An Honest Question for White People…

[amarie24]

Trigger Warnings: Diets, food intake, possible nutrition/digestion problems



I have had this honest question ever since I was old enough to realize that white people are…different. You ain’t speshul snowflakes better than people of color. You’re just…different. And this question exploded for me in intensity after a regular trip to the grocery store with my mother this morning.

Just this morning.

So we’re at the grocery store getting just a few items and there are these two white women ahead of us in the aisle. Both of them carry a child and both of them have a cart chock full of groceries. Okay. But the one with the fuller cart had at least six gallons of Vitamin D milk.

Six gallons of Vitamin D milk. One cart.

Then, I remember another white person putting three gallons of 2% milk in their cart. In fact, I have seen two white people put three to four gallons of 2% milk in their cart.

I have seen white people put so much milk in their cart that they have to put some of the gallons on the bottom of the cart.

I have rarely seen people of color do this. In fact, I can barely even remember seeing people of color do this.

And it’s not just inside the grocery store where I see white people with so much milk. I remember my beloved high school geography teacher casually remarking that he had to go to the store just to buy milk (and milk alone) at least two to three times a week because, “My family goes through milk like it’s nothing”.

I have seen white people drink milk with…lunch and dinner. Lunch and dinner. Both on the TV and in real life. Ya’ll drink it with chili. With steak and potatoes. With Subway sandwiches. With Chinese food. With Mexican food. With Japanese food. With barbeque fresh off the grill.

Even tea is not safe! Tea! You white British people put milk in your tea! I tried it just once and it just…doesn’t…go…together.

Not to mention eggs! I’ve seen you mix milk up with eggs to make “the best scrambled eggs you’ve ever tasted” and it was actually the strangest scrambled eggs I’d ever tasted.

I have seen this of white people.

I have rarely seen people of color do this. In fact, I can barely even remember seeing people of color do this.

And…to my black taste buds…none of that shit…goes…with…milk.

None…of…it.

It doesn’t…go…together…at all.

To me, milk goes with cereal. With pancakes. Waffles. Cakes. Cupcakes. Sweet shit.

Tea? Water? Kool-Aid? Soda? Alcohol? That’s the proper shit that goes with shit like chili, sub sandwiches, steak, potatoes, etc. That goes together.

This is one of the few things about white people that I have never understood. Today, I very much desire to understand it.

And so I come to you sincerely asking a question that I desire an answer to: White people, why do you drink so much milk?

Why?

You seem to drink it all day, every day with most (if not all) of your meals and for most of your lives. Why? Is it really that bad, how sadly your low-melanin skin doesn’t retain Vitamin D from the sun and so you have to constantly replenish with milk? Or does milk just taste that good to you? Is it some misbegotten status symbol leftover from your earlier colonial and imperial times? Why? I just…it’s weirdly fascinating to me, this aspect of white culture’s diet that most of you think everyone else does.

I just…I’ve never…

I mean, I even Googled this mess when we got back home and I mostly came back with butthurt white feelings and just assertions that it’s simply part of how white people do things. So I know I have a lot of white friends, followers, readers, etc. on here. I am relying on you all to help me out with this conundrum.

White people, why do you drink so much milk?

Comments

[alexseanchai]

#notallwhitepeople

*hides*

(I really don't know. I don't like milk at all. Though my mother insists I need more calcium; maybe that's the operating principle?)

[amarie24]

Oooohh, okay. Yeah, I dunno either...maybe calcium is the operating principle. :O

And Alex, maybe you could try calcium supplements if you need them? :O

[alexseanchai]

Been doing supplements, yes.

[amarie24]

Oh YAY! And thanks for helping me out with this question either way! :D

[redsixwing]

Whoa, that's a lot of milk! :o

...then again, Star's family used to go through a few gallons a week, and I have a white friend who can easily put down a couple gallons a week without help.

Why? Is it really that bad, how sadly your low-melanin skin doesn’t retain Vitamin D from the sun and so you have to constantly replenish with milk? Or does milk just taste that good to you? Is it some misbegotten status symbol leftover from your earlier colonial and imperial times?

As far as I can tell...

Yes, yes, and maybe - or probably?

Personal anecdotes and a bit of Internet digging below.

I do not retain vitamin D for -anything.- I take VitD supplements so I don't get low on it and have problems absorbing calcium, and drink milk and mostly I don't get deficient. (Is this a thing melanin does? I do not suntan - some people apparently do magic tricks where they make more melanin after getting a sunburn. I don't, and just peel like a lizard-person and then burn again. Maybe that has to do with it.)

For the first two decades of my life, milk just tasted really good and I'd drink it for that alone, with any meal or as a stand-alone snack. It's lately stopped tasting quite as good (I don't know why) so I drink less of it now and have mostly switched to drinking other stuff. (Water and tea primarily.)

Milk in eggs makes the texture weird. I don't know why people like this. Almond milk in eggs makes the texture AND the flavor weird. Not recommended.

Kool-aid or tea totally go better with steak or sandwiches. Yum.

A quick search online has presented me with nothing on imperialism and milk-drinking, although the work-computer firewall is not helping (don't worry, I'm on lunch break!) I don't really know enough about it to guess, but I did find an article on refrigeration in history. This is very America-centric, mentioning only that the Chinese had ice-houses well before the Europeans did, and then wandering off about refrigerated train cars instead - but I can at least start to look for patterns.

OK, 1840s had refrigerated train cars. Which means you either have to have your own milch-cow and a cool cellar to store the milk in or be able to share in someone else's fresh milk, daily or however often you want to drink milk, or you have to be able to pay for refrigerated-train-car shipping. That all indicates wealth, and with what we know about American economics, that's going to be strongly biased toward white people.

