Missions
Trying out plant-based milk
Continuing climate-friendly dishes for family meals
How did the week go?
I love to drink milk, whether it's for breakfast, to mix with my coffee or even as a form of 'snack' and cow's milk is my all-time favourite. That being said, I've never thought that this challenge would get me to explore plant-based milk. Although I have been hearing about plant-based milk, I've always wondered how plants produce milk and how the taste would be like. Would it taste similar to cow's milk? Would it be worth the price since they are more expensive that our regular cow's milk? What's the climate impact or carbon footprint of these different milks?
The reason I was interested to try out plant-based milk is because of a coursemate who shared about her plant-based milk consumption. Here are examples of plant-based milks, whereby the highlighted ones are those commonly found in the supermarket shelves or used in many food served in Malaysia.
Soy milk
Almond milk
Coconut milk
Oat Milk
Rice milk
Hemp milk
Spelt milk
Pea milk
Pistachio milk
Walnut milk
Macadamia milk
Flax milk
Banana milk
Cashew milk
Hazelnut milk
Quinoa milk
Sesame milk
You can read more about the 17 different plant-based milks here.
I found 3 types of milk in the Checkers supermarket aisle - cow's milk (RM5.90), almond milk (RM12.80) and coconut milk (RM9.80). I bought both the almond milk and coconut milk to have a taste. The almond milk has a nutty flavour and creamy texture, just as I have expected whereas the coconut milk is not of what I expected. I thought it would be rich and creamy like santan, but this one has a light milky taste with coconut scent. Both milks have to be consumed within 3 to 4 days after being opened. Since I stored them properly in the fridge, they lasted for 5 days without tasting bad.
Let's do some brief comparison between both milks. Almond milk is made by toasting almonds, grinding them into a thin powder-like consistency. Then the ground almonds are blended with filtered water. Some of the vitamins in almond milk are natural, and others are added during the blending process. Coconut milk is made from the white flesh, or the meat, of brown coconuts. The flesh is grated, then boiled in water. The flesh is then strained, creating the final product.
According to BBC News, both almond milk and coconut milk has less environmental impacts compared to dairy milk in terms of land usage and greenhouse gas emission. However the process of making almond milk takes up more water whereby a glass of almond milk would require 74 litres of water - equivalent to more than an individual taking a shower. On the other hand, the usage of water to make coconut milk is relatively low. Nevertheless, it seems that more research is needed to study the lifecyle of coconut milk.
This is a summarized chart on the environmental impacts of different milks, courtesy of Climate Conscious. Since there is not much data on coconut milk, it is not included in this chart.
You can listen to more podcasts below about plant-based milks, dairy and their environmental and health factors:
Dairy, plant-based milks and almond cows - I would personally recommend listening to this podcast due to the incorporation of health facts and constructive discussion involved.
The Future of Milk - Plant-Based Dairy and Oatly's Blockbuster IPO
Meanwhile, my father surprised me by cooking vegetarian curry consisting two of my favourite vegetables, okras and brinjals. I'd like to record it here because it is actually rare for my father to look into my perspective on sustainability, what more participate in it. I do understand from where he is coming from based on his socioeconomic priorities as well as the lack of exposure to sustainability. But it's always encouraging to have some support once in a while.
We had our 'last meal of the challenge' by having braised shiitake with broccoli and my mum's steamed tofu egg. It was actually a very healthy meal in which again, to my surprise, enjoyed by my father.
This week's dishes
Tauhu Sumbat (Stuffed Tofu)
Vegetarian Curry
Braised Shiitake with Broccoli
What Did I Learn So Far?
My main takeaway for this week boils down to making informed choices in food purchasing that are both as economical and climate-friendly as possible. Everyone has different factors that influences their choices - economic, health, lifestyle and even family factors. Having more trustworthy information and data about the products we wish to buy would be very helpful for consumers to make wiser choices as well as guiding us in being more climate-friendly with the meals we buy or cook.
We must realize that the food system is very complex and does not only involve the consumption stage. It also involves the stages of consumer demands, harvesting, processing, packaging, transporting, retailing and disposal. All these stages are important for consumers who are the main key actors of the food industry, hence the information transparency of a food product is critical as it can help a consumer to make a wiser choice in food purchasing, on top of the individual's other personal factors. When consumers make climate-friendly choices, not only would they be able to contribute to climate action, but also cause a ripple effect on the food producers to follow the consumers and be more mindful about sustainability and climate change in their business models. Policy-makers would also be affected in order to make changes in policy based on the voices from consumers and producers.
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