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And I am properly … grossed out.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m all about breast feeding if you can and doing it for as long as you can — or want to — and I’ve even tasted my own breast milk (if you’ve breastfed and are saying that you haven’t, I am now calling you a li-ar) but I don’t think I’d be too keen on cuisine made with the milk of other women’s breasts.
Ugh.
However, Dr. Wendy Walsh, who holds a PhD in Clinical Psychology, did just that. Walsh states that she was heading up a dinner party one evening at her home, not long after the birth of her child, and had a “fridgeful” of breast milk stored for her nursing infant. Evidently, her husband slyly passed her breast milk instead of traditional cow’s milk to thicken the risotto. Although Walsh claims that she was kind of taken aback, she states that neither her husband nor present company complained about the “secret ingredient” after the breast milk had served its purpose and thickened the risotto; they merely chalked it up to being “regular” milk and went on about the business of sating their appetites.
Is it so wrong that I am completely and utterly sicked out by this? Am I the only one who has a huge problem with partaking in another woman’s breast milk? Would you be apt to knowingly try a recipe that contained another woman’s bodily secretions, even if it was “just” milk?
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Whoa. Tasting your own breast milk out of curiosity is one thing. Drinking another woman’s breast milk is completely different! So not my cup of tea, ick!
For starters, no, people shouldn’t be so grossed out by breast milk. It’s really silly that the milk of our own species is seen as so appalling, but the milk of other species is fit for consumption. How silly.
That said, things can be passed along in milk – there’s a reason that cow’s milk has to be pasteurized before sale. It is right to not wish to unwillingly drink another woman’s milk due to the potential for transmission of anything she might have.
my god! millions of women will be passing things onto their poor defenceless immune-compromised newborn babies because they aren’t feeding them pasteurised breast milk….
Only milk being transported and stored needs be pasteurised. One of the downsides of modern life and the convenience of having milk in stores miles from any cows.
Ummmm…..completely different. If a woman has HIV/AIDS she is advised not to breastfeed. If a woman wants to donate her breastmilk she has to go thru a rigorous screening process to test for infectious diseases which can pass thru the breast milk. So, no baby doesn’t need pasturized breast milk but baby also doesn’t need breast milk from a mommy with certain medical conditions and I certainly don’t want mom’s milk without my consent and without knowing her health status.
actually the infants of mothers infected with HIV/AIDS have the highest survival rate if they are exclusively breastfed. the next best thing (in this case only) is to formula feed exclusively. the babies with the lowest survival rates are those who are both breastfed and given formula. this is because formula actually damages the infant’s gut, leaving it vulnerable to infection. the mother’s milk can spread HIV/AIDS, but also is less damaging to the gut, thereby preventing the transmission.
Yeah, um ginger, most people prefer not to have other peoples’ body fluids to enter their bodies without their informed consent. Breastfeeding your baby isn’t the same thing.
I am not suggesting that women breastfeeding is unsafe. I am suggesting that *I* would not want breastmilk if I didn’t know what the woman might have. People *can* pass things on to their children, and as mentioned, may be discouraged from breastfeeding if there is something potentially dangerous to transmit.
If you were unknowingly getting breastmilk in your dinner, you would not have the chance to evaluate the health of the ‘cow’ in question.
It’s a very different situation. Women are generally way healthier than dairy cows. Most cow milk contains a whole lot of crap from drugs to pus. I wouldn’t consider drinking milk directly from an average commercial dairy cow but milk from an individual hand-milked cow or from a woman using a breast pump would probably be totally safe.
ah yes, because it’s the milking process that makes the difference…
The point is, that people usually drink unpasteurized milk when they know the cow has nothing to pass on.
Do you KNOW that every female you dine with is carrying no milk-passable diseases? If not, you probably don’t want milk in your food and no choice to refuse.
I did say probably safe, of course there are diseases that could be passed on. In any case this discussion is largely academic for me since I wouldn’t be drinking milk from any mammal. No doubt someone could still sneak me a little by mixing it in to something like mashed potatoes where I wouldn’t see it but that would just be a stupid prank. I don’t see any of my friends pulling something like that.
[...] Woman serves breast milk risotto, makes a splash with guests [Zelda Lily] [...]
