Cakes without eggs? Cheesiness without cheese? As any new vegan knows, the hardest learning curve is replicating the tastes and textures of traditional dishes without animal-derived ingredients. Luckily, Australia is in a golden age of plant-based cooking. Although veganism has long been practised by many cultures, restaurants and chefs across the country have drastically increased the variety of vegan dishes available lately. Here, three vegan-food chefs and business owners share their top tips for ‘veganising’ omnivore recipes. 1. Cheesy flavours: use fermented tofu Fermented tofu is salty and creamy, and used in small amounts, can help achieve the same cheesy flavours found in lasagne. Photograph: Yoyochow23/Getty Images/iStockphoto Lasagne, mac and cheese, bechamel – how to achieve the cheesiness of these comfort foods, minus the actual cheese? “The old style of thinking with vegan cooking was to just take out the cheese in a recipe. But a dish isn’t complete until it has everything,” says Shannon Martinez of Melbourne’s Smith and Daughters. When choosing a worthy replacement, she suggests home cooks consider the role cheese plays …

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