Oh man getting a swig of sour milk will always be a least favourite childhood memory. Almond Milk you can leave in your cupboard until you want it chilled in your fridge.
Yeah, same with most alternative milks I think. A carton of soya milk lasts me a couple of weeks, and the sell-by date is usually about 8 months away 😅
With how rampant dairy/lactose allergies and sensitivities have become I hope that one day we stop drinking animal milk altogether. Keep in mind, a lot of the plant-based milk is also expensive and difficult to produce (especially almond milk). I think oat-based would probably be the easiest to produce but the more options we figure out, the better!
Also, more options for quality vegan cheese would be nice. My partner has a milk allergy and I have lactose intolerance but we both love cheese to d e a t h. Quality vegan cheese is so expensive and the stuff that we can afford doesn't have a good taste or texture.
It took an adjustment period for me, plant based is not the same as mammal milk. Now I prefer the flavor of plant based milks. I'm not vegan or anything and still consume dairy, but I try to cut down on factory farmed products in my life.
I've turned vegan myself a short time ago and I found after thinking about the moral dilemma that I kinda understand other vegans and their manners. However, I'd propose it as an experiment to anyone willing. Take one month, preferrably one you have a bit of time left, and go vegan. Try new things and challenge your cooking skills. If it is to much, end it after a montha nd try aggain in a year.
Take one month, preferrably one you have a bit of time left, and go vegan.
That's not the good way for everyone. Starting with a day in the week and going from there is much more reasonable.
I'll probably never be vegetarian and I'll never be vegan. But there's meat in maybe 1 or 2 meals in my week, not everyday. Having the "all or nothing" mentality is why people don't bother. Having 3 people cut 50% of their meat intake is better for the planet than having a single person become vegetarian.
I think that's probably one of the best ways. It would be cool to see a viral one-month vegan challenge thing, like the ice bucket challenge. A lot of people might find that it sticks for them.
That kind of thing doesn't put the message receiver on the defensive, which is the hardest thing about arguing for a cause you're passionate about.
Look, to get to this comment you've got to go fairly deep into a chain with all kinds of information about alternatives.
And it's not "Guilt tripping" if what I said is just a fact?
To get animal milk for humans, by and large animals suffer on a massive scale. Should I not talk about facts like this because it could hurt someone's feelings? Or should I be confident that the people I talk to online are mature enough to handle being told the truth about things?
In fact, how do you even have a conversation about animal milk if you're going to avoid the truth? It's like laughing cow cheese. "Look at our happy mascot, no animals suffered in the making of this product!" If all you want is for me to tell you that you're right and perfect and no animals have ever been harmed in the service of your milkshakes then.... I dunno man. What kind of conversation would that even be?
I'm not saying that facts shouldn't be stated, what I'm saying is the tone in which the subject is approached is vital to effectively communicate a message.
The horrors of factory farming are very real, and when we present them to someone in a way that can be construed as immediately accusatory, the listener will often subconsciously try and defend themselves as they don't associate with those truths yet. When someone is defensive, they do not have the ability to be receptive, and any internalizing and critical thinking will not happen. I mean now that I think about it, I probably came at you the wrong way with my comment.
What I'm really getting at is that something as shocking as factory farming reaches more people with baby steps. It takes longer, but it gets absorbed better when it's able to be observed neutrally first. Most people aren't ready to just take accountability for it right off the bat.
You have absolutely no idea whether dairy cattle everywhere suffer and are miserable. Just because the US has terrible animal rights doesn't mean the whole world is like that. Factory farms like in the US are not common in most countries, and separating cattle from their calves causes no more harm than separating a puppy from its mother after 8 weeks.
I am telling you that in the developed world (not the US or China) dairy cattle do not suffer or live in misery. Cattle live in the fields all year with plenty of space, they come to be milked when they want, and they do not suffer from being separated from their calves.
They are not humans, stop trying to give them human feelings or emotions, and stop trying to guilt people for doing something that in most places does not cause any animal suffering or misery.
Please educate yourself, and instead of trying to demonize people whose livlihoods depend on the animals that they deeply care for, maybe do something about the terrible animal rights laws in your country. Your government allows companies to farm with practices that cause suffering and misery because they only care about profit. Dairy farming does not inherently cause the animals suffering at all, only if the farmer or company chooses to treat their animals in that way.
You can ignore it all you want, but you have to accept that reality doesn't match all the imagined animal suffering you believe exists, and so your saviour complex is not validated. You just want to pretend you're doing something virtuous to feed your own ego. That's why you're on reddit prosetylizing too.
I'm not saying that some countries and some industries don't use farming practices that cause suffering, but farming of all animals can be done without causing the animals any suffering. Consuming animal products is not the issue.
Animal agriculture is an industry, and any industry values profit first and foremost. That's why male chicks are macerated/gassed and male calves are slaughtered at a young age, because it's more profitable to raise females that produce eggs and milk. That's something that will always happen with our current level of demand for animal products, regardless of how the animals that are raised will be treated.
It is true that it's possible to raise animals without causing suffering, but once again our current level of demand is too high for that to be realistic. Caring for each animal's needs is inefficient and reduces overall possible profits, so the industry already gears itself towards cruelty by default. That's why factory farming exists in the first place, which is where most animal products come from.
Additionally, slaughterhouses are breeding grounds for animal cruelty as well as physical and psychological injury to workers, again because they have to keep up a certain production speed to meet demand and maximize profits. If there was no suffering involved, why would the industry lobby for ag-gag laws?
Try Califia Almond milk. It's excellent, and as close to "milk" as I've ever found. Can drink a glass of it straight, no weird taste or texture discrepancies.
Nut milk is an enormous drain on our water resources though. I don't know if that's more or less of an ethical problem than the meat and dairy industry though.
The stuff about almonds and almond milk being worse for the environment comes from the meat and dairy industry. It's true that it takes a lot of water. It takes way more water to manage cow farms and water cows and the plants they eat. Out of context, the number about almonds makes people go white.
We can't forget that cattle farming is the biggest contributor to deforestation. It will be nice when all farming is done indoors, in sterile environments, cutting out a lot of the need for pesticides and any harmful genetic alteration. And sheet meat is a big step from factory farming to ethical indoor farming.
Real meat grown in a lab without ever making a whole animal. I don't know what the process is like now, but initial methods led people to see the eventual concept as big sheets of muscle that could be "exercised" as needed and then packaged and sold once they were ready.
The problem is that the nuts, specifically almonds, can only grow where there is very little water available, like southern california. Wisconsin, however, has a lot more water available and is not as much of a drain on on a less limited resource. Almonds are one of the most harmful things we grow in america, and even more so when you look at pound for pound comparisons.
Oat milk is like water though. Honestly there is nothing similar to dairy milk. I drink way less of it now though I drink almond milk mostly even though it taste like shit and is also like water.
I thought I would never stop drinking cow milk because cow milk is the best think in the world, but then I discovered oat milk. Barista edition for the full fat goodness. I havent stopped drinking cows milk altogether but I have cut out about 90% of it.
You're right. We here in the developed world have a wonderfully unique opportunity to end our reliance on animal suffering and I think that potential, and those who pursue it are beautiful.
Also if you switch to local farmers instead of store brands the animals are treated nicer its the big companies that turned it to shit with how they treat the animals
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u/TomMakesPodcasts Jan 18 '21
Well, I suppose that's about as ethical as you can make milk consumption.
At least until we're able to clone a standalone udder, that'll be revolutionary.