pea milk: fad or fiction?
By Naomi Schanen
In the past two years, 25% of Britain’s 18 to 24-year-olds have either reduced their dairy consumption or cut it out completely. Since 2015, UK plant-based milk sales are up by almost a third.
You may be familiar with oat, coconut, almond, soya milk, but have you heard about the new kid on the block? Whole Foods announced that Britain’s first pea milk product by The Mighty Society will be hitting shelves this month. But whether you’re disgusted or intrigued, pea milk promises to change the non-dairy milk game.
Made of yellow peas, it’s a good source of nutrients, packing in double the calcium found in cow’s milk and eight times more protein than almond milk. The new product contains 40% less sugar than cow’s milk and is a safe alternative for lactose and nut intolerant people.
Young people are reducing their dairy consumption.
There's more to like. Pea milk isn’t just good for you, it’s good for the Earth. While switching to almond milk sounds like the trendy, healthy thing to do, according to American pea milk producer Ripple, it takes over 100 times more water and 86% more greenhouse gases to farm almonds than it does to farm peas.
Animal rights organisation PETA urges people to drink plant-based milks to stop cows from being subjected to abuse, but in a city where vegan is the new black, how do we know if intentions are genuine or if Whole Foods is just catching on the next trend?
The vegan army is strong and for good reasons, but let’s hope that pea milk isn’t just another cool thing for hipsters to say at their local coffee shop.