Modern consumers are now demanding ethical alternatives to animal-based food products. But this market has a reputation for a lot of expense and not a lot of taste.

Rebel Kitchen is trying to buck that trend with their coconut-based dairy alternatives. So what’s the deal with Rebel Kitchen mylk, and why should we pay attention?

Who Are Rebel Kitchen?

Rebel Kitchen grew from ‘the A-Team Foundation’, a charity which aims to make food more sustainable. The charity route to impact was slow and cumbersome so Rebel Kitchen founders, Tamara and Ben Arbib, decided that more direct action was needed.

And so Rebel Kitchen was born. It’s an ethical and sustainable business through and through. It’s the ideal platform to spread Tamara and Ben’s messages about eating healthy, organic, fresh foods.

Rebel Kitchen aims to change the world’s approach to health, the way food is made and how food businesses operate.

Rebel Kitchen for Social Good

Businesses trying to change the current way we eat do exist. But they are often pushed to one side by powerful market leaders. The ones intent on dominating the market with large-scale factory farming and cheap food.

Young companies aiming for social good, health and animal rights often can’t compete with these big brands on price. But Rebel Kitchen are fighting back. They’re pushing the agenda for environmentally friendly and health conscious folk. And they’re introducing newbies to the benefits with an affordable dairy-free milk.

How Are Rebel Kitchen Driving Positive Change?

Rebel Kitchen say their Mylk tastes like real milk. And they’re right. Many people don’t like the taste of dairy-free products. And there’s no point trying to sell a product that isn’t delicious.

On top of selling a great product, Rebel Kitchen is a certified B-corp and 1% for the Planet member.

A B-Corp company is measured against strict criteria of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency. It’s a certification for a sustainable business much like the Fair Trade certification for coffee, tea, chocolate and bananas.

And 1% for the Planet? That’s an international scheme where businesses donate 1% of their sales to environmental not-for-profit partners. 1% for the Planet is a credible and accessible way businesses can support the environment.

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Dairy?

The dairy industry is massive. There are 270 million milk-producing cows across the world. And the majority of these are factory-farmed.

Most milk-producing cows are kept indoors, often all year round. They calve every year, and often the calf is removed from it’s mother within hours so we can take her milk.

When a cow is unable to conceive, is emaciated or lame, it’s sent to slaughter – usually after no more than five years. There are no lush meadows, buttercups or delicate milkmaids involved.

The dairy industry also uses huge amounts of land for mono-crop culture to feed its intensively farmed animals. Mono-crops kill off diversity in plant life. This in turn reduces available food and habitat for wildlife and bees.

Our demand for cheap milk, cheese, and yogurt is overwhelming the basic principle of eating good healthy foods. It’s also undermining our planet.

What Exactly Is in the Rebel Kitchen Range?

Here’s a quick rundown of what’s currently available in the Rebel Kitchen range.

Coconut Mylk

This dairy free milk alternative is split into full-fat, semi-skimmed and skimmed varieties with blue, green and red tops – just like traditional dairy milk. Mylk contains spring water, coconut cream, Himalayan salt, brown rice, cashews, and nutritional yeast. The full-fat version has more coconut cream than the semi-skimmed and so on.

Coconut Water

Taken from young, green coconuts. It looks pink because of the naturally occurring antioxidants.

Coconut Yogurt

Rebel Kitchen’s yogurt contains young coconut meat, spring water, coconut cream and coconut butter. It also contains live, vegan yogurt cultures.

Coconut Mylk Drinks

These come in two varieties for different ages. Little Rebels Mylk drinks are available in vanilla, chocolate, and banana flavours. They contain spring water, coconut milk, date nectar and cacao.

For adults, Big Rebels Mylk drinks contains the same ingredients with added coffee, chai spices, green tea or chocolate.

Is Rebel Kitchen Mylk a Sustainable Solution to Dairy?

The ingredients are organic, all-natural, vegan and ethically sourced. Their packing is fully recyclable so takes less of a toll on the environment.

There are no refined sugars, stabilisers, nasty fats or chemicals that adversely affect human health. They’re not wildly expensive and they taste great.

This sounds like a perfect sustainable dairy alternative to me!

My Opinion on Rebel Kitchen’s Dairy-Free Mylk

I’m a vegan so I haven’t tasted animal milk in years. And if I’m honest, I don’t like plant-based milks that much either because they generally taste of cardboard.

But Mylk is different, it’s very creamy and not at all like cardboard. In fact, it’s so creamy I wasn’t sure to start with because it was a bit too much like cow’s milk.

In tea it’s good; you only need a little. In coffee and on cereal you need a bit more and it certainly cuts out the need for sugar. The yogurts are really lovely too.

Not wanting to hog the limelight I gave one of the chocolate drinks to my seven-year-old son. He loves chocolate, so this was a real test of Mylk’s merit.

His opinion?

“Not bad. Can I have another?” He then sat down and drew a copy of the packaging as it was “really cool”.

The Little Mylk drinks are free from refined sugar and are excellent news for parents who have sweet-drink loving kids.

The calcium levels are lower than standard milk, so it’s not really a replacement for young kids who still need milk. But as a substitute for sugary drinks, it’s spot on. Not to mention a great example of environmentally friendly consumerism.

Is Rebel Kitchen Worth the Money?

Rebel Kitchen is onto a good thing. Any company that takes the pressure off animals in the food chain and supports our struggling environment deserves respect and support.

Mylk costs more than cheap factory-farmed cow’s milk because quality always costs more. Currently, a litre of semi-skimmed Mylk is £3 in Sainsbury’s whereas generic semi-skimmed dairy milk is about £1 a litre.

There’s a big difference in price but also in the product. Rebel Kitchen Mylk is cruelty-free, environmentally friendly and healthy. They have outstanding ethical business motives, sustainable ideals and recyclable packaging.

Spending a little more to create a lot of change for the better doesn’t have to be hard on your bank account.

In a climate where food bills increase each month but salaries don’t, substituting just half your weekly dairy consumption for Mylk can make a difference to your health and the environment.

We need to support initiatives like this. Without them our current downward slide into poor health and a damaged planet won’t ever stop.

So it’s a big thumbs up to Rebel Kitchen. I’m converted!