I don’t think it’s any grosser than drinking any other kind of milk. Why is it less gross to drink milk from another mammal rather than from your own species? Because you personally know the mammal?
Agreed. Seems silly.
Another common suggestions is because our society has turned the breast into such a sexual rather than practical body part, that its usual purpose now seems icky.
I agree. Plus it’s a whole lot sweeter. That was probably more like rice pudding than risotto…
My best friend wants me to pump a bunch of milk and make her some ice cream.
I agree with Kai, since it wasn’t pasteurized or anything, couldn’t it theoretically be kind of a health hazard?
hmm.. how do you feel about bovine bodily secretions? are they okay? Do you now have a desire to give up all dairy including cheese and yoghurt?
And milk only needs to be pasteurised if it is to be stored/transported a long time. If you are using it right away it is fine (what do you thing dairy farmers do? buy their milk from the store once it has been processed or just get fresh milk daily from their herd)
it is not that milk needs to be pasteurized to consume, but in order to sell. Namely, when you don’t have direct familiarity with the cow, and know its history, you don’t want the milk coming as-is, with any possible thing in it.
Now replace ‘cow’ with ‘woman’, and my point remains.
Yeah this is pretty gross but when you really think about it so is drinking cow milk. Has anyone ever been to a dairy farm? Nasty. We are the only species on the planet that will drink another animal’s milk. There have been some very interesting scientific studies done about the real effects of drinking milk. Think about this: The US drinks the most milk of any nation yet we have the highest rate of osteoporosis. Also, there are indigenous tribes that have never consumed anything but breast milk through infancy and osteoporosis does not exist for them. 0% Nada. A baby cow will double it’s weight in the first years of life while on its mother’s milk. It is designed to do this. We wonder why Americans are so fat and developing early. (It’s just one factor but a factor none the less).
I had a convo. with a mother I nannied for. She asked me why I didn’t drink milk. I told her because I didn’t want the hormones in my body. She put her nose up and said, “I only buy organic without hormones.” “Yes, but the pregnant mother cow has some raging hormones pumping through her blood stream that goes into the milk because it’s good for her baby calf.” I myself don’t need the extra hormones, thank you very much.
Don’t believe what he dairy industry is telling you. The got milk campaign has a very transparent goal; sell sell sell. They don’t care about our health, that’s not what they’re here for. There job is to sell their product. Do some research and you’ll be amaaaazed.
I used to know a woman who had a rather short daughter. The girl was about 7 or 8 at the time and the doctor was discussing ways to help her grow. He asked my friend what kind of milk they used and she told him organic dairy milk. The doctor berated her and accused her of stunting her daughters growth by not giving her the kind with growth hormones in it. This is why I always research for myself any information a doctor gives me.
Scary.
We’re also the only species on the planet that got ourselves to the moon.
While I don’t disagree with your points, I feel like the argument about consuming another mammals milk is ineffective based solely on the fact that we’re at the top of the food chain. The same rules don’t apply to people as they do to other mammals.
So getting to the moon means we’re smarter and know best about what is and isn’t healthy to consume? If you look around you’ll see we are not as knowledgeable about a lot of things. Top of the food chain? That’s a sticky argument. We have the knowledge, skills and technology to save ourselves from the things that would love a tasty bite but that doesn’t mean we have free range to eat whatever we want without consequences. Consequences being the operative word.
You’re right, we aren’t like other mammals but that doesn’t mean our biological chemistry isn’t still very closely related. What we eat today is mostly governed by marketing, advertising and lobbying, not by any real knowledge. One word, cheetos. We’re smart enough to develop new and tastier ways to poison ourselves on a daily basis.
Top of the food chain? I’m pretty sure we’ve created our own disgusting chain. Haha.
To be honest, drinking cows’ milk is a bit weird.
I mean, who was that guy who looked at a cow’s saggy utters, and thought “Now THAT I would like to try”.
Although we’ve naturalised as a part of our culture now, it’s still a pretty weird concept.
(I’d say the same of eggs “Hey, Chuck, did you just see that thing pop out of that’s chicken’s lady bits? I bet that would taste great fried up!”, but at least other animals eat the eggs of other animals. There isn’t another adult animal who tries to drink the milk of another species.)
If we’re going to go into that argument, who on earth decided that they wanted to take apart an artichoke to see if its innards were delicious (which they are)? Or a pineapple?
