[Sunny So Cal]

I agree. And once that weirdness appeared on the milk that'd gone off, someone had to decide to eat it. I guess the items that didn't make people vomit were worth making more of? The same with wheat. Someone had to decide to grind that up and turn it into bread. Or smash grapes and leave them for far too long and now you've got wine. Interesting. It's all stuff that thousands of years later is still being consumed and coveted.

[foot-loose]

Plus, you need to add whey to milk to make cheese don't you? Who worked that out?

And some sorta bacteria to milk to get yogurt. It's not as straight forward as it seems. Again - it interests me.

The way that I bet hardly anyone reading this has any idea on how to actually make cheese - let alone actually having done it. A few hundred years back, a lot more people would know how to make it. It's the same with a lot of things, I suppose.

[Sunny So Cal]

Coagulated milk, bacteria and mold -- eat up! Strange, isn't it? Not unlike hybrid fruits and vegetables. Who decided to marry produce to come up with totally new edibles?? Broccoflower? Or those brilliant Purple Majesty potatoes. They're actually quite tasty and super high in antioxidants but every time I serve them I feel like I should be pouring blue milk and shouting, "Luke! Luuuuuke!"

[MK Chris]

I agree, there are loads of things that you could wonder how people of old discovered or invented things too.

Cheese is the greatest discovery in the history of the world.

It's not totally related, but I remember reading this a while ago, which interested me.

[Yudster]

All the more interesting when you take on board the fact that milk is a substance produced by mammals to feed their young - each species produces the stuff to suit their species and their species only, and it is intended as a food for infants to be discarded on weaning (which is why, naturally, lactation stops once the infant is eating solid food). Not only are we as a society fixated on food which is for babies, it isn't even food which is for our species.

I'm not a believer in dairy. I bet you couldn't tell.

[Boboff]

There is a point of view which holds that the human body can't absorb calcium in milk or dairy products after we are 12 moths old in any event. It was the chap who did the detox fruit smoothie type diet that came up with it I think, so Yuds is not alone in her antidissatdairyism.

[Yudster]

If we were bovine, it might make sense. Personally, I'm not, I can't speak for the rest of you!

[foot-loose]

Not only are we as a society fixated on food which is for babies, it isn't even food which is for our species.

Fixated? I like a drink of milk now and then, but I wouldn't say I or anyone I know (other than Viv) is fixated on it! I think milk is a lot more natural and a much healthier source of nutrients than a lot of things you can buy in a supermarket!

[MK Chris]

Plus, cheese is fantastic.

Yudwuk, do you eat cakes, etc? They all have milk in, surely?

[foot-loose]

Plus, what defines what is a food for our species?

[Yudster]

Plus, cheese is fantastic.

Yudwuk, do you eat cakes, etc? They all have milk in, surely?

Er - none of the cake recipes I use have any milk in! Not that it would worry me if they did. I'm not saying we shouldn't use it, but to treat it as a necessary and vital part of good nutrition for weaned humans seems bizarre to me, thats all.

[MK Chris]

Most cereal is horrible without milk.

[Yudster]

I'm not a big fan of cereals etiher......!

[catherine]

Ah you can't have toast with out any butter, scones with out any cream or tea with out any milk. Just not nice.

[MK Chris]

I'm not a big fan of cereals etiher......!

Well.. neither am I to be fair, but it's got to have milk (or cream) on if I'm going to eat it.

I remember as a kid when we used to get milk delivered by the local dairy, I'd get up early especially, so I could nick the cream at the top of the silver top milk.

My brother has milk on his cakes, when normal people would have cream (if anything). That is weird.

Ah you can't have toast with out any butter

Toast should be buttered as soon as it's come out the toaster / grill, so the toast is still warm enough to melt the butter (though I prefer margarine anyway.)

[Yudster]

Ah you can't have toast with out any butter, scones with out any cream or tea with out any milk. Just not nice.

I will happily admit to a bit of semi-skimmed in my tea. And if I were having a cream tea, I would go with the clotted cream. Like I said, I'm not saying don't eat dairy - just that its weird to regard it as nutritionally correct to do so, let alone crucial. As for toast, I find butter and dairy spreads too oily, I prefer something like the Sainsbury's olive oil spread I'm using at the moment.

Mmmmm, toast.

[foot-loose]

I'm not a big fan of cereals etiher......!

I prefer films myself.

[MK Chris]

I thought you went to the doctors if you got a mere scratch on your arm?

[Andy B]

I'm double hard, I hardly ever get ill and I've never broken a bone in my body but I get through 4 pints of milk a day so that would explain it, I need tungsten tipped nail cutters!

[Nicola_Red]

Ah you can't have toast with out any butter, scones with out any cream or tea with out any milk. Just not nice.

and you can make all those things out of soya! Seriously, managing without dairy is easy when you adjust your thinking. I'm not suggesting everyone should give it up forthwith on my advice, just be a little more broad-minded.

[Sunny So Cal]

I agree, Nicola, and it's a lot healthier, too. Mind you, I read an article about milk one time and that was it. Never had another glass.
*shudders*

[Yudster]

Soya, hmmm. Problem with soya is that there is no soya production in the world which is not directly or indirectly genetically modified. Not an issue for everyone, I know, but it is for me.

[Yudster]

Well I eat bacon, but I've usually met the pig beforehand. We have some good farms round here.

[Andy B]

Does that mean you won't eat those bacon things that come in jars that you put on salads, or cheese on toast? Or in my case eat straight from the jar.

Do you use a spoon or do you just shovel them in with your hand, or worse just upend the jar into your mouth?

[ladbroke]

Toast should be buttered as soon as it's come out the toaster / grill, so the toast is still warm enough to melt the butter (though I prefer margarine anyway.)

Buttered when it's hot, but with real butter (Anchor or Lurpak). The toast in my opinion should be fresh white bread-and so much butter it almost forms a puddle on top............ a complete mystery why I'm a fat bastard