Non-dairy food and drink is made without cow’s milk and the things that come from it — no milk, no butter, no cream, no cheese in the recipe. Cafés use it for oat, soy, or almond drinks; packets use it so people with a milk allergy, or who avoid milk for other reasons, can see the food is safe for them. Though actually, “no lactose” is not the same thing: a drink can still be dairy if it is milk with the lactose taken out. Eggs are not dairy either, even though they sit near the milk in the shop; dairy is the milk family, not “everything from a farm animal.” The word is everyday now on menus and labels, not fancy.