Haha! Or honey–it’s essentially bee vomit.
Because likely, some animal came along, smelled an artichoke, thought it smelled great, and therefore chewed through the outside skin until they found the edible inside.
And a humanoid was watching, and followed suit. Therein people learned what was okay to eat by watching other animals with superior senses to our own.
Yet, I don’t think there are other animals who have tried to drink another animal’s milk.
That is purely a human thing. And it’s weird.
Top of the food chain? I’d love to see you tell that to a hungry lion. Humans are better at screwing things up than most other mammals but I hardly think that’s a point of distinction.
We are pretty high on the food chain, particularly if we arm ourselves with big guns, but some of us view that as a position of responsibility rather than thinking it gives us license to do whatever we like with so-called lower beings. Sure we can shut a cow up in a shed, take away her babies, and take her milk for our own consumption but that doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do. If human women were forced to have babies to make them produce milk then locked up and milked painfully I imagine you’d be a little upset about that. Why then is it considered OK to do that to a cow?
well, sentience is the usual culprit.
“sentient
adj
having the power of sense perception or sensation; conscious”
I’m sorry, cows aren’t sentient?
I’d say the culprit is more likely arrogance.
Mmmm…I’m gonna have me some hot woman’s breastmilk for dinner tonite!
Preferably still attached to the size C breast in my face…. :)
Hahaha good plan.
AAAhhhh I know I shouldn’t be grossed out but I am, don’t know why.
Hehe, that’s how I feel. I read the other day about someone, who started to make and sell cheese of breast milk (http://chefdanielangerer.typepad.com/chef_daniel_angerers_blog/2010/02/mommys-milk.html). And that was my initial reaction.
What if it was placenta pudding? Would we also have to “get over it?”
Quit telling me I *have* to accept that a woman I barely know may cook with her breast milk (and while we’re at it, quite telling me I have to accept breastfeeding in public, I’m not saying outlaw it but don’t tell me I can’t be icked out). Stop telling me that I shouldn’t eat or drink this or that because you read or heard somewhere once upon a time that maybe something was wrong with it. Organic is not always better, people, it just isn’t.
There’s a world of difference. Consuming a placenta other than your own can be dangerous whereas breast milk is not dangerous unless the woman has a milk transmittable infection in which case she shouldn’t be breastfeeding at all. Milk is meant for human consumption, that is its specific purpose, whereas eating the placenta is entirely optional and not particularly common. Milk is produced for food, placenta is a by-product of baby making.
Fine, placenta is too extreme an example. The point is, I don’t think it’s *cute* when people sneak their body fluids into my food. And I don’t care if it’s breast milk, it might as well be spit as I’m concerned.
It is perfectly reasonable for an adult to not want to drink another woman’s breast milk. I personally find it kind of icky for whatever reason, but that’s just me. And God only knows how weirded out I’d be if I knew that people who were NOT my infants were drinking my breast milk.
Ummm…I think placenta pudding is a far cry from breast milk but I get your point. It’s interesting that in our society we are so disgusted with breast feeding and milk. That’s what breasts are for!! Women have to hide away when they want to feed their child when in public, often resorting to sitting in the bathroom to do it. It is quite literally the most natural thing in the world. Yes, consuming someone else’s breast milk might give you the eeks but you consume far grosser and unnatural things in your daily life. Your disgust is years of stigmatizing rhetoric.
Some emerging research has shown the possibility that breast milk might help fight cancer cells. If it could save your life or that of a loved one, would you feel the same way?
Fortunately that’s not the case in Scandinavia. I think it’s horrible that women have to hide, when they breast feed. If you don’t like it, then don’t look. It’s not like they are forcing people to pay attention to them. Women should be allowed to feed her baby without hiding. It’s not like she’s doing something indecent or whatever. She’s giving her baby food.
And I don’t even like babies.
I never said it shouldn’t be allowed, I just said don’t expect me to not be icked out by it. I don’t like babies and I don’t like listening to them suckle. Bare breasts don’t bother me, babies bother me.
I never said that you said it shouldn’t be allowed ;).
