Milk And Cereal The Vegan Way
If you've been reading this blog for awhile, one of the things you've heard me complaining about is that we haven't found a cow's milk replacement that Jane or I have been happy to eat with cereal. For all other purposes, we're rather happy with the homemade almond milk, and we're huge fans of Silk Light Chocolate Milk. But a palatable milk for cereal has remained elusive. A number of you have suggested your favorites, and we've tried most of them. But taste is subjective, and we hadn't really found anything we cared for, until about three weeks ago. And the winner is... WestSoy Non-Fat Plain. Now we've been vegan for a year, so we're not sure if we've simply forgotten what cow's milk tasted like or if this is a passable facsimile, but it tastes almost exactly as we remember non-fat cow's milk to taste, and it's good in cereal.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the casein/morphine connection, and the addictive nature of milk and cheese and Elaine suggested WestSoy non-fat plain soy milk (comment #7). Woo hoo! Thank you, Elaine. With that suggestion you've given us a very viable option for cereal. I don't know if you've been able to feel the love, but we've been walking around our house thanking you out loud!
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10 comments
Xiane on Tuesday, July 8, 2008 at
Congratulations! I think that’s one of the tougher things about making these changes… finding the right tastes to fulfill those comfort-food needs. Cheese is the one for me - still haven’t found the right vegan cheese that can make my tastebuds happy!
I’m going to have to try this brand of soy milk. I’ve used their unsweetened for baking and liked it well, so this bodes well!
Lane on Tuesday, July 8, 2008 at
Hi Xiane,
You’re right. The comfort foods are very important. We’re with you on the cheese thing, so we’ve been avoiding it. But people seem to love Teese (Vegan Essentials sells it.) We haven’t tried it yet, but one of these days…
Sparrow on Tuesday, July 8, 2008 at
The cheese thing I’ve finally solved (for myself. As you point out, everyone has different tastes and the cheese one is super individual) with a recipe that blends Great Northern Beans, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, soy sauce, etc. into a thick sauce.
This morning I had some on some whole wheat macaroni for mac-n-cheese breakfast. I’ve also tried it as grilled cheese sandwiches in which it beats all other vegan cheeses I’ve tried because there’s no issue about whether it melts or not since it’s already “melty” because it’s a thick sauce.
If you’re interested in trying it out, the recipe is here:
http://www.fatfree.com/recipes/sauces/golden-cheaze-sauce
The difference in how I make it from the recipe is that I haven’t made it with pimiento/pepper (though people who have tell me it’s really great that way.) Also, you want to be careful not to put in too much mustard (make it a scant measure) or too much lemon juice (put no more than two tablespoons, even if the lemon has more juice in it) because those flavors will overwhelm the mix very easily and ruin it.
I love how it mixes up so quickly, too. It’s practically instant once you’ve made it the first time and are used to the recipe. It’s one of the few things I keep canned beans around for - usually I cook beans from scratch because it’s so much cheaper but I love the instant gratification of this recipe.
Maija Haavisto on Tuesday, July 8, 2008 at
My preference is for Alpro, the fresh one that has to be refrigerated. It doesn’t really taste like dairy milk - it tastes much, much better. I also like Rice Dream, but it’s not very nutritious. Now if I could only afford to buy soy milk more than a few times a year…
Travis on Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at
Blue Diamond came out with a line of unsweetened Almond Milk a couple of years ago. The unsweetened original variety has finally made eating cereal fun again! Seriously good stuff — highly recommended.
Sparrow on Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at
On the extra-plus side, money spent on WestSoy doesn’t go to support the dairy industry like some other brands.
I thought that was really interesting to learn that big dairy got into soymilk so they could keep their market share on all things “milk.” (All White Wave products are made by dairy company Dean.)
And watch out for 8th Continent, by the way, because they aren’t vegan - they have lanolin-provided vitamin D in their soymilk.
Lane on Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at
Hi Sparrow,
Thanks for the link, we’ll definitely have to give it a try. Jane’s also been meaning to try cashew cheese.
Hi Maija,
I’ve never seen Alpro… If I run across it, I’ll give it a try. We don’t typically drink rice milk for the same reasons you mentioned (lack of nutritional value). As for soy milk. We make our own too. We like the Westsoy for cereal. But for all other purposes, we use the same machine we do for almond milk (link in post). It has a beany taste to it…which some people really love. You may want to consider a soymilk maker yourself. They’re not cheap, but over time, they more than pay for themselves.
Hi Travis,
Yes, we’ve tried it. We usually have a package in the pantry, just in case Jane doesn’t have time to make our almond milk. The homemade stuff is (in our opinion) far superior, and very easy to make. But neither Jane nor I care for almond milk in our cereal.
Hi Sparrow,
I know a lot of people take issue with supporting companies that manufacture animal products in addition to vegan products. We feel that, buying vegan will get these companies to produce more vegan options, which will make vegan products more mainstream, which opens the market to people who might not otherwise consider eating vegan… I know there’s cruelty involved, but these are huge players, they’re not going anywhere anytime soon, so if we can get them to move in this direction, that’s probably a good thing.
Thanks for the info on 8th continent! I haven’t purchased the product, but we’ve had a few recommendations from our readers. I had no idea re the lanolin.
Sparrow on Thursday, July 10, 2008 at
Fair enough. I just think it’s important for people to know where their food comes from so they can make an informed choice about it. Some people don’t mind and other people mind a great deal but I’ve found many people who didn’t even realize that big dairy were product leaders in soy milks. So to my thinking it’s as valuable to spread the information as it is to decide where one’s personal balance lies between supporting vegan products or boycotting animal agriculture.
Either way, knowledge is power!
Have a great day.
marika @ madcap on Thursday, July 10, 2008 at
My all-time favourite cereal accompaniment is unsweetened vanilla almond milk - there’s just something about the hint of vanilla that makes the lack of sweetness (from being unsweetened) alright - and the flavour is neutral enough that it pairs well with many different cereals I find. We don’t get Westsoy where I am, but so far I’ve never like the taste (or colour) of the non-fat or even light soy milks. Glad you found something you like!
Lane on Thursday, July 10, 2008 at
Hi Sparrow,
Agreed, knowledge is power. And we are certainly for making an informed decision. As always, please feel free to share…
Hi Marika,
The Westsoy is the only brand of soymilk that we find works in a bowl of cereal. Jane really doesn’t care for any of them… I don’t mind. But overall, we prefer the nut milks. And love the homemade variety best of all!