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What a massive blind taste test of vegan milk, cheese, and ice cream found — explained in one chart

What people really think about plant-based dairy.

Over the last two decades, the availability of plant-based foods has exploded.

You can get a meat-free patty in your Burger King Whopper if that’s your thing, buy realistic “chicken” nuggets at your local grocery store, or order marbled plant-based steak from food startups. But one animal-free food category has truly escaped containment from the vegan menu: plant-based milk.

Dairy production is a large driver of climate change, and dairy-free alternatives, like oat milk and cashew-based ice cream, haven’t gained enough market share to significantly displace it.

To see how the dairy-free sector can improve, a nonprofit conducted the largest ever blind taste test, pitting plant-based versions of milk, cheese, yogurt, and more against conventional dairy.

The experiment found that, on average, consumers enjoy conventional dairy more than dairy-free products. However, some of the top-performing dairy-free versions came close, demonstrating there’s potential for the plant-based market to further grow.

Milk made from soybeans, oats, almonds — even corn, bananas, peas, or potatoes — or any other plant-based source now accounts for around 15 percent of fluid milk sales in the US. For comparison, sales of plant-based meat make up around just 1 percent of the American meat market.

A new, massive blind taste test might help explain plant-based milk’s notable rise: A lot of people just think it tastes good — in some cases, almost as good, or just as good, as cow’s milk. (Read on to see which products rose to the top.) Other dairy-free products, like plant-based mozzarella and yogurt? A lot less so, the experiment found. The same goes for most plant-based meats, according to a similar blind taste test I wrote about when it was released last year.

Knowing which of these products people like — and dislike — and more importantly, how to make them better, is important, because dairy has a significant environmental footprint. Global dairy production spews about the same amount of climate-warming emissions into the atmosphere as global air travel, and cows’ waste is a major source of water pollution. In dairy farming, cows are also subjected to a number of cruel practices, and the industry comes with threats to human workers, as well. A more sustainable and humane future, then, depends on making all dairy alternatives go mainstream, not just your favorite cow-free milk.

Results of the big dairy-free blind taste test, explained

Late last year, a nonprofit called NECTAR — which researches alternative proteins like plant-based meat and dairy — recruited 2,183 people in San Francisco and New York City to participate in the largest ever blind taste test of dairy-free foods. Six percent of........

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