This product advertises itself as a cheese alternative but contains ...
590969
This product advertises itself as a cheese alternative but contains milk products! This is NOT VEGAN and I seriously cannot understand who would buy this.
3263115
This cheese has a good flavor, but contains potassium sorbate - in case that matters to you. Nowhere on the Amazon product page (as of 01/28/2012) indicates this, and I couldn't find this info on the manufacturer's site either.
2175833
This is a bag of oatmeal. Don't be fooled. It looks like a bag of quaker oats + some powdered seasoning (barely any). I severely regret buying this gimmick of a product.
3185504
It could very well be just me but, I didn't find a lot of cheesey flavor to this.  It says basic cheddar and has the ingredients but is lacking.  I used with fresh broccoli and the cheese didn't stand out.  I used for nachos and added jalapeno..it helped alot.  I know this is widely used commercially but myself.. would probably order a different blend.  I do like that this big size can be divided up and kept indefinitely in the fridge..while I experiment with it in other recipes.
2570904
Not a happy camper.  The picture shown just milk and sugar but when I received the product, it listed there's potassium sorbate as preservative.  The ingredient listing was partially covered by the label.  If I didn't pay attention, I most likely won't notice.

Granted not all food I eat is preservative free or organic but I felt I was mislead to believe the product is all natural.

The product description needs to be updated with the true ingredients so consumers can make an informed decision whether to buy or not.
1836002
I ordered this book with just the reviews that I could see. I am a little upset in that it's not non dairy a lot of cheese in the recipes. They do use a lot of butter and cream cheese. I use coconut in place of butter. I do not have a substitute for cheese that agrees with me. Most likely will not use those recipies.
4891460
Oh dear, it's called 'quinoa] mac and cheese, but first ingredient is CORN flour.  Much cheaper than quinoa.  'Cheese' so called is awful: bright orange, not much of it at that, salt mostly.  Too bad, I had great hopes for this product.  Oh . . . and it's expensive.
1431462
It's true, this is NOT vegan cheese but a creamed squash-potato sauce. I'm 99% certain just one bowl of this stuff has had me on the toilet all day. I used unsweetened almond milk and nothing else. The milk is fine, I think the fibrous nature of this product is too much for me. I gave 2 stars because last night the texture was spot-on. After a night in the fridge the sauce has been completely absorbed by the "pasta". If you try this stuff be aware it will need something extra to bring back it's oomph on the 2nd day.
3915757
Wax like flavour with a hint of cheese flavoring. I will not buy again. If you want a flavorest cheese substance than go ahead. Your waiting your money
4351452
The cheese isn't horrible in flavor and/or texture, but it was not as good as I had hoped. Reminds me of a really, really cheap knock-off of a Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.  The flavor of/in the cheese is missing something (I can't quite put my finger on it so-to-speak), but it's not nearly as good as some of the more expensive cheeses I've tried throughout my lifetime.  I won't be buying this particular cheese again, that's for sure (very disappointed!).
4648636
*** Update 9/29/2013 ***

My original review appears below.

Sorry to say that after such a glowing review, I grew very tired of these--quickly. So quickly, in fact, that I have an entire 6-pack box unopened of the butter-flavor item after several months. I think the reason I grew tired of these is that I'm not such a lover of cheese. But I also found that they have an unpleasant after-taste. I developed a strong aversion to the after-taste and no longer wish to eat these.

This product obviously appeals to some people and not others. Try to sample a single pack before committing to a bulk purchase.

I found a similar product at a pet store for dogs. The ingredients appears to be the same (I compared the labels)--and the dog product claimed that it was just cheese as well. So the extra packages are going to my dog, if she will accept them as treats (I will try to report back here with the results).

-------------------------------------

Let's face it: Snack food taste is very subjective. I happen to love sashimi but I know many people who can't even look at it, let alone enjoy eating it.

