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Comment by brimble | Hacker News Reader

Yes, of course they do, the alternative milk market is growing fast but most people still go for cow milk if they want milk. That's why grocery stores still devote a ton of space to cow milk.

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I guess it depends on where you are. Here in Sweden it’s about 50/50 (if you take into account the non-refrigerated milks).

Here (mid-tier city in the US) it's more like 80/20 or 90/10 at any normal grocery store, and I suspect there's higher product turn-over for dairy so the actual sales figures favors dairy more than that suggests.

Sweden was the 4th highest consumer of milk per capita in 2013. Unfortunately that seems to be the most recent data.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_milk_cons...

Of course it depends on where you in Sweden you are. The super market in the the more affluent part of a large city where I live is about 50/50. Out in the 'sticks' where my parents live it's much closer 80/20

I'm relatively well informed but I always just assumed oat "milk" was an inferior substitute marketed to the actively or wannabe lactose intolerant. [EDIT: and vegans of course.] (No idea if "wannabe lactose intolerant" is really a thing, but i'm thinking of the way gluten sensitivity became a faddish self-diagnosis for a while.)

I still don't drink the stuff, but it's only dawned on me in the last year that there are other reasons, such as environmental concerns or ... actually, I'm not sure. Opening two tabs to Google "oat milk why" and "oat milk why site:reddit.com" now, which conveniently makes this relevant to TFA :)

I use cow milk in my coffee and almond milk in my bland cereal of choice. I’m not lactose intolerant, but too much milk definitely feels “heavy”. The almond milk plus some sultanas substitutes nicely and is very cheap. Mostly its not for the taste, it just makes breakfast easy and efficient so I can focus on fancy stuff later in the day.

Non refrigerated milk can still be from cows.

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