Tuesday, March 01, 2011

As good a point as this is, I believe I'll pass.

LabRat raises a sensible question regarding various reactions to the shop selling human milk ice cream in The Place Where Great Britain Used To Be:
I’ve got limited comment- for one, human milk is higher in fat and MUCH higher in milk sugar than cow milk, so this is likely to be a very rich, sweet ice cream, and for two, I don’t get why it’s not disgusting to give a baby but apparently is terrible to give anyone else.
Which is a good point, but I'm perfectly comfortable with my irrational prejudices: It's okay for grownups to drink stuff from a cow's boobs but not a human's, we can eat piggies but not horsies, and we stand up for the Allelulia chorus of Handel's Messiah because That's Just How It Is Done.

42 comments:

bluesun said...

Just sing loudly "TRADITIOOOOOOON, TRADITION! TRADITIOOOON, TRADITION!" like Tevya.

Somethings just is.

TBeck said...

What would you call a latte flavored with the stuff; expresso?

og said...

Horse is good. Breast milk is not as good. If cows were uniformly fast wed be riding them and slaughtering horses, and never know the difference.

og said...

Horse milk, by the way, is also quite good.

og said...

Wonder if the spam filters will delete all this like usual. WV: tardsc. Tard spam captcha.

Joanna said...

Oh, cultural taboos. So many possibilities ...

Shrimp said...

Ehh, I view like this: As long as you're not forcing me to buy it (or not buy it), I'm not forcing you to not buy it (or buy it).

If there's a market for it, it'll sell. If the mom's donating their milk are all consenting adults, who cares?

Of course, I'm a little strange. I think the Korean takeout place ought to be able to offer cat and dog on the menu if they can get it, if that is what they serve in their homeland. Of course, how they get it better be ethical/legal. Doesn't mean I'll eat it, but I might be tempted to try it.

WV: deming--sort of like slumming, only it involves voting.

NotClauswitz said...

Cow, horse, goat, human - just don't squeeze that SOYlent-green crap or inanimate almonds into milk!

DaveFla said...

TBeck for the win!

davidc said...

I like mine straight from the source !

DJ said...

Now, give a moment of thought to where chicken eggs come from.

I've done more than think about it. I've watched chicken eggs come from there, and I still buy 'em and eat 'em.

So, I don't get grossed out about ice cream made from human milk.

Mmmm ... ice cream ...

Anonymous said...

Now if the girls at Starbucks could eat a whole bunch of sugar, run around the block in the cold, and come up with fresh whipped cream for a mocha, *that* could work.

(Yes, I kid, even though I'll probably go to hell for that one just the same) (Tasty mocha in hand)

Jim

Kristophr said...

From my World of Warcraft guild MOTD ( prolly written by either Labrat or Stingray ):

The first man to milk a cow ... wtf was he doing there?

JohnMXL said...

Beef liver? Cow's blood filter.

Tripe? Cow's stomach lining.

Chitlins? Pig's intestines.

Mountain Oysters? Animal testicles.

And people are bent out of shape over breast milk ice cream?

Gotta taste better than ice cream made from soy-based infant formula!

Sabra said...

And people are bent out of shape over breast milk ice cream?

Not COW breast milk ice cream. Just human breast milk ice cream. I think it's funny, but I'm not volunteering to contribute.

Anonymous said...

I like where Davidc is coming from, and besides:
"It comes in such *CUTE* containers!"

Formerflyer
who is even now regretting this comment. . . .

Andy said...

Sabra ... Oh for the love of Pete. I've been hearing about human breast milk icecream since the weekend and hadnt thought much about it, dunno why it is but your comment made my mind do a mental contextual mash/flash on what a human breast milk factory farm would look like, women in stalls hooked up to mechanical milkers and wearing feed bags ... herds of women being corraled to the barn for milking .... congress debating which department should regulate working conditions, should they be allowed to unionize, creation of a new government regulatory department. The dept. of agriculture grading produce specifications for standards ... to protect the consumer ofcourse ... taxing sales ... way too much to type flashed through my head in less than a second, almost fell out of my chair. My brain is still winding down after work lol.

Matt G said...

I'm a father twice over. Of course I've tasted breast milk. It's extremely sweet, and rich.* I'm frankly shocked that it's not more common.

When Louis and Clark hired some native American guides to help them across the Great Divide, the
Indians told them to buy more horses and dogs from the Indian tribes. They used the horses to carry more food and supplies as they went over the mountains. Then as food grew scarce, they began eating the dogs. Then, as dogs grew scarce, they began eating the horses. This was all according to the Injun's plan; this was How It Was Done. The white men in the Corps Of Discovery were disgusted. Some, like Lewis, were from a Virginian horse culture that was very heavily indoctrinated in them.

_____________________
*I also note that my kids grew ridiculously quickly on the stuff, and were very healthy babies.

perlhaqr said...

Andy: Hey, it's got to be more ethical than getting it from cows. Even if one works under the typical "animals are here for our use" paradigm, a human female can give explicit consent to be there.

I can't imagine what they'd have to charge to make it cost effective though.

loren said...

The Brits problem (as the article said) was same species consumption, They have the same problem with cow waste being fed to cows, since it led to Mad Cow Disease. Cannibals found they were dying off from transmitted diseases too.
The Brits may have given themselves a nanny state, but this is a sound law.

LabRat said...