I credit the Specialty Cheese Company for coming up with such a wonderful snack idea. If you're a low-carb dieter, you already know you have very limited choices in your snack foods. If you want something crunchy in the snack-food category, you're basically limited to pork rinds. This "Just the Cheese" product, however, is a wonderful alternative to pork rinds! Sure, it's a little salty, but I happen to love that (there is a "lower salt" version of this snack, something the other reviewers didn't mention). And, yes, if you're eating a salty snack--be it pretzels, popcorn, or this item--you're going to get thirsty. (Some of the other reviewers seemed to find the fact that you might get thirsty a reason to give this item one star...) Also, if you're going to compare this item to typical high-carb snack products like Fritos or popcorn or you're probably setting yourself up for disappointment. All low-carb items are going to lack the high-sugar and high-carb taste and texture to which you might be accustomed.

This item feels like a hard cracker. Most pieces are shaped sort of like an amorphous ball, with open nooks and crannies into which salt and favor is trapped. So as you bite, chew, or let the morsel dissolve in your mouth, the flavor is released. This item, therefore, has a very good "snack texture" that I find to be excellent for a near-zero carb item. The flavor does have a buttery/salty taste and it effectively satisfies my craving for popcorn and serves as a suitable substitute--especially when I think to myself while enjoying this item that I'm not breaking my diet, that I can remain in ketosis, and that I'm eating a snack food that, until recently, wasn't even unavailable commercially (at least I never saw it).

In conclusion, I often marvel at products like this. Think about it: Someone, somewhere, decided to create this item and package it and sell it. It's not from one of the big snack companies--such as Keebler. It's from a person/company that came up with a recipe, decided to produce it and make it available to the public. That's extraordinary! It's great to live at a time when an item so specialized as this is available, and I personally think it makes it a cakewalk to stick to a low-carb diet. It also lets me enjoy a snack while watching a movie--and I find that I'm less distracted by those around me who are enjoying popcorn. So I thank the company for making this product and I encourage you to give it a try.
2491971
Before making this purchase, I scoured the internet looking for a breakdown of the ingredients. I found nothing, even on Hartz's own website, that resembled a list of ingredients for this particular product. However, I had the ingredients for other Wardley algae products, the Spirulina Discs and Premium Algae Discs. Despite employing product splitting (dividing, for example, corn into corn gluten feed, corn gluten meal, and corn distiller's dried grains to push corn further down the list), these products all had algae or spirulina listed as the #1 ingredient, as it should be for something marketed as an "algae disc." Not so for this product, which in addition to being erroneously called an "all vegetable fish food" (contains fish meal, unlike the premium algae discs. One could also argue that wheat and yeast are not exactly vegetables, but I'll be generous), is marketed as an Advanced Nutrition line and sold at a higher price than the premium algae discs. It is easy to be mislead by the packaging and price into believing that this product would be made with higher quality ingredients than similar products by the same manufacturer, but don't be fooled like I was. It seems that the higher price tag is justified solely by a higher protein content (40% vs 32%), not difficult when you are using 90%+ protein fillers such as soy protein isolate. For loricariids who are used to a diet much higher in fiber than 2%, more protein is just a spin-friendly way of saying more nitrates, which of course means more water changes. For those who are interested, I'm including the list of ingredients below:

Whole wheat, wheat middlings, wheat flour, dehulled soybean meal, corn gluten meal, fish meal, wheat gluten meal, brewer's dried yeast, soy protein isolate, ground dried spirulina (this is the only worthwhile ingredient in the list, coming in at #10), fish oil, soybean oil, L-Ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate, inositol, vitamin E supplement, Ethoxyquin (this stuff is actually toxic to fish, but expect to see it in nearly all commercial fish foods, as a preservative), niacin supplement, ferrous sulfate, biotin, manganese sulfate, zinc sulfate, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, thiamine mononitrate, menadione sodium bisulfate complex (synthetic vitamin K, known to be toxic in high doses. Feed sparingly!), copper sulfate, sodium selenate, vitamin A supplement, folic acid, ethylenediamine dihydriodide, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin B12 supplement, cobalt proteinate.

