Everyone Is Entitled To My Opinion- On Milk

Dear Friends,

      Food, a subject I can really sink my teeth into, sorry it just had to be said, by me. Now, let us get serious, when you talk versatile food is there anything more versatile than milk? First thing in the morning how many of us enjoy a nice cold glass of milk? Those of us that have been around long enough remember milk being delivered to the house in glass bottles, you brought those bottles in, shook them vigorously mixing the crème, which had risen to the top, into the milk. Back to versatile; add chocolate syrup and you have chocolate milk, heat it and you have hot chocolate, other flavors are available. Milk can be churned into butter; it is the basis of sour cream, cream cheese, whipped cream, and ice cream. Creamy soups would not be the same without milk. In 1973 the FDA defined milk as; the lacteal secretion free from colostrums, obtained by the complete milking of one or more healthy cows.

Along came soy, almond, and coconut milk and by 2010 they were being consumed in 2/5 of the homes in the United States, by 2016 1/3 of households at 1.5 billion dollars annually, and by 2020 2.4 billion. This year (2023) the FDA ruled that soy milk, almond milk, and coconut milk may be sold as milk in that it is not confusing anyone. By the time I was twelve I was working on a dairy farm mucking stalls, feeding cows, and milking cows and I can tell you, without reservation, that milk is extracted from cows, goats and other such animals by a careful manipulation of the teats and squirting the milk into a bucket. On the dairy farm this is accomplished by washing the teats and the use of a milking machine capable of milking a hundred cows in an hour. Soy, almonds, and coconuts do not have teats, they do not give you milk, I will concede to calling them juice but not milk.

      On a hot summer day, after a long day in the sun, I don’t know how you feel but I want to set down to a bowl of real ice cream, creamy, cold, melt in your mouth ice cream, versatile ice cream. Slice a banana and add three scoops of ice cream, syrup, nuts, whipped cream and you have a banana split. Milk as it should be and nuts as they should be, eaten with glee.