Starbucks has just announced that the chain will be adding almond milk to its menu in September, which has been in high demand from consumers. Since 2011, the company has gotten more than 90,000 requests to carry almond milk. Next month, almond milk will be joining their two other non-dairy options: soy milk and coconut milk.
With this additional non-dairy option, the company is responding to a high consumer demand for dairy-free options for those who are lactose intolerant, vegan, or just don’t like the taste of cow’s milk.
And it's not just Starbucks that is partaking in the dairy-free milk trend. You see plant-based milks everywhere. When you go to the grocery store you see all different types of plant-based milks. In addition to soy, coconut, and almond milk, there are also some cool and strange options such as cashew milk, oat milk (my personal favorite), hemp milk, rice milk, hazelnut milk, and pea milk (personally, I won’t be trying that one).
Growing up, I loved cow’s milk and drank multiple glasses a day. Recently, I have just started to make the switch away from cow’s milk to plant-based milk because my stomach sometimes randomly decides to reject copious amounts of dairy. But this really shouldn’t come as a surprise, given that there are estimates that say that 75 percent of the world’s population is lactose intolerant to some degree because we decrease our lactase (an enzyme that allows us to break down lactose) production after we are infants.
This got me to question why we even drink milk of another species when we don’t even need it. Ultimately, we are taking away cow’s milk from those who need it the most---calves. Of course, we do need calcium, but cow's milk and other dairy products are far from the only sources that we can obtain our calcium needs. For example, an abundance of calcium is found in dark, leafy greens, seafood, legumes, and fruit.
Personally, I am not against consuming dairy products and still drink the occasional glass of cow's milk (especially chocolate milk), and love cheese. However, since cow's milk bothers so many people's digestion systems, not to mention the cruel practices by the dairy industry, to simple taste preference, it is no wonder that so many people are switching over to plant-based milks.