For me it’s not breasts, or the concept of drinking breast milk. It’s the knowledge that it’s not MY breast milk, it’s coming from another woman who could have a disease or be taking medication that could be passed through her milk. I also wouldn’t drink random unpasteurized cow milk. I don’t think that’s wrong.
Perhaps some of are “icked” out by the fact that consuming someone else’s breast milk has ties to cannibalism, although far stretched. I do not want to consume bodily fluids in a meal. Period.
I agree with you about the fluids. Blech.
I know I’m grossed out by all things reproductive because I’m 34 and apparently my only value on this planet is to have kids. And I don’t want them. When I think of having children, I think of depression, isolation, boredom, anxiety, and stress. But because I’m a woman in her 30’s, it’s fair game for everyone to thrust their thoughts about what I should be doing with my body onto me. And it freaks me out because I don’t want kids.
And so all things kids related (except having sex) gross me out.
Damn no edit button! I meant to finish up with: my body’s general lack of response toward anything child-related sometimes makes me wonder if I should see a doctor and see if I’m okay. Except that I know I’m okay. But my womb doesn’t cry out for a baby.
Don’t worry, I’m right there with you. I do not want children. Granted I would consider adopting and I’ve worked closely with young children for most of my life but I have no desire to rear my own. I’m currently a nanny but have also worked as a pre-school teacher. I don’t believe everyone should pro-create. If you don’t feel like you want to, you shouldn’t feel an ounce of shame or believe you are any less valuable to our society.
Thank you for not contributing to the over-population of our planet. :-D
It sounds like your issues with reproduction have more to do with your own personal feelings than what people are thrusting upon you.
Not that it’s bad that you’re grossed out by reproduction. I’m just saying that it probably has a source other than people expecting you to have kids.
I know lots of women our age who don’t want kids, but they aren’t as grossed out by it as you always seem to be.
They do get just as annoyed when people treat them like their biological clock “must” be ticking, though.
That shit would piss me off too.
I agree, I don’t want to consume bodily fluids either. That’s why I’m vegan, I’m not an infant and therefore I shouldn’t be drinking milk. It doesn’t have a thing to do with cannibalism however. Drinking a fluid made specifically for human consumption is nothing like eating a fellow human.
We as a society eat plenty of things that could be considered “gross”. I think as long as you know what it is you are eating, and you still want it, go ahead. There are clearly people who think cows milk is every bit as undesirable as breastmilk. Really, my breastmilk is for my baby and nobody else. I would draw the line of giving my milk to others only in a life/death situation or the unlikely event that one of my sisters is lactating at the same time. I could nurse one of my sister’s babies without feeling an ick factor. I guess breastfeeding is (in our society) is a private and intimate gesture. I wish the world accepted it as “natural, normal and acceptable” but there are alot of things about the world that need fixed (BF-ing in public isn’t the top of the list!). And no, I would not like to drink another ladies’ breastmilk or eat anything prepared with it. My husband and I have tasted my milk though…
I gave my milk to my sister’s son once. She was formula feeding and was out of formula. I had a bottle of expressed milk with me so I gave it to him. I totally would’ve nursed him if I hadn’t had the bottle already to go, though.
I just view my tits as a food source. When that horrible quake happened in China and that lactating cop was there nursing other people’s babies I just wanted to hop a plane and go feed babies with her.
I would feed any hungry baby, so long as the mother was ok with it.
I thought that was pretty cool too. Selma Hyek breastfed a hungry baby in Africa too. She caught some flak for that because ppl were saying “what if the baby had HIV/AIDS” but I thought it was awesome of her. By the way- breastfeeding is the BEST way to lose weight after having a baby. I gave birth on the 6th weighing 128 and I’m down to 109 already!!! Water weight, baby and placenta aside, 20lbs is not bad for a week after! I’m 5 ft tall btw so you all don’t think that sounds too thin. Pre-preg weight is 95…
It grosses me out. I don’t care why. Drinking another woman’s breast milk is not necessary for me to live, and my not wanting to do it doesn’t mean that I find her repulsive or that I find her baby drinking it to be repulsive.
Eating certain insects or organ meats is also not harmful to you either, but in the culture I grew up in, it is not seen as something desirable to do and is, to me, a bit gross. I can get past my cultural upbringing if it is causing me or someone else harm. But I don’t see why I should force myself to like something I don’t need to like in the first place just so I can say I did.
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