Soy Juice

I don't drink very much milk-like liquids, but I do need something to put in my cereal, so I buy soy milk. For those that are milk purists, it's fine with me if you call it soy juice, as that's a more accurate descriptor of what it is, but less accurate for what it substitutes. Nutritionally, milk and soy juice are similar in that both have high values of calcium, proteins, and vitamin D. Soy wins because its fats are unsaturated while milk's fats are saturated.

In terms of taste, soy milk fails abysmally. It doesn't taste that bad- people's opinions vary from "good" to "I'd rather drink seawater," but I think you'll find that the chocolate or vanilla flavoured versions are fairly tasty, unless you really despise it. One reason people prefer milk is biological- we drink milk when we're first born (not sure how that tastes) and drink it often for most of our childhood. Our basic food preferences are mostly established during early childhood. So it's possible that if a child drinks soy milk from an early age, said child will enjoy it throughout their life. Personally, I find that milk is alright, soy milk is kinda weird, but both taste the same in my cereal.

The reason I drink soy milk is certainly not one of taste, although I obviously don't dislike
it, and it's not because I'm trying to avoid saturated fat. It's because the dairy industry disgusts me. Cows are immobilised in a stall and pumped full of hormones and antibiotics, resulting in a dismal existence for the cow, hormones in the milk, resistant strains of bacteria, and more infections of the udders, some of which affects our milk. Yum! I think I'll stick to my odd plant liquid.