I haven’t the foggiest when I first heard of nutritional yeast; when I first tried it or when it became such an integral part of my everyday cooking. You see, love is funny like that. Yes, I said love. I love Nutritional yeast the way that both break-dancers and cats love card-board boxes. 

True Love.

Besides being an excellent source of vitamin B12 (something vegans need) it’s extremely versatile. It’s like the Justin Timberlake of vegan ingredients. And while it can’t sing or dance (believe you me, I’ve checked) it can definitely act. Whether you’re going for ‘cheesy’, savory or even (gasp!) egg-y it’s got the skills to pay the bills. Meryl Streep ain’t got nothing on the nootch!

I use it in many of my recipes; sometimes for that little extra zing or often, as the star of the dish itself. The best part about it? It’s complex without dominating the flavor of your dish. It allows other flavors to shine and it knows when to play its part (it’s a team player people!) while adding both body and depth to a dish. Think of it as one of those tent-pole ingredients that can really raise that deliciousness up to trapeze-ian levels. 

Yup. True Love. The kind of love that calls upon 90’s R&B slow jams. Candle-light vegan dinners and long moon-lit walks along a board-walk; hand in hand.

Okay enough about love – while I’m sitting over here gushing like 12 year old girl at a One Direction concert check out these handy-dandy links to give you actual more information about the wonders that is the nootch*.

For the scientist in you: Wikipedia 

For the Lover In You: 5 Reasons I’m Obsessed With Nutritional Yeast (MindBodyGreen)

That Info Though: What The Heck is Nutritional Yeast? (FatFreeVegan)

So Many Ideas: 20 Great Ways to Use Nutritional Yeast (Ecorazzi) 

*Full disclosure: (Before today) I’ve never called it ‘nootch‘ a day in my life. I call it by it’s full name because I’m old-fashioned like that. It’s the same reason I call Tofu – bean curd. Okay, I made that one up. But you get the idea. Y’know. Love. True Love.