The Cows Got Competition



Cows, the old way

 I just returned from our daughter’s house in Atlanta and tasted my first almond milk.

It was smooth, nutritious, tasty—same Vitamin D and calcium as cow’s—25% and 30% respectively, and lower in calories, only 60 a cup.   (2% cow’s is 130).   Coconut, which she also happen to have, is sweet with a tangy flavor like coconut yogurt, has 80—but almond, made from crushed roasted almonds, water, and vitamins, only comes in at 60.

Sixty?  

Even Dr. Oz would go for that, and it's perfect for those with lactose intolerance searching around for a substitute.

And substitutes--gotta shake them well to get the calcium flowing--are flooding the market.  There's soy, rice, coconut, hazelnuts, and even hemp milk.  Hemp?  Maybe in my spare time I can also weave a shirt.  And if I cook it, I can get high...

As for almonds, Whole Foods produces its own brand while Almond Breeze and Silk Pure Almond battle it out in the dairy case like Coke and Pepsi.

             
Barry Lovelance, fitness trainer and owner of a gym in Allentown, Pa., says he and his wife sometimes have to go to two or three stores to find it.  When they do, they drink as many as six half gallon containers in a week. “We will buy three vanilla and three chocolate at a time, as long as they have it.”

So what am I doing wrong?   How come I never noticed it before?   I amble into a store blinded by habit, searching for the same products I’ve been buying since Lincoln was assassinated.  Yet, there are hundreds of new foods introduced every year, and I'm told lots of them fail because others got the same disease I do, grabbing the usual—unless someone offers me a sample or I visit a home that serving something recently invented.

But hey, it's easy to change.  How many lovely houses have I toured and gushed at the décor when I should’ve asked, “Can I peek at your pantry, shelves, refrigerator, and leftover servings?   Whaja have last night to eat?  Serve anything fantastic lately?”

It's almost an instinct.

During cavemen times, didn’t the men go out hunting while the women stayed home taking care of the kids and gathering edibles around them?

So the next time I enter the supermarket, I’ll walk a little slower, and when the package says NEW, and fructose and red dye #4 aren't the main ingredients, I'll slip it into my basket.   If it’s good, I made a find and will announce it to the world.  If it’s not, I lost a couple bucks, and you’ll still hear about it, believe me.

Everyone will.