Discussion: Our Dependence on Milk

A long long time ago, our ancient ancestors living in what would become Europe, discovered milk freely provided (by cows) and its versatility. Playing around with milk and its offshoot products like yoghurt and cheese meant our ancestors widened their sources of food, so they could hunt and forage less frequently. Notice I specified Europe; Europeans have a bizarrely low level of lactose intolerance; in fact, beyond a certain age, it is usually a bad idea for humans to consume so much milk. Or dairy. Yet we have it in our cereals every day.

So milk has ended up being an intrinsic part of our diets, our society. Is it on the same level as bread? Does a lack of milk in supermarkets signal an imminent collapse of society? Well, in most cases it doesn't, it normally means the usual freight carriers haven't arrived due to a natural disaster or something. But I would like to share with you a case from Australia.

When I was in Australia this time last year, one of the more important news stories was the supermarket rivalries forcing down the price of milk. It was possible to buy 1 litre of milk for AUS$1. That is actually ridiculously cheap. So you not only have rival supermarkets using milk - an everyday essential - as leverage to get shoppers, but the authorities had to step in since this was undercutting the actual value, meaning dairy farmers were being forced to lose money.

Most of us actually don't realise how cheap milk really is. I find this interesting, because you would think that milk made from plant material would be a lot cheaper. To get fresh cows' milk, you need land to grow animal feed, which is then transported to a shop/warehouse, transported to a farm, then the produced milk is transported to shops up and down the country and beyond. I suppose the real reason why fresh milk remains cheap is that, for the most part, milk comes straight out of the cow and is then bottled/packaged, after a pasteurising process. Also, milk is rarely exported beyond a country's borders. Plant milk, such as soy milk, is grown as a crop, put through a lengthy production process, packaged and then exported.

Of course, while cost is the main factor, unless they're lactose intolerant or health freaks, people stay away from 'fake' milk because...well, it's not 'real' milk. Tomorrow I'll be comparing different milk products and seeing how they measure up.