Welcome to Rennet Free NYC. For vegetarians and even carnivores, the idea of eating calf liver with every bite of delicious NYC pizza is generally shocking. We’ve created this blog to raise awareness about Animal Rennet (calf/sheep stomach) in our cheese, to find out where we can eat uncontaminated pizza – Safe NYC Pizza, and eventually to Save NYC Pizza!
We’ll update the Safe List on an ongoing basis as we hear back from your favorite local and national chains. Feel free to comment with pizza joints you’d like to see investigated, add some research of your own, or let us know what else you’d like to learn about!
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i am a vegetarian who does not eat rennet.
i do not know why you have those three italian cheese sources listed as non-animal rennet, their websites said nothing about it. they didnt even have basic ingredients lists!
most kosher pizzerias [i know, a generally inferior category] use haolum or miller cheese, which are non-animal rennet brands. you have to ask. it is a common myth that all kosher cheese is non-animal rennet, because of the rule against mixing meat and milk. oddly, the rabbis have a bizarre convoluted explanation for why rennet isnt exactly meat, but has to be from a kosher slaughtered animal.
a great list of rennet-less cheese is
http://cheese.joyousliving.com/
even PETA is not a reliable source of info, as they want to further their cause by having veganism seem easy and sociable, even if it means eating a veggie burger cooked on the hamburger greased griddle.
nina
Hi Nina, Thanks very much for your comment – all the pizzerias and cheese suppliers we’ve highlighted on the site have been confirmed either by email or a phone call with the owner/chef that their cheese is made without rennet.
I had also heard that there is some method by which animal based rennet can be used in kosher pizza, so I haven’t highlighted them on the site. From what I understand, a large majority of kosher pizza does indeed use a vegetable based product for making cheese simply because it’s easier – while it’s far from strong evidence, I’ve never seen Kosher Rennet for sale, at least in NYC stores.
Don’t be so hard on PETA! Everyone comes to veganism / vegetarianism from different paths – some strict, some occasional (Meatless Mondays), and some are still working on it. We here at RennetFreeNYC think of it like recycling – every little bit counts.