GOT BEANS?
The New Mustache: Reimagining "Got Milk?"
In 1993, the California Milk Processor Board launched "Got Milk?"—an advertising campaign that would become a defining cultural touchstone of the decade. Featuring iconic celebrities wearing stark white milk mustaches, the initiative was built to combat declining dairy consumption and cement cow’s milk as an indispensable daily health necessity. For decades, the dairy industry stood unquestioned as the ultimate symbol of nourishment, vitality, and American pop culture.
Thirty-three years later, our understanding of food systems, climate impact, and nutrition has fundamentally shifted.
A series of milk mustache portraits presents a playful yet critical contemporary response to that iconic legacy. Created by food experience designer Inés Lauber during an interactive residency workshop at the Food Design Playground in June 2026, The Bean Bar invited visitors to step into a nostalgic 1950s soda fountain, sip on artisanal pea-and-bean-based floats, and strike a pose in a pop-up photo studio.
The portraits on display showcase five from a series of ten joyful results: guests sporting proud, creamy pea milk mustaches.
By swapping dairy for plant protein, this project uses humor, desire, and 90s nostalgia to challenge the status quo of the industrial dairy complex. Legumes—rich in protein, locally grown, and gentle on the planet—are no longer just humble pantry staples; they are the heroes of our food future. Here, the white mustache is reclaimed not as a tool for big dairy, but as an interactive badge of honor for a smarter, sustainable, and deliciously fun way to eat.
The artworks are part of the exhibtion on food and design during EDIBLE: FOOD+DESIGN CONFLUENCE BELGIUM 2026