18 pages, via Online Journal, Plant-based milk alternatives–or mylks–have surged in popularity over the past ten years. We consider the politics and consumer subjectivities fostered by mylks as part of the broader trend towards ‘plant-based’ food. We demonstrate how mylk companies inherit and strategically deploy positive framings of milk as wholesome and convenient, as well as negative framings of dairy as environmentally damaging and cruel, to position plant-based as the ‘better’ alternative. By navigating this affective landscape, brands attempt to (re)make mylk as simultaneously palatable and disruptive to the status quo. We examine the politics of mylks through the concept of palatable disruption, where people are encouraged to care about the environment, health, and animal welfare enough to adopt mylks but to ultimately remain consumers of a commodity food. By encouraging consumers to reach for “plant-based” as a way to cope with environmental catastrophe and a life out of balance, mylks promote a neoliberal ethic: they individualize systemic problems and further entrench market mechanisms as solutions, thereby reinforcing the political economy of industrial agriculture. In conclusion, we reflect on the limits of the current plant-based trend for transitioning to more just and sustainable food production and consumption.
Clement, Wendell E. (author), Havas, Nick (author), Hunter, James Scott (author), and Market Development Branch, Agricultural Marketing Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; Market Development Branch, Agricultural Marketing Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; Market Development Branch, Agricultural Marketing Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Format:
Report
Publication Date:
1958
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 34 Document Number: B03627
Notes:
Washington, D.C. : U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service, Marketing Research Division, 1958. 58 p. (U.S. Department of Agriculture. Marketing Research Report no. 292)
Collins, Ronald K.L. (author) and Center for Science in the Public Interest, Washington, D.C.
Format:
Commentary
Publication Date:
1998-02
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 151 Document Number: C24431
Notes:
Retrieved July 7, 2006, From the Baltimore Sun (Maryland) via CSPI. 3 pages., In the interest of First Amendment protection, author says "it is essential that existing food-disparagement laws be rejected in the courts and legislatures of this land."
