Hi Kurma.
I am 16 years old and love your cool site. Just became a vegetarian a few months ago and feel great. Can you tell me what rennet is? Apparently it is in most cheeses. My vegetarian friends say that I shouldn't be eating it 'cos it's made from sheeps stomachs. Yuk!
Barbara Nicholls, Yale, British Columbia

Dear Barbara,
Rennet is an essential ingredient in cheese. It's an enzyme that coagulates milk proteins, thus setting the curd. The problem for vegetarians is that most cheese manufacturers use a rennet derived from the fourth, or true stomach of a milk-fed calf. But there are vegetarian alternatives.

I just published an essay about this very subject. Good timing. Click here for more information. Best of luck with your new diet Barbara!

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