PLANT-BASED MILK ALTERNATIVES

BUHLE MBONAMBI

A FEW years ago, telling the world that you were trying a plant-based diet was met with scoffing and eye-rolling.

“Good luck finding anything delicious to eat or drink,” was the response.

I was one of those people. I would roll my eyes and quickly change the topic. That is until I realised that I was slowly losing my tolerance for dairy products and not as excited about eating meat all the time.

I started consuming less dairy and ate more plant-based versions of my favourite meat products. When you have a health scare that forces you to change your diet and limit your consumption of meat by-products, an open-minded approach is necessary.

The plant-based movement has grown over the years. This is evident in how much easier it is becoming to source plant based products in mainstream supermarkets these days. While the prices leave one with whiplash, the health benefits are worth it.

I’m a coffee fiend and while I am cutting down on my dairy, I am struggling with plant-based milk. I do not eat nuts and coconut, and I prefer my oats as a porridge (or blitzed in a smoothie). I, like many others, don’t enjoy plant-based milk with coffee or cereal.

Plant-based lifestyle influencer Dhanusha Dhoorgalu is one of them. She is part of an influencer campaign for Nescafé Gold’s vegan lattes made with coconut, almond and oat milk. “I have missed having lattes and for me, this is the most convenient way to satisfy my latte craving,” she said. The Washington Post reports that NotCo, a start-up founded in Chile, has possibly found the solution. In 2019, scientists there developed artificial intelligence technology to find plants that could function like cow’s milk at a molecular level. They have found this in two unlikely ingredients – pineapple and cabbage.

“The product, called NotMilk, uses more than a dozen ingredients, including chicory root fibre, coconut oil and pea protein, to make what the packaging calls a ‘plant-based milk alternative’.”

The article says NotMilk claims to be a vegan milk that can taste, cook and froth like cow’s milk.

In a November 2020 report, Tasting The Future predicted that there would be a bigger focus on getting plant-based milk alternatives perfect for consumers and that oat milk sales would continue to rise rapidly and outstrip growth of other plantbased milks throughout this year.

Meanwhile, Starbucks has also made inroads in creating more beverages using plant-based milk alternatives.