You're the only one talking about niche/specialty products though. Not denying that those products require extensive research, but I doubt that those products alone are responsible for the considerable markup on the typical alternative milk products, which truly are closer to "oats blended in water", and probably make up a majority of sales.
Most retail nut milk is actually mixed with a variety of gums and other texture enhancers.
Fresh, homemade oat milk is actually really easy to make by that process, but store-bought oat milk needs to have consistent flavor and texture/mouth-feel. So there is a bit more that goes into it.
This is also true of other non-dairy milks. That’s why I only use Trader Joe’s or Westsoy shelf-stable soy milk for making yogurt. No gums.
These are industry standard additives, that are trivial to develop recipes for. The research involved is minimal, and wouldn't represent a significant portion of the business.
I believe they also put a lot of resources into research
Oat milk is just oats blended in water. The research is minimal. The marketing is where they put most of their money.
Jokes on them, I’ll still only refer to it as oatmeal
I think there is a huge difference in the thing you are describing and e.g the oatly barista.
There are a lot of oat milks that taste very different or not at all. To get the right taste and consistency, you need some research.
You're the only one talking about niche/specialty products though. Not denying that those products require extensive research, but I doubt that those products alone are responsible for the considerable markup on the typical alternative milk products, which truly are closer to "oats blended in water", and probably make up a majority of sales.
Most retail nut milk is actually mixed with a variety of gums and other texture enhancers.
Fresh, homemade oat milk is actually really easy to make by that process, but store-bought oat milk needs to have consistent flavor and texture/mouth-feel. So there is a bit more that goes into it.
This is also true of other non-dairy milks. That’s why I only use Trader Joe’s or Westsoy shelf-stable soy milk for making yogurt. No gums.
These are industry standard additives, that are trivial to develop recipes for. The research involved is minimal, and wouldn't represent a significant portion of the business.
Plus vegans will pay anything in order to imagine themselves as being better than meat eaters.
I don't think this is the case. Vegans are likely to spend less money on food.