My apologies if this debate has already been done to death. I couldnt find anything in a search.
My family has been exclusively using Silk (branded soy beveridge) instead of milk, in cereal, baking, coffee etc. Most of us have actually lost our taste for cow milk all together, its now seen as a bit gross, particularly given where it comes from.
The question is, how do the two compare overall? Could products like Silk completely replace milk, or at least signficantly damage the dairy industry?
Health and nutrition-wise, Silk seems to be much better, no cholesterol, less sugar, less saturated fats, etc.
What about environmentally?
Cruelty to animals?
Taste?
I am interested to hear people’s perspectives on this.
I like soy milk, and I like rice milk. But they taste different from cow’s milk. I’ll take cow’s milk in my tea (or rarely, in my coffee; if it’s really bad coffee) and I’ll use it in my cold cereal. I drink non-fat. I can tolerate 2% milk, but whole milk tastes a bit slimy to me. If I want ‘a glass of milk’ I’ll drink soy or rice milk. It just tastes better as a drink. FWIW, rice milk tastes more like cow’s milk to me. But as a drink I’ll usually choose soy.
Healthwise and nutritionwise, soy or rice is probably better. Environmentally? I don’t know enough about farming for a meaningful answer.
But I don’t see soy or rice milk replacing cow’s milk in the U.S. For one thing, the dairy industry is huge. For another, I think most people prefer the taste of cow’s milk to soy; and many people won’t even try the alternatives. Also, I’ve yet to find soy cheeses that measure up to dairy cheese.
Soy milk and rice milk will remain as alternatives for people who either cannot tolerate milk or want to cut down on cholesterol, or who just want something different. But I think cow’s milk is here to stay.
I’m not familiar with soy milk, but I’ve had a milk substitute based on coconut and that was acceptable. And for a long time the only milk milk I could have was Carnation. But there’s nothing like the taste of real milk and real cream.
But then, I’m a confirmed omnivore. A nice juicy steak in a creamy mushroom sauce… mmmm…
I use Silk (or other soymilk, though I find Silk tastes the best) on cereal, but I find it’s too thin for cooking. (I once tried to make a soy based bechemel sauce…never again!) For any baking or sauces I use whole, preferably raw, milk, which has a much more dramatic flavor.
There’s no question that soymilk is far healthier for you than animal milk. (Rice milk? Meh; it’s like water with carbs; neither especially good or bad.) However, you’re not going to be making cheese out of it. That soy-based stuff they call vegan cheese isn’t worth the effort it takes to cut it out of the package, and I’m rather lost as to what to do with it after that, since it wouldn’t melt if you went over it with a blowtorch.
Dairy animals are treated “pretty well” compared to most industrial lifestock, since overstressing the animal is likely to adversely affect dairy production. I won’t say it’s as good a life as a free range herd, but they’re not having their beaks cut off or anything. And being dairy cows is, frankly, what they’ve evolved to do; they require regular milking.
The dairy industry is strongly entrenched, especially in states like Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, where price controls and goverment subsidies are a major political issue that controls block votes. I don’t see that going away any time soon, regardless of how factually incorrect many of the claims about dairy’s health benefits are. (The dairy industry is only second to the tobacco industry, IMHO, in their promotion of self-serving “science”.) And from a culinary standpoint, I’d hate to see a kitchen without butter and cream. (Don’t talk to me about margerine.) I mean, there are things you can cook without it, but it certainly cuts down on your repertoire.
There was a futurama episode showing a giant worm spewing what was proported to be the most popular soft drink of the 3000’s “Slurm”, as well as their common references to soylent green (“its people!”) that one could draw a analogy to.
Interesting comparison of the tobacco industry’s self serving “science”. That hadnt occurred to me before, but it makes sense. I imagine many other “healthy food” industries have similar issues such as eggs.
I also agree about the taste issue, being a big fan of stinky cheese, I cant imagine subsisting on soy cheese as it is now, but if they ever managed to get it right, Id be first to jump off the dairy wagon.
Personally, have never been a fan of ersatz… cooking and eating is one of life’s greatest pleasures, don’t consider myself a food “snob”, but I always use the highest quality foods and ingredients that I can find. Even 2% milk is, to my way of thinking, an abomination. Don’t get me started on fat-free peanut butter, margarine, decaff, Cool-Whip, “diet” ice-cream, et. al.
(If anyone does want to open a heated debate on the topic, feel free to open a new thread in GD that clearly takes a debatable position rather than interrupting this civil exchange of ideas and views.)
We use all three in our household. But they are different. Its kind of like saying “hey, I found apple juice!!! It could replace lemonade in my life!”
Part of me is really amused by the wholesale replacement of certain foods. We eat meat AND tofu in our house. We do pizza with cheese and without. Since no one has health reasons to avoid food or ethical reasons to avoid animal products, we have all sorts of ingrediants on our grocery list.
Rice milk is good on cereal. Soy is good in shakes. I tend to drink milk, and I don’t sub out milk in recipes unless I’m cooking for the lactose intolerant. And I won’t give up half and half in coffee.
At some level, tough, I like to think I would rather die than try and be “healthy” if it means, for example - an “ice cream” shake consisting of (no eggs) egg-substitute, (no cream and milk) soya, (no sugar) splenda and, golly knows what else, (seaweed extract??) hardly deserves to be called “ice cream”. I hope that’s not too fascist, but if I can’t eat well, what’s the point?
If you’re severely lactose intolerance or have a daily allergy or are vegan or have a variety of intestinal ailments you can’t have dairy products (or at least only limited quantities). Good substitutes are worth their weight in gold. I remember the world without them; it wasn’t fun.
And I’ll bet you’re generally young and healthy. As our society ages more and more people have to watch their consumption of fats and sugars, which add taste but are mainly negatives in every other way. Again, having good substitutes is a wonderful thing. And while they aren’t yet as good as the originals, the subs are becoming edible, sometimes even tasty. One day you’ll be grateful for them and you’ll just shake your head at the dogmatism of the earlier you.
What’s wrong with milk coming from a cow tit? How is that in any way ‘gross’? I can understand it if you find a slimy stinky mouldy bit of Roquefort repellent, but plain milk is about as innocous in origin as you can get.
Hasn’t our society always aged more and more? There is a rather large “baby boomer” demographic, to be sure.
Fats and sugars are by no means “mainly negative”, they are simply components in food - no such thing as “junk food” - just poor diets if taken to excess - lack of exercise, but that’s not news. The simple fact is modern life has taken much of the physical effort out of day to day living - and thus bulging waistlines and heart disease - However, there are books to be sold - and I tend to view “health nuts” as far more dogmatic incidentally, and ESPECIALLY baby boomers - who in aggregate seem to have progressed from inventing sex, drugs and rock and roll, to seemingly having discovered the Fountain of Youth and now thankfully, immortality. This includes, but is not limited to, jogging in the road, zealous anti-tobacco enthusiasm, and various other minimalist dietary quackery…
No, the boomers are not going to go quietly into that dark night.
I don’t like Silk but I became a soymilk convert when I discovered 8th Continent. I easily go through the gallon bottle every week.
I’m not really drinking it for the health benfits-simply for the reason that I get up very early in the morning to work out and soy is the only thing that won’t upset my stomach before vigorous exercise. I have thrown up after eating other things before going to go work out. I also guzzle down 8th continent with meals and for snacks etc. because I like the taste.
Frankly growing up I never liked milk at all and I wish the soymilk craze had started earlier because I would have ingested a lot more calcium that way-critical since every woman in my family has ended up with osteopenia. Pretty much the only thing I like real dairy for is my tea and cooking.