Elizabeth Kucinich, wife of the former congressman and presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, will represent the Plant Based Foods Association in Washington, and she said it planned to represent a range of companies, not just those whose entire product line is built on plant proteins.

Ms. Kucinich has already participated in discussions about food policy in Congress and written a letter to the Agriculture Department expressing disappointment over the failure to include a clear recommendation on reducing red meat consumption in the new dietary guidelines.

In general, she said, her goal was to “level the playing field” so that plant-based foods got the same consideration as meats in debates about school lunches, dietary recommendations and even environmental issues. “It’s really to make sure we have a seat at the table,” Ms. Kucinich said.

The association will probably lobby, for instance, for federal subsidies for plant-based milks to be served in school lunchrooms. (Schools are currently reimbursed only for serving dairy milk.) And it will take on the Food and Drug Administration’s “standards of identity,” which prescribe what ingredients and in what quantities are needed to, say, call cheese “cheese” on packaging and labels.

Miyoko Schinner, founder of Miyoko’s Kitchen, ran into exactly that problem when she began selling “cheese” made from nut proteins. She was careful not to use the word “cheese” on her packaging, instead giving her products names like Aged English Sharp Farmhouse and High Sierra Rustic Alpine, but the California Department of Public Health raised questions.

“I chose language to evoke a feeling of cheddar, adjectives that would bring it to mind, and they said you can’t do that, it isn’t cheese,” Ms. Schinner said. “They kept saying it’s not cheese — so what is it?”

The regulators eventually decided to allow her to call it a “cultured nut product.”

Now that the trade association has been formed, she says she has begun using the word “cheese” on her website and Facebook page.

“The face of food is changing, how we make food and the origins of it,” she said. “It’s time for the regulatory system to catch up.”