Legume-Based Dairy Substitutes: From Traditional Food to Recent Findings

Reducing the consumption of animal-based food is becoming the recommended, new life-style, being encouraged by health experts and by the World Health Organization (WHO). The demand for meat and dairy-free substitutes is increasing considerably and diversification of affordable alternative protein sources is needed as a sustainable strategy. Many alternative proteins emerged in the last decade, from traditional (legumes, cereal, nuts) to novel sources (cultural cell, mycelium, algae, air protein and insects). However, traditional sources are still the most requested by consumers. Myriad varieties of dairy substitute (DS) have been launched lately in the market out of which legume-based DS proved to be more nutritious than cereal and nuts-based DS. However, DS are still far from being considered a substitution of their conventional counterparts, from a nutritional perspective, which creates a market gap in the supply of nutritious food. This review gives insights of the today consumers demand and the market of DS and summarizes the diverse traditional legume-based DS available worldwide, as well as the legumes types and new technologies that have been applied in the production of beverage, yogurt, cheese, ice cream and butter substitutes on a lab scale. Legumes proved to still be the most convenient alternative to be considered for DS.