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.

Recipe: Bean Chili

I cooked this up tonight just to see if I could make my own bean chili, considering I've already eaten ready-made ones over the years. I managed to make enough for 5 people by the looks of things and the best part is that it can be eaten with either rice or potato wedges. It went great with the salad I made yesterday :D.

INGREDIENTS

Tinned beans of your choice (I had white, red kidney and butter beans)

Runner Beans

Chopped tomatoes

Garlic

Cooking oil (of your choice)

Lots of different herbs and spices, chili is essential

Step 1: Chop up 3/4 cloves of garlic into small chunky 'cubes'. Start boiling or steaming the runner beans, depending on how crunchy you want them to be.

Step 2: Heat up the frying pan on moderate heat, glazed with oil, and pour in garlic.

Step 3: Open and drain the tins of beans. If they are not completely drained, don't worry. Add the beans to the pan once it is warmed and stir frequently.

Step 4: Between the stirring, add in the various spices. I used plenty of mixed ground pepper and enough chili. Add the runner beans to the frying pan (not with the boiled water they were in/on top of).

Step 5: Once everything has been mixed and heated, turn the heat up higher and pour in the chopped tomatoes (canned or fresh, doesn't matter). Stir the mixture then leave to sizzle. Add more chili if you wish, though personally I added oregano at this point.

Step 6: The smell test should be enough to tell you when to serve it; if not, taste. Can be served with either rice, potato wedges, chips, tortilla chips, with or without salad.

Recipe?: Salad

I don't think I'll file this one under recipes since, well, this one is rather lazy and uncomplicated. I had 4 key components: pre-packed salad mix (you know, the typical lettuce, spinach and carrot bits pack), radishes, an onion and Italian salad dressing. I mixed the salad mix with sliced-and-diced onion and 'quartered' radishes. The complicated bit was the salad dressing.

I went into the supermarket thinking I could find a small bottle of the stuff, you know, like in Britain. But no, this is Czech. Here you buy a powder sachet of 10g, then mix it with some olive oil and water. I have to say, it brought excellent results. The only trouble was that I had too little. I had a third of a bowl compared to a large tupperware container of salad. I managed to get most of the salad glazed but next time I think I'll buy 2 sachets, or 3 if I want the salad drenched. Or maybe I'll just buy balsamic vinegar and make up my own damn dressing.

Ah well, could be worse. At least I have enough salad to last a week.

As for why I wanted a salad? It was towards the end of last week that I got a hard reminder of how few greens I was eating. That is one of the traits/stereotypes of a non-meat eater: eating lots of salad. Although the main reason for that is simply due to many places not offering vegetarian main meals, so salad is the safe option/refuge food. But I'm digressing. I had lunch with a colleague, who had brought in the epitome of a European 'good meal': meat (chicken), boiled potatoes and a salad. And I don't mean a decorative garnish, which is usually a bland side of lettuce and tomato and is something no one ever eats. This salad had been properly prepared, with diced onion, mixed lettuce and properly covered in salad dressing. It made my mouth water and he let me try some. How yummy.

Piroggi!!!

Piroggi are dumplings that are typically eaten in much of the Slavic-speaking world. They can either be sweet, with a jam filling, or savoury, with a meat and/or veg filling, which is actually more common.

If you're wondering why I'm talking about this, it's because a Polish coworker brought in some piroggi for lunch. They were freshly cooked by his mother, and he was willing to offer some. They were very hot, but my God, so yummy!

The filling was cabbage and mushroom. Both myself and another coworker demanded the recipe. Once I have it, I will submit it here.