There’s so much interesting history with plant-milks! For the west, almond milk has an especially long history. Here’s an article about how there was a whole sensation around it in medieval Europe
Outside the west, soy milk has a very long history too.
A tofu broth (doufujiang) c. 1365 was used during the Mongol Yuan.[1][2] As doujiang, this drink remains a common watery form of soy milk in China, usually prepared from fresh soybeans. The compendium of Materia Medica, which was completed in 1578, also has an evaluation of soymilk. Its use increased during the Qing dynasty, apparently due to the discovery that gently heating doujiang for at least 90 minutes hydrolyzed or helped to break down its undesirable raffinose and stachyose, oligosaccharides, which can cause flatulence and digestive pain among lactose-intolerant adults.[14][15] By the 18th century, it was common enough that street vendors were hawking it;[16] in the 19th, it was also common to take a cup to tofu shops to get hot, fresh doujiang for breakfast. It was already often paired with youtiao, which was dipped into it.[17]
There’s so much interesting history with plant-milks! For the west, almond milk has an especially long history. Here’s an article about how there was a whole sensation around it in medieval Europe
Outside the west, soy milk has a very long history too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soy_milk#History