‘Tis the season to brie VEGAN? MailOnline tests plant-based Christmas cheeses – so, do they stack up against their dairy counterparts?

For millions of Britons, no Christmas feast would be complete without a festive plate of delicious cheese.

But as the carbon footprint of animal products such as meat and dairy becomes increasingly difficult to ignore, many are trying environmentally friendly alternatives.

There are many food startups offering plant-based products that try to imitate the real thing.

One example is London-based company Honestly Tasty, which wants to prove to “vegans and non-vegans alike” that “delicious vegan cheese is possible.”

Three of its products are named after their animal equivalents – Chamembert, Britannica and Good-A – but are they any good? MailOnline finds out.

MailOnline sampled three cheeses from the company – Shamembert (top left), Pretenslydale (top right) and Smoked Good-A (bottom).

Honestly Tasty's “cheeses” are made from a variety of plant ingredients including water, salt, coconut oil, potato starch, and lecithin (a fat found in plant tissue).

Prices range from £4.29 to £8, but customers can also buy festive hampers containing multiple types of cheese from £45.

MailOnline started with Pretenslydale, which is loosely modeled on Wallace and Gromit's favorite – the light and crumbly Wensleydale that hails from North Yorkshire.

Although it looks like a bar of soap you'd get from the body shop, Britneysdale is filled with cranberries giving it a pale pink color and a pleasant fruity scent.

Instead of being crumbly like a Wensleydale, its consistency was more like a pâté – although this made it easier to spread on biscuits.

Taste-wise, it reminded me of the pink Mini Milk iced popsicles I used to eat as a kid, but with an extra touch of sourness that likely comes from the added “citrus fiber.”

The overall effect wasn't unpleasant, but I can't imagine Wallace traveling to the moon to get his hands on some of the stuff.

Although it looks like a bar of soap you'd get from the body shop, it's filled with cranberries giving it a pale pink color and a pleasant fruity scent.

Honestly Tasty's “cheeses” are made from a variety of plant ingredients including water, salt, coconut oil, potato starch, and lecithin (a fat found in plant tissue).

Next, a little wheel of Chamberet, Honestly Tasty's version of creamy French Camembert cheese – and definitely a staple on my Christmas cheese board every year.

Chamembert has a really impressive 'peel' around it, complete with lines of wrinkles, which when touched looks remarkably like Camembert – like a wet sock.

Accordingly, I believe that many discerning cheese connoisseurs will not be able to distinguish it from real cheese – until they cut it.

Instead of the nice sticky yellow color on the inside that Camembert is known and loved for, the Camembert's innards looked to me a bit sad and gray – almost like dough.

When I bit into it, all I could taste was a large amount of salt, which may be partly due to the presence of carrageenan — a natural additive from red seaweed — in the ingredients.

I might be better off with Smoked Good-A, the company's homage to Gouda, the hard, creamy cheese from Holland.

The Chamembert certainly looked great – right down to the wrinkle lines in the cheese 'crust'

I think many discerning cheese connoisseurs wouldn't be able to distinguish it from real cheese – until they cut it

Instead of the nice sticky yellow color that Camembert is known and loved for, Chamembert's innards were a bit grey.

Smokehouse quality has to be one of the most delicious dining experiences known to man, so it's going to take something special to match it.

The ghostly white mass gave me a great sniff, the smell of smoke was unmistakable, so I had high hopes when it entered my mouth.

Good-A was the best of the three, largely because of the smoky flavor that was present, and its consistency matched the original hard cheese.

Certainly for any vegetarian, I think this would grate well on cheese toast on Boxing Day with any leftover fake turkey.

But will Honestly Tasty products take up space on my festive cheese board this year? The honest answer is probably no.

Pictured: Good Smoker-A. Giving the ghostly white mass a huge sniff, the smell of smoke was unmistakable

I am well aware that livestock – especially cows, sheep and goats that need to be milked to produce cheese – release huge amounts of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, which contributes to global warming.

I know that cheese and meat have the highest carbon footprint, along with other animal products like eggs and yoghurt.

But I'm also a fan of hard cheese – and if there's ever a time to enjoy cheese at any time of the year, it's Christmas.

And here's the problem – until we get to the point where low-emissions fakes like these are as good as the real thing, we're fueling the climate crisis.

To offset my emissions, I'd rather replace every other part of my Christmas feast with a vegetarian option, whether it's turkey or even blanket-wrapped pigs.

Just please don't take the camembert away from me.

Experts say vegan cheese has “little nutritional value” and eating too much of it may increase your risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease

For many people, the hardest thing about switching to a vegan diet is giving up cheese.

Food manufacturers have tried hard to recreate the creamy taste and moist texture – without the dairy.

But as well as vegan cheese not tasting like real cheese, it's also worse for your health, according to an expert.

But nutritionists have warned that plant-based versions of dairy products increase the risk of heart disease and diabetes

The plant-based alternatives are claimed to have “little nutritional value” and contain far more bad fats than the original.

Those who eat vegan cheese may also miss out on the nutritional benefits of dairy cheese, which naturally contains protein, calcium, iodine, vitamin B12 and vitamin D.

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