GA:
Crude protein (min): 40%
Crude fiber (max): 2%
Crude fat (min): 3%
Arginine (min): 1.6%
Histidine (min) 0.6%
Moisture (max): 10%
Ascorbic acid (min): 200mg/kg

It's not all bad though. This product really does have an incredible amount of protein in it for the price, and there is no harm in feeding it as part of a balanced diet including leafy green vegetables, shelled peas, and courgette. As a staple however, it falls short of wardley's other products targeted at algae eaters. If I could rate in half stars, this would be 2.5. Not awful, but not what I was expecting.
250422
We purchased this product directly from the company itself on the recommendation of someone we trusted that has a lot of knowledge with these types of products.  In this case however, the result was entirely unsatisfactory.  The package and the advertising state that this is "Real Kefir you make at home," and that it is indeed "Kefir Starter."  Nowhere on the package, unless you happen to be a biologist highly familiar with all of the various cultures used in various types of products, whether kefir, yogurt, etc., can you discern that this is not 100% real kefir starter.  You'd have to read the specific culture ingredients and know which ones are naturally found in kefir, and which ones are part of a "manmade lab creation."  That is the exact statement in the company's email response to me, not my interpretation or personal opinion.  Their customer service representative specifically wrote, "The Kefir Starter is a manmade lab creation of bacteria that mimics kefir and has good bacteria in it. This is why you cannot make more than a few batches from a batch. It is not the actual heirloom kefir."

Their advertising says exactly the opposite - it's advertised as "Real Kefir."  Yet it cannot make kefir grains, and cannot be used to make more than about six additional batches or so.  Therefore, by their own statement, this is not the real thing.  If it makes a difference, their representative later wrote back, after my objection and request for refund, that, "Perhaps my word choice of 'mimic' was not the best - there are strains of good kefir bacteria in the Kefir Starter ... ."  That may be, but it's still a "manmade lab creation" and it also contains other strains besides whatever strains naturally occur in kefir.  And it cannot be sustained long term (beyond about 6 batches or so).  So "mimic" or not, it's still not 100% "Real Kefir."

Again, these are not my opinions.  The quoted material is directly from two emails received from the company's customer service when I first asked questions, and then later objected to the reply that I got.  I'm quoting their company representative exactly (copied and pasted from their email to me).  Either a product is 100% authentic, or it's not.  If a company is not up front in their advertising, I don't know what I can trust about their products.  Very disappointed!
1362695
I should have read the reviews before I purchased it, because it would have saved me over seven dollars. But my mishap will hopefully save someone else from making a mistake in thinking that they are getting a 'soy tasting' soy sauce alternative.

As other reviewing a have noted, this does not taste anything remotely similar to soy sauce; this has a sweet taste to it. And while the taste itself is not bad -because I just LOVE sweet tasting things- this is not what I would like to taste in my rice, on my noodles, and other dishes.

I'll have to think of other uses for this product.

In the mean time, if you are seeking an alternative to soy sauce that ACTUALLY tastes similar to soy sauce, I recommend the Bragg's brand of Liquid Aminos, which is not fermented, gluten free, good for macrobiotic eating, and non gmo.
1527204
I read tons of reviews on this product before ordering it. It tasted okay, kind of bland. I'd still use it though, as it does make a good alternative to high carb pastas. I do not like the fact that it is advertised as black bean spaghetti, when it is actually black SOY bean spaghetti. I love soy beans, so no issues there but it is false advertising. If it was actual black beans, it would have a lot more flavor to it! I'd probably give this a 2.5 star (if possible) but it's still edible so I'll keep using it.
438269
There is misrepresentation by the company that advertises this. There is NOT a padded liner.
1237646
Just received a 2nd order of 2 cases of this romano cheese, 1st order we loved, but the new cheese has new packaging and new ingredients as well- it has cow's milk (we only do sheep/goat), and preservatives, caking agents, and "food starch" (we are gluten free, so that presents another potential problem), emailed company waiting for reply...will update...  Sheesh, I hate it when they change a product without warning anyone !!