I'd buy the same-species argument more if it weren't for the fact that tuberculosis can be transmitted through cow milk, as can anthrax through cow or goat milk. That's why we pasteurize, but it cannot be the cultural reason for the taboo.

Reason for legal approach, sure, but that's why the donors had to pass blood tests

Anonymous said...

LabRat--A nitpick, you get M. bovis from cows, not M tb.. But, yeah, they are both mycobacteria that attack the lungs and give you pretty much the same symptoms, so.

Maura said...

Humans are the only species on the planet that drink the milk of another species, and also the only species that drinks milk beyond childhood.

*food for thought*

DJ said...

"Humans are the only species on the planet ... that drinks milk beyond childhood."

Did you ever watch an adult cat drink milk?

Tam said...

loren,

"The Brits may have given themselves a nanny state, but this is a sound law."

Yeah, same-species consumption is a no-go. We should outlaw breast-feeding...

Maura said...

Adult cats only drink milk that is given to them by us - humans. Cats do not, as a habit, walk up to cows and start suckling ( but then again, I'm a city girl... )
I just think it's an interesting point. Only humans drink another species' milk. *shrug*

Anonymous said...

Maura
Cats do drink milk straight from the cows udders when they can. Milk from any species is very good for you.And yes city girl you need to get back to the roots of where and how peaple have existed for many decades.

DJ said...

Your statement was unqualified, Maura. Cats do drink milk of other species.

Shrug all you want.

Anonymous said...

Am I the only one wondering if this post and yesterday's regarding the free ice cream machine being down for "maintenance" are in any way related?

Matt G said...

"Only humans drink another species' milk. *shrug*"

I can think of at least one case of interspecies milk consumption. I doubt that's the only case.

Cond0011 said...

Well... certain ants feed on the sugary honeydew left behind by aphids.

http://insects.about.com/od/coolandunusualinsects/f/antsandaphids.htm

Cow milk for me please.

If the digestive tract allows for adult consumption of lactose (through thousands of generations of natural selection), you might as well use it.

Besides there is Ice Cream...

og said...

"If the digestive tract allows for adult consumption of lactose (through thousands of generations of natural selection), you might as well use it"

Indeed! I'd be awfuly upset if I couldn't have a nice slice of Wensleydale. Or the cheese, either.

This is NOT true of all humans. lactase persistance (the ability to produce lactose digesting enzymes into adulthood) is common in europeans and by inference most Americans, wheras Japanese tend to genetically be more lactose intolerant- though culturally, the increase of milk products in Japan is not causing any apparent difficulty.

Cats will most certaily seek out spilled milk in a dairy, and will stand and wait for you to squirt milk at them from the udder while milking. Cats when feeling comfy will do a knewading thing withtheir front paws which is a carryover from stimulating milk production in the mothers.

I have seen with my own eyes coyotes gleefully chewing away at the udders of a goat they had taken down. The only thing stopping animals from drinking milk is apparently opposable thumbs. yes, a monkey will milk a cow if shown how, and drink the milk. Google it.

DJ said...

"Cats will most certaily seek out spilled milk in a dairy, ..."

Been there, seen that.

"... and will stand and wait for you to squirt milk at them from the udder while milking."

Been there, done that.

I was raised on a dairy farm, y'see.

Now, go watch a mama cat raise a litter of baby squirrels:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4h3KppTvz8

loren said...

"Yeah, same-species consumption is a no-go. We should outlaw breast-feeding..."
Your blog Tam and you're allowed to be a twit - but try to resist.

Tam said...

I was being serious, albeit in a smartass way.

Okay, more seriously, at what age do we outlaw same-species consumption?

DJ said...

"Okay, more seriously, at what age do we outlaw same-species consumption?"

Okay, more seriously, why should same-species consumption be outlawed?

Justthisguy said...

I mentioned the "Roman Charity" meme at the Nerds' place, but my comment seems to have fallen into a miles-deep well, or something. Try Googling the term, and I betcha you'll get some right well-painted images of the wife nourishing her husband through the prison bars with what she has to give, of her body.

Justthisguy said...

Maura, as Fat Freddy's Cat said to the kittens, the reason that cats took up with humans was so that they could get cow's milk without getting their heads stepped on.

My very own dear old dead Dad got a whippin' back in the '20s for wasting cow milk by squirting it into the mouth of an eagerly-awaiting kitteh.

WV: maning. Yes, it is time, and past time, for maning the the barricades against teh silleh.

Justthisguy said...

Oh, my favorite Keith Laumer quote:

Groaci (lizard-man) diplomat to very pneumatic Terran-female secretary among the Terran diplomats:

"Don't flaunt those udders at me, you disgusting mammal!"

N.B., the Groaci, disgusting lizard-men that they were, were the bad guys in all of Laumer's books. Maybe it was not just titty-envy, but also penis-envy on their part? Lizards have no dicks either.

Cond0011 said...

"I'd be awfuly upset if I couldn't have a nice slice of Wensleydale. "

hehe... one of these days, I'll try some Wensleydale, Og...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OaY4qgZVMM

Cond0011 said...

"Okay, more seriously, at what age do we outlaw same-species consumption?"

In this era of 'anything goes', I'm pretty certain that as soon as you outlaw it, you'll have a group flaunting that they do it, start their own parade and then expect reparations for being oppressed by the government/society.

Heh. Naughty, Tam - you knew you were provoking one of us to comment with a question such as that one. :)

Bob H said...

We don't eat horses? Why not? Horsemeat is healthier than beef. It's lower in fat.