Nutritional Yeast

I friend at work told me about using nutritional yeast as a protein supplement. I've been using it for about 1 and half years now and I must say it took a bit of getting used to.

First strike against it: The name!
YEAST...that you eat...come on! This doesn't sound palatable at all. When you add the word Nutritional in front it sounds even more gross.

Second strike: The look!
Have you ever had tropical fish as pets? I have. I would feed the them flake food, I think it was called Tetra Min. It smelled like very strong fish. Well nutritional yeast looks exactly like that fish food except it's a pale to bright yellow colour—thankfully without the strong, fishy smell.

Third strike: How it's made!
Nutritional yeast is an inactive yeast and is grown specifically for its nutritional value. Like edible mushrooms it a fungus, howver this type is grown on molasses. It is produced by culturing the yeast with a mixture of sugarcane and beet molasses for a period of 7 days and then harvested.(Wikipedia)

Despite all that, it has an OK flavour, reminiscent of nuts or cheese. High in B12 and protein, it makes a great vegan substitute for Parmesan cheese.