Bovine Talk: Cow: “Back in the ol’ days we gave ‘em milk and beef. Now it looks like they don’t need us anymore.” Calf: “Guess we could go back to “jumping over the moon.”
Remember Milk?
Once upon a time, both children and adults drank milk for a healthy, calcium-laced diet. Every porch in our neighborhood had a metal box, where the milkman made daily deliveries.
The glass bottles with the crimped paper lid had a rounded bulge at the top, where the cream settled. Homogenizing was done in house by giving the bottle a hearty shake.
Milk Money
Drinking milk was encouraged in public schools as well. For 25 cents a week (what we called Milk Money), a student could get a half pint of milk, a straw, and 2 graham crackers each afternoon. Special occasions allowed for a chocolate milk substitute.
Following our daily milk break, there was about a 5-10 minute quiet time, when we were each encouraged to put our head on the desk for a rest period. I still enjoy doing that, but have added a pillow and subbed iced tea for milk.
What’s the Best of the Drinks?
Today drinking milk is not as popular as it once was. Kids opt for pop, fruit drinks, or large cylinders of water. The milk industry is unhappy about the continuing drop in consumption. They want to recapture the milk drinking habit of yesteryear.
With so many sugary and plant-based drinks in the competition, it will be a hard sell.
Producers are offering milk alternatives such as almond milk, soy milk, and oat milk, Despite the many options available today, researchers tell us that water is still the healthiest of the lot.
Where’s the Beef?
Chowing down on my first Impossible Burger
Beef Fairing Only Slightly Better than Milk
There’s now plant-based patties, such as the Impossible Burger, designed to replicate the taste and texture of beef. Many of the fast food joints from Burger King to White Castle are offering a substitute for the real thing.
The faux beef is primarily made from plant-based ingredients: soy protein, coconut oil, and potato protein. And it contains no cholesterol.
The Future of Bovines
Impossible Burger has added nutrients like iron and vitamin B12, making their patties akin to nutrients in beef. What’s more, the imitation has the look, sizzle, smell, and feel of a traditional burger even though it’s plant based.
Still, some nutritionists opt for the meat burger, where the ingredient are all natural rather than manufactured. Others feel the fabricated beef encourages more plant substitutes and more sustainable and ethical alternatives to meat.
Just recently California approved producing “lab grown chicken” from chicken cells. If it can be done with chickens, can beef cattle be far behind?
