Fancy Frills : Why Vanilla Milk?

Today's quandry can be filed under definition #11 (and possibly #14), as it focuses on a matter that demonstrates the unnecessary, unquestioned aspects of consumer America. I consider myself to be a relatively healthy person. I happen to not eat meat (technically a lacto-ovo-pescatarian, or as I like to think "no legs, sometimes a face"), but my general outlook on life is that of being physically fit, reducing my carbon footprint, and eating things that are not just good for my body, but good for the world. Of course, my attempts could be better made... I often buy and consume products that I know do not support the people and practices that I wish they did. It's usually a decision between spending extra money and putting in extra time, or taking the easy route. I'm sure anyone reading this can relate.

What I can do, however, is question and research my environment. Which brings me to today's question: why do manufacturers of soy, almond, and rice milk feel the need to flavor their products with vanilla?

I suppose that the effort is to draw dairy milk consumers to their products and sweeten the deal with vanilla. But most people seeking out alternatives to cow's milk, for dietary or political reasons wouldn't need the extra sugar and flavoring to switch what they're consuming. The very addition of vanilla to these products, to me, says "We know you're going to probably hate the taste of soy milk (or almond or rice), and we know you love sweet things, so here's a vanilla milk product so you can enjoy it, and get your kids to enjoy it too."


In researching this topic, to see if there were any published articles that answered my query, I came across a boatload of debate over the benefit and dangers of non-dairy milk. It's a confusing and frustrating world to live in as a health-conscious person.... What's best to consume? What's best for farmers? Who do I support? Those are big issues, and not my focus here. (But if you want to educate yourself, check out organicconsumers.org or cornucopia.org. This was one such fascinating article from 2009.)

I have not found any articles on the "vanilla flavoring" subject, yet. Perhaps it's not a health issue at all. I don't think that flavoring these non-dairy milk products has any inherent negative health effects, but it rankles inside me. When I see vanilla-flavored non-dairy milk products for sale, I immediately think how insane it would be if vanilla dairy milk were popular. I think about how even the alternative consumers in America need to be won over with sweet flavors, and how no one questions these products. And then I start thinking, how can any of us change society unless we begin questioning what is marketed to us, questioning where products come from, caring about health effects in future generations (even if only ideological!), using our money to vote for changes in food marketing, and on and on...


(P.S. I have tried this new product from Silk. It is gross.)