The Best Kind of Rebellion Is the Kind You Can Taste

Tattoo culture has never been about following the crowd. It’s rooted in individuality, an appreciation for craftsmanship and art, and the freedom to decide for yourself what belongs on your body, regardless of what anyone else thinks. There’s a natural respect for people who question the status quo, go against the grain, and create something on their own terms.

Sometimes that starts with a simple question: Why does it have to be this way? You look at what’s available and realize none of it is quite good enough. You imagine what could exist instead, and eventually decide that if no one else is going to make it, maybe you should.

That mindset is exactly what started Rebel Cheese.

Kirsten Maitland and Fred Zwar loved artisanal cheese, the kind where flavor, texture, and craftsmanship actually matter. So when a change in their own lifestyle left them looking for an alternative, they ran into a problem: nothing they found came close to what they were used to.

The change was going vegan. But instead of accepting that giving up dairy meant giving up great cheese, they asked a more interesting question: Could they make something good enough that even people who hadn’t given up dairy would choose it?

That question became Rebel Cheese.

Founded in Austin in 2019, Rebel Cheese wasn’t built around the idea of creating a substitute. Maitland and Zwar wanted to make something that could stand on its own, regardless of what someone did or didn’t eat. A few years later, that idea took them to Shark Tank, where Mark Cuban backed the company.

Getting there meant respecting the craft before trying to reinvent it. They learned traditional cheesemaking techniques from dairy experts, then began applying those methods to plant-based ingredients. Everything is made by hand. Rather than abandoning cheesemaking tradition, they took what they learned and used it to create something entirely their own.

The result sounds more like the case at a specialty cheese shop than a collection of alternatives. Cave-Aged Classic Brie, Smoked Cheddar, Tomato Herb Fromage, and Honee Pistachio Chèvre are built around flavor and texture first. Most Rebel Cheese customers aren’t vegan. They’re cheese lovers who want to reduce dairy without giving up the flavors, textures, and experiences they love. Many have tried alternatives and been disappointed. With Rebel, they describe finally finding what they’d been missing: cheese they genuinely love eating, made without dairy.

And people did.

As Rebel Cheese grew, Maitland and Zwar began hearing something unexpected from customers. The cheese wasn’t simply changing what they ate. It was changing how they participated.

Dinner parties, picnics, holidays, and nights around a table can get complicated when one person eats differently from everyone else. Rebel Cheese customers described being able to put something on the table that everyone could share and genuinely wanted to eat.

No separate plate. No explanation. No compromise.

That response helped propel what began as an Austin experiment far beyond its original kitchen. Rebel Cheese has since been recognized by TIME as one of the Best Inventions of 2025 and appeared on the Inc. 5000 two years in a row, while Maitland was named to the Inc. Female Founders 500 list.

The recognition is impressive, but the idea behind it is surprisingly simple. Maitland and Zwar care about the impact their choices have on people, animals, and the planet, and that philosophy carries through to how they make their cheese, using clean ingredients without preservatives or artificial flavors. But they understood from the beginning that a mission alone wouldn’t change many minds. The food had to earn its place on the table.

There’s something impressive about people who look at what already exists and decide it doesn’t have to stay that way. People who trust their own instincts, respect the craft, and are willing to create what they couldn’t find anywhere else. Rebel Cheese started with two people who wanted something better. In making it for themselves, they discovered plenty of other people had been waiting for it too.

To learn more about Rebel Cheese or explore their lineup, visit rebelcheese.com, where you can have it shipped right to your door or find a retailer near you.