I’ve been trying milk substitutes in my tea – it’s a stomach-churning experience
Following my bleating about the ethical complexities of milk, I have been experimenting with plant-based options, prompted by many helpful suggestions from non-dairy evangelists. This has involved numerous sacrifices to the dark lord Tetra Pak, and the kind of side-effects you see on medicine packaging: nausea, dysphagia and vomiting. I’m ultra-sensitive to tannin, but addicted to tea, and plant milks do not seem to neutralise its nausea-inducing effect the way cow’s milk does.
A coconut-based contender, which got rave reviews for its “neutral taste” (if you’ve tried pea milk, you’ll understand), seemed perfect for the first few mouthfuls, but by halfway through my cup, I was rushing to throw up: not the optimum start to the day.
Rice milk – also highly recommended – was oddly reminiscent of those soya desserts my mum’s hippy friends used to pretend were “just like chocolate mousse” when I was little: a lie then and a lie now.
Oat, of course, is the plant milk du jour: a market predicted to be worth $6.8bn (£4.6bn) by 2026. Disinclined to support market leader Oatly with its hard-to-recycle zany “wackaging” (I don’t want to be jollied along by my breakfast, thanks), I went for doorstepdelivery glass bottles. Unfortunately, the sight of this in my morning brew – a chilling, perpetual-motion snowstorm of oat scum, seemingly alive – is stomach-churning.
Now Alpro, a brand that languished on patchouli-scented health-food shop shelves next to flower essences for so long it must be due a comeback, has launched the unpleasantly named, soya-based My Cuppa, specifically targeting the tea problem. I managed one mug of it without even really noticing: the holy grail of a plant milk. The second attempt was less successful. It’s close, but slightly spooky-tasting; the uncanny valley of milk substitutes.
I’m not giving up. Science has offered hope of eradicating malaria and HIV, and given us some highly effective vaccines against Covid in a matter of months. We can even send billionaires into space (please, let’s do more of that). Surely a non-dairy liquid that does not turn tea into a curdled, nightmarish broth is within our grasp?
• Emma Beddington is a Guardian columnist
Actor and director LinManuel Miranda has apologized for failing to adequately represent Afro-Latinos in his latest musical project, In the Heights, that is centered on New York’s Latino communities.
The Hamilton star posted a note to social media on Monday acknowledging that casting for his latest project, set in the diverse neighborhood of Washington Heights in upper Manhattan, had lapsed into colorism, broadly defined as prejudice or discrimination against darker skin tones within the same racial group.
“In trying to paint a mosaic of this community, we fell short,” Miranda said in the statement, two days after the film opened at the box office and online.
Miranda, who produced and stars in the film which is based on his smash Broadway hit, posted the apology after the film’s director, Jon Chu, and cast members Melissa Barrera and Leslie Grace were interviewed about casting choices in the film.
Grace told the Root that until she made the film she hadn’t recognized that she “didn’t really get to see myself or people that look like my siblings that are darker than me on screen”.
Chu added: “We’re not going to get everything right in a movie, we tried our best on all fronts of it.”
In his apology, Miranda said: “It is clear that many in our dark-skinned Afro-Latino community don’t feel sufficiently represented within it, particularly among the leading roles.”
Miranda continued: “I can hear the hurt and frustration over colorism, of feeling unseen in the feedback. I hear that without sufficient dark-skinned Afro-Latino representation, the work feels extractive of the community we wanted so much to represent with pride and joy.
“I’m trying to hold space for both the incredible pride in the movie we made and be accountable for our shortcomings,” Miranda added. “I promise to do better in my future projects, and I’m dedicated to the learning and evolving we all have to do to make sure we are honoring our diverse and vibrant community.”