# Product Names

There have been arguments put forth that vegan products should not use the same names as animal products. Most of these arguments claim that they are misleading. For example:\
Coconut **milk** and soy **milk** are different from cow's **milk**.\
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However, what doesn't make sense with this argument is that many, many things have names that are used in animal products today without any contest, such as:\
Peanut **butter**, **cream** of wheat, **milk** of magnesia, the **Milky** Way, **cream** of the crop, **cream** of coconut... Indeed, hot **dogs** are not made from dogs.\
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As well, many of the products whose names are being criticized today have had these names for a long, long time. So why is it only a problem now?

> Soya milk has been called this since 1897. Coconut milk since 1698. Rice milk since 1914. Almond milk since the 14th century. Oat milk is the exception which had its name coined in the 1994.

Plant milks have been used all over the world for millennia. Native Americans made milk from nuts. Coconut milk has been a central part of Southeast Asian, African, Indian cuisines. Almond milk was called milk in medieval Europe. Cow's milk didn't really catch on in China, but a precursor to soy milk called doufujian did in the 14th century.\
[https://qr.ae/proSNj](https://qr.ae/proSNj)\
[https://www.veganfoodandliving.com/features/a-brief-history-of-plant-milks/](https://www.veganfoodandliving.com/features/a-brief-history-of-plant-milks/)\
[http://usfoodpolicy.blogspot.com/2018/07/how-old-is-term-coconut-milk.html](http://usfoodpolicy.blogspot.com/2018/07/how-old-is-term-coconut-milk.html)\
[https://twitter.com/binaryape/status/1611775829049999362](https://twitter.com/binaryape/status/1611775829049999362)\
[https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/nut-milks-are-milk-says-almost-every-culture-across-globe-180970008/](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/nut-milks-are-milk-says-almost-every-culture-across-globe-180970008/)

The argument becomes quite ridiculous quite fast. I'll leave this article with this gem:

> I can’t believe they call them Fish Fingers, when it is common knowledge that fish do not have any fingers.
