Ode to soy creamer

I've crossed a threshold I didn't think I would ever cross. I had a line drawn in the sand between me and "those extremist vegetarians", which I placed right before soy creamer.

Now, I am still not an extremist by any means. I don't like seitan. I eat eggs and dairy. I didn't throw away my leather shoes. I wear glass pearls and glass coral beads, even though some think it will increase demand for the real thing.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with doing any of those things, and in fact, I find them admirable in my logical mind. But apparently I've retained some sort of prejudice from the whole 1970s McDonald's soy Communism fiasco. (From what I recall, it was discovered that McD was putting soy in its burgers. People were outraged, as though we were all victims of a subliminal brainwashing plot to make us all Communists.) Mea culpa. That is just silly.

So I thought if I stopped using cream in my morning cup of espresso, somehow that put me into a wholly separate category of vegetarians--those who had forsaken flavor and common sense for militaristic goals. Again, totally silly!

I've been having trouble with dairy due to some bona fide health problems I have, so I decided to give the "soy creamer" that "those vegetarians" kept talking about. I couldn't find it though, despite the hugeness of my grocery store's natural foods department.

I kept using dairy creamer for a while but it kept giving me problems. I realized the solution was right there in front of me--nondairy creamers in the dairy case. There they were, and lots of 'em. Every flavor imaginable. Hmmm.

I tried out this flavor. I am chagrined to admit it does not taste any better or worse than dairy cream!

The only possible critiques I have? It contains corn syrup, which is not marked "non-GMO". There is also a high proportion of sweet flavor to creamer, higher than what I prefer. I compensate by using less.

I don't like flavors in my coffee. I buy good espresso because I like its flavor. Masking it with hazelnut, vanilla, or anything else seems pointless to me. If I was going to do that, I'd just buy cheaper coffee. That's why I settled on this "flavor" of non-dairy creamer--Italian Sweet Creme--it masks the flavor less than the others.

Another prejudice crumbles!