Since converting to vegetarian late last year with a view to eventually ‘go vegan’, I haven’t changed my diet that much. But a month or so ago I eventually decided to cut dairy milk from my diet (at least at home). mrshill suggested to try a range of different types of plant-based milks before deciding what plant-based milks and what brands I like. It was also important to me to find one of the most sustainable plant-based milks.
I’ve been having almond milk in my coffee on and off for some time now. I like the taste of almonds, even in coffee but I passed on almonds as my regular milk because of the amount of water it takes to grow.
I also don’t mind soy milk in tea, coffee or on cereal but passed on it because of the way it’s grown on huge factory farms. Obviously a lot of soy grown on mainstream farms as a commercial crop supports animal agriculture but even if or when we take animals out of the equation I expect the monocrop farming practices of soy to continue and I don’t want to support that.
First up I tried rice. I did not really enjoy the taste which was kind of good because rice is another crop that requires a lot of water.
I tried a few different oat milks. Based on my reading and listening, oat compares favourably to almond, soy and rice as a sustainable crop. A couple of brands I tried I wasn’t a big fan of but I really enjoyed Oatly - I should hope so too at a price of 5 Australian dollars a litre. Oatly interestingly IPO-ed in the US just last month. I am quite interested in it as an investment but it isn’t without controversy - most notably its association with Blackrock who owns a large percentage of the company thanks to the pre-IPO investments it made in the business. Folks don’t like the fact that Blackrock is associated with Amazon deforestation. Then there is the matter of the sugar content in it but Oatly has defended itself for this on the basis of its patented process for producing the ‘natural’ sugar content in its milk. I also quite like Minor Figures oat milk - I have tried that before so it’s an option.
Next I tried a blend called ‘Mylk’ from the ‘Rebel Kitchen’ brand. I saw this in our local bulk food shop and also a trendy organic shop. It’s a special blend that has ingredients like coconut cream, cashew and hemp seeds. It looks really cool and I liked that Rebel Kitchen seems very mission-driven. I don’t know if I just got a bad carton but it was full of chunks of coconut cream, even after vigorously shaking it. It also had a nose-bleed-high price of $6.50/litre! Avoid.
The latest milk I have tried is pea protein. I wasn’t expecting to like this but it was actually pretty cow-ish in its taste and texture. I really enjoyed this in my tea and on my cereal. Pea also stacks up really well against all the other options as a sustainable crop so it’s a win-win.
The packaging of the ‘Like Milk’ brand by Australia’s Own is cool too with a breakdown of its nutritional benefits versus dairy milk.
I haven’t tried coconut yet. There are a few red flags with coconut on the sustainability front but I will try a couple anyways just so I’ve tried a wider range of plant-based milks. I’ve noticed coconut blends in the supermarket which seem cool like coconut and hazelnut.
Pea protein is the winner so far. Australia’s Own is the only one on the market in Australia currently that I’m aware of. At my local supermarket it was on special last weekend so I bought three in one go to last a while (probably should have bought more). That will be my strategy moving forward - have a range of mrhill stamp-of-approval milks and buy in bulk when on special.