On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 21

ProcessandLow-fatCheeses
CheeseandHealth
What better subject for the first chapter than
the food with which we all begin our lives?
Humans are mammals, a word that means
“creatures of the breast,” and the first food
thatanymammaltastesismilk.Milkisfood
for the beginning eater, a gulpable essence
distilled by the mother from her own more
variable and challenging diet. When our
ancestors took up dairying, they adopted the
cow, the ewe, and the goat as surrogate
mothers. These creatures accomplish the
miracle of turning meadow and straw into
buckets of human nourishment. And their
milk turned out to be an elemental fluid rich
in possibility, just a step or two away from
luxuriouscream,fragrantgoldenbutter,anda
multitude of flavorful foods concocted by
friendlymicrobes.
Nowonderthatmilkcapturedthe


imaginationsofmanycultures.Theancient
Indo-Europeanswerecattleherderswho
movedoutfromtheCaucasiansteppesto
settlevastareasofEurasiaaround3000BCE;
andmilkandbutterareprominentinthe
creationmythsoftheirdescendents,from
IndiatoScandinavia.Peoplesofthe
MediterraneanandMiddleEastreliedonthe

oiloftheirolivetreeratherthanbutter,but
milkandcheesestillfigureintheOld
Testamentassymbolsofabundanceand
creation.
Themodernimaginationholdsavery
differentviewofmilk!Massproduction
turneditanditsproductsfromprecious,
marvelousresourcesintoordinary
commodities,andmedicalscience
stigmatizedthemfortheirfatcontent.
Fortunatelyamorebalancedviewofdietary
fatisdeveloping;andtraditionalversionsof
dairyfoodssurvive.It’sstillpossibletosavor
theremarkablefoodsthatmillenniaofhuman