National Dairy and Dairy Alternative Month: The gap between vegetarian and vegan

Picture from: http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/20080502/nf1

 June is National Dairy Month, but to a vegan, dairy as a food is not always something to celebrate.

 Some people say that milk is a completely natural food for humans, and that it is a natural by-product that comes from cows. Some people even think that cows need to be milked for their own health. Something about “milk poisoning”, among other silly reasons I’ve heard. However, cow’s milk is not natural for humans to drink, nor for any other animal aside from its own offspring, and it is usually not a natural process when the cows produce it for us.

The fact is that the dairy industry is a business, as is any other farm. In order to supply the milk, farmers impregnate cows so they lactate. Just like humans, cows need to be pregnant to produce milk. With billions of ‘farmed’ cows in the world, there is no way those cows can be impregnated naturally by a bull at the same time and ready to produce milk. From this you can surmise for yourself that farmers must artificially inseminate cows so they can secrete that creamy fluid you use for your coffee and cereal. The thing that got me was when someone called it “pus” and I could never envision myself drinking it again. Even organic and family farmed milk has this downside.

These facts are necessary to know for those vegetarians who say they “could not live without cheese”, or people like me, who used to have a long-term relationship with ice cream. There are so many options available, it is hard to remember what my life was like when I was eating dairy. Soy milk, rice milk and almond milk satisfy my cookies and milk cravings and go great in cereal. There are many soy cheeses, rice cheeses and almond cheese options that melt and taste just like cow’s milk cheese. There is even margarine, cream cheese and ice cream that is non-dairy!

My favorite non-dairy milks:

Kikkoman Pearl (even available in green tea flavor!)

Westsoy (creamy like real milk)

My favorite non-dairy cheeses:

nutritional yeast (tastes like cheese, strangely enough)

Tofutti for cream cheese

Rice slices

My favorite non-dairy yogurt:

Whole Soy & Co.

My favorite non-dairy ice cream:

Soy delicious- fruit-sweetened and a lot less calories than regular ice cream.

As for the calcium, amino acids and vitamins A and D found in milk, you can get all of them from plant sources. Fact.

 My personal dairy story: I was vegetarian for about two years before becoming vegan, only giving up meat because of the literal connection to animal flesh and because I wanted to lose weight. When I went on a diet, it was because I felt unhealthy on my omnivorous diet. I never expected to be launched into the super-health-food land of veganism. I still ate yogurt, cheese and ice cream. Oh man, do I love ice cream!

Then I became lactose intolerant, and the condition got steadily worse over the next year. Little did I know that at the time my yearning for ice cream would fade, to be replaced with alternatives made from plants that tasted even better than the original! I think I was cosmically inclined to become vegan. It is not just the fact that I get nauseous when eating dairy. If I were completely tolerant of lactose I now realize that dairy is just as unnecessary and as harmful as meat.

What vegans are asking: that you consider the possibility of including less animal products in the average American diet and remain open to change. Even if you accuse these facts of being wrong, it is always necessary to question your surroundings and follow your heart when it comes to what you put in your belly.