In Unreserved Praise of Nutritional Yeast
Nutritional yeast is a strange condiment, beloved by vegans and people with alpha-gal syndrome. It consists of dead flakes of saccharomyces cerevisiae (the same glorious fungus which gives us bread and gets us drunk).
Nutritional yeast is marketed as a cheese substitute. I think this is a mistake. Nutritional yeast is very much its own thing, and you'll enjoy it more if you don't think of it as a substitute for cheese. It tastes faintly of a mild cheddar, and it tastes sort of like Parmesan in the way that many savory things taste sort of like Parmesan. But, to me, it tastes about as much like Parmesan as straight MSG does (though it's less intense than either). And it has a strong nutty taste both lack. If I squint a little bit, it tastes mildly beer-y, specifically like a nut brown ale. But it doesn't read a "yeasty" to me at all. I've heard it occasionally compared with Vegemite, but I don't get this at all. There's none of the salt or maltiness, and it's just much less intense.
Needless to say, this stuff is The Shit. It tastes very nice on popcorn and potatoes, and especially on pasta. Together with olive oil, a few red pepper flakes, some salt, and a bit of paprika, it adds up to one of the best pasta toppings ever. It's ought to be up there with garlic salt in the condiment hall of fame. It also goes well with many vegetables, I especially like it with eggplant. I have heard of people using it in sauces, but I have never actually attempted this, so I can't recommend it in good conscience.