Hence, I drink milk. Although water is the only beverage for which we have a physiological need, beyond our own human milk when we're young, it is certainly convenient and tasty to be able to make creamy, nutrient-rich milk from nuts, grains, legumes and seeds.

No cholesterol, no lactose, no casein, no harmful saturated fat, no pregnant female who will subsequently lose her offspring, as well as her life.

I also eat butter, which has more to do with fat than animal fluids - as in "peanut butter" or "cocoa butter." The butter I eat is simply made from the fat of plants rather than animals.

I even eat meat, which comes from the Old English word "mete," which originally referred to solid food rather than a beverage. This history is still evident in our language when we say "coconut meat" or the "meat of a nut," and it is in that vein that I embrace and consume meat made from plants.

Far from fake, these foods reside in the major plant kingdoms from which we derive much of our pleasure and most of our nutrition. In using words that celebrate the plant foods of the world, we normalize the healthful, humane way of eating called "vegan."

With a Perspective, this is Colleen Patrick-Goudreau.

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau is an Oakland-based vegan author and educator.