9 foods I was positive I'd miss forever after going plant-based that I now never think about

When I first went vegan, I made a mental list of foods I was convinced would torture me forever. Like, I genuinely thought I'd be that person sneaking longing glances at cheese plates at parties for the rest of my life. Spoiler: I'm not.

What's wild is how these supposed deal-breakers just faded into the background. Not because I white-knuckled through cravings or found perfect replacements. They just stopped mattering. Here are nine foods that I was absolutely certain would haunt my dreams, but now I literally never think about.

1. Parmesan cheese

I used to grate this stuff on everything. Pasta, salads, popcorn if I'm being honest. The umami hit felt irreplaceable, like some kind of flavor cheat code I'd be giving up forever.

Turns out nutritional yeast does basically the same thing, and I'm not even talking about it as a substitute. It just became what I reach for. That nutty, savory thing I was chasing? Totally there. Plus I learned that a lot of what I loved was actually the salt and the ritual of grating something over food.

Now when I see parmesan I just think of it as aged milk, which honestly sounds way weirder than it did before.

2. Scrambled eggs

Weekend breakfast was my religion, and scrambled eggs were the sacrament. Soft, creamy, that specific texture. I meal-prepped my grief over losing this one.

But here's the thing about habits: they're more about the routine than the specific food. I still do weekend breakfast. I just make tofu scrambles now, or chickpea omelets, or sometimes just avocado toast because I'm a California stereotype and I've accepted it.

The eggs themselves? I don't miss them. I miss exactly nothing about them. What I wanted was a warm, protein-rich breakfast situation, and that's incredibly easy to replicate.

3. Pepperoni pizza

This was my late-night, post-work, I-don't-want-to-cook food. The grease, the spice, the convenience of delivery. Felt like a non-negotiable part of my lifestyle.

Vegan pepperoni has gotten shockingly good, but that's not even the point. I just started ordering pizza with different toppings. Tons of veggies, garlic, hot peppers, good olive oil. Turns out I mostly wanted something hot and indulgent that someone else made.

The pepperoni itself was never the main character. It was just there, being salty and round.

4. Milk chocolate

I'm talking about regular Hershey's bars, Snickers, that whole vibe. Creamy, sweet, nostalgic. I assumed dark chocolate would feel like a consolation prize forever.

Plot twist: my taste buds completely changed. Now milk chocolate tastes weirdly waxy and over-sweet to me, like eating a candle made of sugar. Meanwhile, good dark chocolate tastes complex and interesting instead of bitter.

Your palate actually adapts faster than you'd think. It's like when you cut back on salt and suddenly everything tastes super salty. Same deal.

5. Chicken wings

Game day food. Bar food. The whole sticky-fingers, sauce-covered experience. I genuinely mourned this one in advance.

Cauliflower wings are fine, but they're not why I stopped missing chicken wings. I stopped missing them because I started really thinking about what I was eating. Once you make that connection between food and where it comes from, the appeal just evaporates.

Also, it was really about the sauce and the social situation anyway. I can get that same vibe with a million different foods.

6. Ice cream (the real stuff)

Ben & Jerry's, specifically. That dense, creamy texture that cheap ice cream never gets right. I was prepared to be disappointed by every frozen dessert for the rest of my life.

Vegan ice cream had a glow-up sometime in the last few years. Oat milk base, cashew base, coconut base. They're all legitimately great now. Not as a substitute, just as ice cream that happens to be plant-based.

I eat it less often than I used to eat dairy ice cream, but when I do, I'm fully satisfied. Zero sense of missing out.

7. Butter on toast

Simple, classic, the foundation of a thousand breakfasts. I thought vegan butter would always taste like I was trying to trick myself.

Miyoko's changed my mind in about thirty seconds. But also, I started using other things. Mashed avocado, tahini, almond butter, olive oil with salt. Butter was just one option in a category I hadn't fully explored.

The whole "butter makes everything better" thing is marketing. Lots of fats make things better. Butter isn't special.

8. Salmon

I was a sushi person. Salmon nigiri, salmon rolls, that buttery fish texture. This felt like a sophisticated thing I'd genuinely miss.

I still go out for sushi, just different rolls. Vegetable rolls are way more interesting than I gave them credit for. Cucumber, avocado, pickled things, creative sauces. The experience of going out for sushi is what I actually cared about.

Also, learning about overfishing and ocean health made it pretty easy to let go. Hard to romanticize something when you know the backstory.

9. Cheeseburgers

The American classic. I thought this would be the final boss of cravings, the thing that would get me to crack at some backyard barbecue.

Impossible and Beyond burgers are solid, but again, that's not really the point. The point is that after a few months, I just stopped wanting them. The idea of eating a cow became weird to me in a way it hadn't been before.

When you shift how you think about food, what you crave shifts too. It's not willpower. It's just a different framework.

Final thoughts

The foods you think you can't live without are usually just foods you haven't lived without yet. Your brain is incredibly good at adapting, and your taste buds follow along faster than you'd expect.

I'm not saying everyone will have this experience, or that you won't miss anything ever. But I am saying that the fear of missing foods is usually worse than actually not eating them. The anticipation of loss is heavier than the actual loss.

These nine foods felt essential to my happiness, and now they're just things other people eat. No drama, no lingering cravings, no sense that I'm depriving myself of anything. Just a different normal that feels completely normal.