I rarely eat cheese because I do not like cheese.

Would someone who does not like cheese like vegan “cheese”?

I ask because of the following story:

In September of 2005, I traveled to the Mississippi Gulf Coast to help someone clean out her house that was heavily damaged due to Hurricane Katrina. One evening, a group of people — one of whom was a relation to the homeowner — came to join us for dinner, which had to be grilled outside as there was no electricity. They searched for ground beef hamburger meat but could not find any. After all, whatever markets were opened were scarce. They returned with ground turkey meat and frozen vegetarian “hamburger” patties.

Although I was repulsed by the thought of eating vegetarian burgers, I was hungry from working all day and decided to try one. I liked it enough that I had another. It was actually tasty — and I ate both “burgers” without a bun and not covered in condiments.

I appreciated the fact that I did not have to worry about the “meat” being undercooked, nor did I have to worry about such annoyances as gristle.

While I still prefer a beef hamburger, I think the mistake people generally make is comparing vegetarian burgers to beef hamburgers. There should not be a comparison, as I believe that they are too different to compare. On its own, in my opinion, a vegetarian burger is actually quite good.

Based on this experience, it is logical for me to ask the “cheese” question, which is why I asked it.

I know it is subjective, but what is the answer?