that cares about its guests doesn’t lower the bar just because a dish is plant-based. That’s the standard our cheeze is held to – and more kitchens across Madeira are holding us to it every season.

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Growing Our Vision

New cultures, new ageing techniques, new partnerships across the island – that’s where we’re headed next.

A Challenge to the Sceptics

If you've tried plant-based cheeze before and walked away unconvinced - rubbery, bland, tasting more of coconut than anything else - we understand. We felt the same, which is part of why Veganaria exists. Give us one try before you write off the whole category.

Fridays and Saturdays, our deli in Ponta do Sol is open for tastings. No appointment, no sales pitch - come whenever you're curious.

The People Behind the Cheeze

Hanna

Founder & Cheezemaker

Meet Hanna

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The one who started it all in her kitchen in 2022.

After moving to Madeira, I couldn’t find a cheeze that didn’t taste like a compromise. Long ingredient lists, short on flavour. So I started making my own: traditional methods, nuts instead of dairy – real fermentation, proper ageing, nothing else.

I began sharing it with friends and family before I’d even perfected it. The response was the same every time: make more of this. That’s when I knew.

November 2023, we found our spot in Ponta do Sol, and Deli Veganaria opened. Demand outgrew what one person could run alone – which is where Chris came in. Thirteen years working together in tourism meant we already knew we made a good team.

What I care about hasn’t changed: the moment someone tastes it for the first time, and their face gives them away. Six varieties, several flavours each and a cheezecake that´s turned more than a few visitors into regulars. Still just the beginning.

Meet Chris

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I joined full-time in September 2024, when demand outgrew what Hanna could run alone. I’d stopped being able to think about much else.

My days: making cheeze alongside Hanna, running the deli and speaking with the island’s kitchens – from first tasting to standing order.

Every chef tastes what goes on the plate. But for a long time, plant-based cheeze got a pass nothing else on the menu would – “fine, for what it is”.
We never aimed for that. That’s the reason our cheeze sits on boards at some of the island’s best tables.

Chris

Co-founder & Cheezemaker