2024 March Board Book

delish

RECIPES

FOOD NEWS

COCKTAILS

TIPS&TOOLS

DINNERS

PUBLISHED: FEB 5, 2024

BY ALLISON ARNOLD

CARLOS DOMINGUEZ

I've never really understood oat milk's appeal. Milk from a cow or a nut makes sense to me. But oats? I want to eat oats, not drink its leftover bath water. Despite my personal qualms, oat milk exploded when the Swedish brand, Oatly, entered the U.S. market in 2016. Deemed a sustainable, dairy-free alternative with a consistency like cow's milk, oat milk has found its way into nearly eve1y grocery store and coffee shop. And despite an Oatly boycott in 2020, oat milk is still the second most popular plant-based milk, behind almond milk, according to AgFunder News. Between 2018 and 2019, oat milk sales grew by 700 percent. Now there are several alternative-milk brands churning out oat milk, but Oatly remains tl1e most notable and also produces oat-based ice cream and cream cheese. Oatmeal might not be tl1e hot health food it once was, but oat derivatives? Sold.

But that could be changing.

While oat milk has had its share of haters over the years, the criticism has reached an all-time high. It's become the villain of tl1e plant-based milk world. Vogue recently published a hit piece called "Goodbye Oat Milk," and people have slammed tl1e drink as "starch juice." Its ingredients have once