13 ms·

Plant based milks have been around for ages and they work great to substitute milk that you drink or put on your cereal or something. But they aren't going to

Plant based milks have been around for ages and they work great to substitute milk that you drink or put on your cereal or something. But they aren't going to replace milk that we use in, say, the production of butter, cheese, casein, or lactose products. I'd be curious to see what a pie chart of the end products from our milk production looks like.

twobyfour 9y ago
For the vast majority of uses, butter can be replaced by vegetable-based shortenings like margarine. There is non-dairy (usually soy-based) cheese, too. Not that either of those tastes remotely as good as the dairy-based versions, but I can imagine it's possible to improve on them with concerted effort.
- yorwba 9y ago
  I have never noticed a difference in taste between butter and margarine, and I have eaten both with a spoon after coming home to an otherwise empty fridge. It's just fat. Or maybe you are just talking about "soy cheese"? I agree that pure tofu is pretty bland, but with various seasonings (I'm partial to Chili oil), it can be quite good.
  - twobyfour 9y ago
    To my palate, butter tends to be a little bit sweeter and less oily than margarine. It tastes lighter and richer. It's not as obvious as, say, olive oil vs. canola oil, but it is distinguishable. I can imagine giving up butter in favor of margarine... but then I also doubt the half pound I go through per year has a major impact in the big picture. As for cheese... I do eat tofu sometimes in place of meats, but don't see it as a good substitute for cheese, except for perhaps a very narrow selection of cheese varieties (perhaps paneer). I've yet to find a soy substitute for a cheddar or brie. What I have had is soy ricotta, which is about 80% of the way to matching the real thing in terms of texture and about 50% there in terms of flavor. I have no doubt it will be done eventually, but we're still a _very_ long way from replacing a cheese lover's dairy consumption with alternatives.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- wybiral 9y ago
  Agreed. I'm not trying to say that non-animal versions of those things aren't possible. The point I was trying to make is that replacing the milk sold largely for drinking probably doesn't do much of a dent in the industry demand for dairy. To make a real impact you'd probably have to replace those uses (or get people to radically change the types of food they eat).
- fastbeef 9y ago
  Margarine is a horrible Frankenstein of bad fats and chemicals. Don't use it. If you can't use butter, use olive oil.
  - twobyfour 9y ago
    Olive oil doesn't exactly make for tasty pastry.
jacobr 9y ago
Oat based creme fraiche from Oatly tastes fine. I prefer cow milk, but do replace some dairy products with oat based where it doesn't have to taste 100% like it "used to".
autarch 9y ago
See my previous comment at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15113405 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15113405 about this. There are excellent butter, yogurt, and cheese products made without dairy. The cheese is made from nuts, not plant-based milks.
- damnfine 9y ago
  Sorry, but as a human who eats real cheese, its not very good.

twobyfour 9y ago

For the vast majority of uses, butter can be replaced by vegetable-based shortenings like margarine. There is non-dairy (usually soy-based) cheese, too. Not that either of those tastes remotely as good as the dairy-based versions, but I can imagine it's possible to improve on them with concerted effort.

yorwba 9y ago
I have never noticed a difference in taste between butter and margarine, and I have eaten both with a spoon after coming home to an otherwise empty fridge. It's just fat. Or maybe you are just talking about "soy cheese"? I agree that pure tofu is pretty bland, but with various seasonings (I'm partial to Chili oil), it can be quite good.
- twobyfour 9y ago
  To my palate, butter tends to be a little bit sweeter and less oily than margarine. It tastes lighter and richer. It's not as obvious as, say, olive oil vs. canola oil, but it is distinguishable. I can imagine giving up butter in favor of margarine... but then I also doubt the half pound I go through per year has a major impact in the big picture. As for cheese... I do eat tofu sometimes in place of meats, but don't see it as a good substitute for cheese, except for perhaps a very narrow selection of cheese varieties (perhaps paneer). I've yet to find a soy substitute for a cheddar or brie. What I have had is soy ricotta, which is about 80% of the way to matching the real thing in terms of texture and about 50% there in terms of flavor. I have no doubt it will be done eventually, but we're still a _very_ long way from replacing a cheese lover's dairy consumption with alternatives.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
wybiral 9y ago
Agreed. I'm not trying to say that non-animal versions of those things aren't possible. The point I was trying to make is that replacing the milk sold largely for drinking probably doesn't do much of a dent in the industry demand for dairy. To make a real impact you'd probably have to replace those uses (or get people to radically change the types of food they eat).
fastbeef 9y ago
Margarine is a horrible Frankenstein of bad fats and chemicals. Don't use it. If you can't use butter, use olive oil.
- twobyfour 9y ago
  Olive oil doesn't exactly make for tasty pastry.

jacobr 9y ago

Oat based creme fraiche from Oatly tastes fine. I prefer cow milk, but do replace some dairy products with oat based where it doesn't have to taste 100% like it "used to".

autarch 9y ago

See my previous comment at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15113405 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15113405 about this. There are excellent butter, yogurt, and cheese products made without dairy. The cheese is made from nuts, not plant-based milks.

damnfine 9y ago
Sorry, but as a human who eats real cheese, its not very good.