If God had wanted beans to produce milk, he would have given them nipples.
Why give up a totally natural thing in favour of something manufactured in a factory using lots of resources?
Alan

Health issues (either because soya milk is healthier or because you might be lactose intolerant) is a common reason, as is the issue of animal welfare.

I much prefer soya milk on my cereal than cow's milk (apart from Frosties but I very rarely eat them) but not everso keen on it in my tea.

I had porridge with cows milk not so long ago and it tasted really odd!!

If God wanted us to drink milk out of cows udders, he'd have made us be born as calves.

Soya milk isn't that difficult to make, it's basically ground soy beans or whatever + water. Doesn't use as much energy to make as it does to pasteurise and treat cows milk.

If you ever meet a dairy farmer ask him to describe the thick mucus and grot that has to be extracted from cows milk.

I must try that!!

Somerfields budget own brand Soya Milk (sweeteneed) isnt bad at all, and at 65p a litre is pretty cheap. A bit on the watery side though on cereal and you need so much in a cup of tea that the tea is practically only lukewarm by the time you have enough!

Tesco own brand is good (may be the same source as the Somerfield one but I got the impression it was less watery) and last time I bought it it was 69p a litre.

Cant understand why Soya Milk has to be so expensive. Basically just soya beans and water. A little sugar or apple juice to sweeten it. Nothing more, but it is hard to dfind any that is half way decent for less than 1.50 a litre and considering you have to use more for the same effect in drinks it makes it even poorer vaule.

Oh, and yes, porridge is perfectly fine made with Soya Milk. Rice pudding not so much (not that you asked).

It's quite easy to make soy milk, you can even make it at home using a soy milk maker http://www.soya.be/soy-milk-maker.php

Seeing as we're the only animals that drink the milk of another species, and continue to drink milk past infancy, I'd class that as pretty un-natural.

But I would say it is completely natural for humans or it wouldn't be so nearly universal.
Alan

Just because something is prevalent it doesn't make it natural.

Around 70% of the world's population is lactose intolerant, which is totally normal seeing as mammals become lactose intolerant following weaning.

This is a good article on the subect http://www.scienceinafrica.co.za/2002/june/lactose.htm

I dont know which 70%, but how can just a minority seem lactose intolerant in the UK if its so normal?

But we are a product of nature still though. So anything we do must also be natural. Whether you tag on "manmade" is another thing all together.

The article I linked to previously explains that certain ethnic and racial populations are more affected than others.

It's the minority here, but around 80 percent of African Americans, 80 percent of American Indians, and 90 percent of Asian Americans are lactose intolerant. The condition is least common among people of northern European descent.

Here's a table on Wikipedia that shows figures for lactose intolerance by group which is pretty interesting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactose...rance_by_group


Yeah, I guess it does depend on your personal definition of 'natural', but I was replying to someone who stated that drinking cow's milk is natural but soy milk somehow isn't.

Cows milk, a natural product produced by cows that can be drunk straight from the animal.
Soya milk, an invented, manufactured product invented to replace cow's milk.
Now that's nice and simple isn't it?
Alan

Soya milk sure is a manmade invented thing.

It's not as if we actually do though. It's always pasturised first.

I'm not sure dairy is really that good for us. It's interesting that in Japan, where they eat no dairy and a lot of soy products, breast cancer is virtually non existent.

I used to drink unpasterised milk as a child, pasterised does not taste the same.

Ok, I get what you're trying to say, but soy milk wasn't exactly "invented" to replace cow's milk. Soybean milk is reputed to have been discovered and developed by Liu An of the Han Dynasty in China about 164 BC. It's not even really milk, more like soy juice.

If you were out for a walk in the countryside and felt thirsty would you pop into a field and have a quick drink straight from a cow? Would you drink dog's milk? Rat's milk? What's the difference?

Strange how drinking milk from a cow is acceptable, but I'm sure alan wouldn't consider squeezing a glass of milk from his mum's tit if he was feeling thirsty.

Or maybe he would...

It is, after all, more natural for a human than drinking cow's milk.

Indeed. You beat me to it!


Bitty....... ???

No, my Mum is 78 and the age of miracles is long over
but....................
I have often had milk straight from the cow, still warm when staying on farms - delicious.
Alan

Define 'natural'.

Because I don't know of any species, at all, that drink milk into adulthood... LET alone drink milk into adulthood from another species like humans are led to believe.

I think you're getting confused between 'mentally conditioned' and 'natural'. In parts of the world where they don't have cows or cultures where they don't drink 'milk' it isn't "natural". Therefore, the 'natural' you're referring to is not constant.

As for resources, go and check how much resources are used to feed cattle, milk them (and build and maintain machinery) pasturise, deliver all over the country... need I go on?

And anyway, if you think the sight of a man sucking on a cow's udder is natural well...

Enough already.
You show me a bean with tits and I will roll over and shut up. Until then why not call it squeezed bean juice or whatever. Just don't muddy the waters by using the m- word. It is totally disrespectful to mammals.
Alan

So coconut milk and rice milk are too disrespectful to mammals??

Get a grrrrrrriiip alan!

OK, already.
Night, night.
Off to bed with a nice mug of Horlicks.
Alan

On the subject of Lactose intolerance; I have a theory that people with this and IBS are just intolerant of farting, and variable textured stools, and have unrealistic expectations from their variable bowels.

Any thoughts?