I first became aware of different types of milk when I was 11 or 12. I'm sure there was some financial component to her decision, but it felt like out of the blue my mom announced that we would be drinking milk from one of my grandfather's cows. I remember the milk tasting like cows smell, and there were little yellow curds in it. To my great pleasure, the experiment only lasted a few months. Just after I graduated from college my best friend went to work on an educational farm and tried to pass on to me her new-found appreciation for raw milk. She also disliked using soap to clean her water bottle or shampoo to wash her hair. I found her dedication to `all that was natural' too ambiguous to counteract my fears about what the milk might be harboring. Then about 5 years ago my sister-in law's mother started drinking raw milk because she was suffering a lot from asthma and allergies. Her health improved and my brother, who also suffers from intense seasonal allergies, and his wife started drinking raw milk. They have become so convinced of the health giving properties of raw milk that they recently started their own small dairy.
I recently spent a week with my grandparents in Colorado and engaged my grandmother in a conversation about the benefits of raw milk and was surprised to discover that while I thought we'd been drinking raw milk when I was a child, my grandfather had actually home-pasteurized it. My grandparents believe that raw milk is dangerous, and are not at all interested in research that points to it's superiority over processed milk. To them this debate falls within the realm of other hippie arguments for over-priced organic or artisanal foods. I have often been surprised by the distrust my grandparents exhibit towards the Real Food Movement, when in fact they have always grown the bulk of their own produce, and used to raise and process their own meat and dairy products. One of the more disturbing trends in our ever-changing relationship to food is a tendency to create an image of unprocessed foods as being only for the wealthy or for those who disdain mainstream culture.
Raw milk is milk that has not been pasteurized or homogenized. Pasteurization is a process in which a food is heated to a specific temperature and then cooled as quickly as possible to slow microbial growth. Sterilization of food is not common because it adversely affects the taste and quality, but dairy products are often nearly sterilized to ensure the destruction of microbes. If cows are unhealthy or if milking takes place in unsanitary conditions and milk from many cows is mixed, pasteurization is necessary to ensure that the milk will not harbor harmful bacteria, yeasts, or molds.
Raw milk does indeed contain living microbes but it's important to understand that microbes are only called `germs' when they are harmful to our health. Our bodies function in cooperation with lots of `friendly' microbes that help us digest food, eliminate toxins, and kill unfriendly microbes (germs). In fact, though famously dangerous, there are many strains of the Escherichia coli bacteria that live in the human intestinal system and among other functions help us produce Vitamin K. If milk comes from healthy animals the microbes it contains are not only beneficial to our health they also inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria that the milk may contact through the air or containers. Raw milk contains an enzyme that functions to help us digest lactose, thus many people who are lactose intolerant have no problems consuming raw milk products. Raw milk has been found to help us absorb calcium, lubricate our joints, and maintain proper stiffness or our arteries and veins. One of the more interesting benefits of raw milk consumption is that it can reduce symptoms of or even eliminate allergies. My guess is that this effect is the same as the homeopathic effects obtained from consuming raw, local honey. By consuming raw dairy products from animals that digest the allergy producing plants, one is introducing his or her body to small amounts of the irritating substances in a gradual process that can teach the body to process them.
We are used to being assured by federal regulations whether our food is safe or not. Argentina is definitely less paranoid about germs that the United States. When I first arrived I had to struggle to mask my shock nearing panic when I would see people touching raw meat, then money, then everything else without any apparent worry about germ transference. I've seen inside of enough water tanks in the city that I'm surprised I still drink tap water. But in 3 years I've never had any food-bourne illness and I have increasing faith in the body's ability to handle more microbes than I had previously believed. Yet Argentine law also prohibits the sale of unpasteurized milk. I learned this from a milk seller at El Galpon Organico, and then I went to a goat dairy outside of town to see if I would be able to obtain raw milk closer to it's source.
I had been advised by my brother and his wife to inspect the goats and the milking area to see that they appeared clean, and to ask the owners whether they used hygienic practices and chilled their milk immediately. The animals and milking area did look and smell clean, and the woman who sold me the milk assured me that the animals are healthy. Yet she told me I should boil the milk to 75 Celsius (167 F) before drinking it `just in case' and told me that she and her husband never consume the milk raw. And guess what? I didn't try the milk raw. Even though I believe the research that says it's more likely I'll consume harmful bacteria from spinach or cooked meat than from raw milk, I was afraid to be my own guinea pig. I often eat a few strawberries on my way home from the verduleria before I wash them. I trust my saliva and the rest of my digestive system to render harmless anything that might be resting on the skin. The truth is I usually only drink milk with my coffee or use it in cooking, so I reasoned tht I was not being so cowardly, I was just using milk the way I normally do. But really I chickened out. My idea had been to try drinking raw milk to see if I start feeling any of the myriad benefits that enthusiasts profess it to have. Instead I was confronted with my own conditioning and my adherence to mainstream dictums. If I learn of a small dairy from which other people drink raw milk I think I would be inspired to take the risk. If anyone knows of such a dairy, I'd be glad to learn about it.
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