Also from the above article:
...by 1884, one writer noted that refrigerators were as common as stoves or sewing machines in all but the poorest tenements. The use of ice in the home was growing to keep food longer and to cool drinks.

Which leads to speculation about who, in 1884, was not living in the poorest tenements: again, white people.

By 1930 we've got mechanical refrigerators instead of iceboxes in homes, starting again with the richest. By 1940 we've got refrigerated trucks, to deliver fresh milk and produce to your local expensive grocery store.

So, yeah. I'm betting there's an economic and possibly an imperialist component, given all the emphasis on milk being "part of a healthier diet" in that and other cultural sources - those "Got Milk" boards and "Does A Body Good" ads, for instance - and that's one amateur using one article. ^^;

Get a real scholar on this, and some (un)fun patterns might pop out.

[amarie24]

OMFG, thank you oh-so much for all of that, Red! Wow, I had a feeling there was some imperialist, classist historical bullshit going on back there. Yep, yep!

And so sorry that the sun just makes you peel and you have to take Vit D supplements; I take Vit D supplements too...along with my inhaler, the little fuck.

So thank you so, so very much for that article! I shall read it! :D

[redsixwing]

Sure! This is one of those places I'd never have even suspected a difference, so thank YOU ever-so-much for posting about it. :D

Heh, thanks. The D supplements are one of the easier things, I think? They at least only require to be swallowed, not injected or inhaled. =p

Yay!

[amarie24]

Oh, any time! Any time at all! :D

Ahh yeah...just pop 'em in your mouth and you got some healthy, strong bones coming your way! :D

I just finished reading...it's amazing how you don't really think about how just ONE invention that we take for granted today had such a huge, impacting wave on so many industries. I mean, damn...ain't nobody gotta go down to the corner for fruit, veggies, and other perishables. Thank you oh-so much for linking it, Red! :D

[wingedbeast]

Speaking as a lactose-intolerant white guy, I don't and people.all around the globe are better off for it.

That said, in my very early youth, the drink of parental choice was milk. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, milk. Nowadays, cheese is my thing, especially aged cheese paired with fruit. That and those "got milk" ads, maybe.

I will say that milk-in-eggs can be good, depending on how fluffy you like 'em.

But, with steak? You got me, there.

[amarie24]

Awww, Beast, had no idea you're lactose intolerant! But yeah...see? Ya'll have your kids drink it with every. Single. Meal. too. It's just...it boggles my mind. Truly, it does.

But you like cheese nowadays? I'm sorry, but I was wondering about that, too: why do you white people love cheese so much? I have personally seen a white person indulge in her love of cheese so much that she regularly has to take a laxative. Where does your culture's profound love of cheese come from???????? @___@

And I know right? Milk and steak shouldn't even be on the same dinner table.

[wingedbeast]

Well, cheese is delicious.

That, and we've made it disturbingly convenient (cheese you spray on other things). There's cheese sauce (forget that nacho stuff. Go for well done breadsticks and a creamy cheddar sauce.)

It can pair well with a lot of things because there are so many kinds.

But, if you ever have the time and money, get yourself some aged cheddar (you won't need a whole lot if it's just for you) and some fresh concord grapes. Slices of cheddar so they're bitesized. You can either alternate between it and the grapes or try them both in the same bite. Either way, it's a lovely experience.

[amarie24]

Aged cheddar and concord grapes...cheese and fruit...

You know, that IS something I've always wanted to try, actually. So glad to see a friend recommend it! Sounds like an indulgent treat! :D :D

[wingedbeast]

Not just indulgent, but, compared to other options, quite healthy. But, it can also be expensive, so it's best done when grapes are in season.

[amarie24]

Ohhh! Watch for when the grapes are in-season, then! Got it! :D

[deird1]

Personally...

1) I wasn't raised drinking sugary drinks. Acceptable drink options for meals are: water, fruit juice, or milk. Water is boring. Milk is good at de-spicing spicy foods like chili, Indian, and so on. And the flavour clashes way less than juice does with most Asian food.

2) Tea has milk in it. This is simply a fact of what tea is. Therefore, tea without milk tastes wrong.

3) Ditto for scrambled eggs. It's just how they taste.

4) I get to be all childish and drink it flavoured, or all sophisticated and drink it with Baileys.

5) It's really good for washing away aftertaste from chocolate, etc.

[amarie24]

Hi there, lovely person! Thanks so much for answering! :D

1. Ohhh, okay. Good de-spicing agent Got it!

2. -le gasp- There ya'll go with the milk-in-tea again...:O

3. So you like your eggs fluffy? That's what everyone else has said so far.

4. Baileys??? :D

5. Ahhh, so a palate cleanser after chocolate. I can understand that.

[mime_paradox]

Relevant: Not a white person.

We were going to get milk earlier tonight, but the bakery parking lot spaces were full so we decided not to. With no milk, I had to eat my dinner cereal (I'm one of those) with mango juice instead. It's surprisingly not terrible!

(I also sometimes mix mango juice and milk, which works rather well, I find. Or maybe I'm just weird.)

But yeah, I love milk: not enough to buy six gallons--most of them would end up spoiling--but enough to drink it pretty indiscriminately, at least when at home. I can't really provide an explanation for it except that I find it delicious and can eat and drink the same things over and over again without tiring of them.

[amarie24]

Ian. You are not white. I am not white. We are not white. You and I are conservative when it comes to milk. What are you doing here. /jk :P

Ohhh, you live near a bakery?! Oh-so awesome!!!!! Umm...mango juice with cereal? You know, I've always wanted to try cereal with any kind of juice, but I was never really brave enough. I have mixed juice with milk and drank it as a dare waaaaaaay back in middle school, doe. As far as I can remember, I think it works well, too. Didn't even get a stomach ache.

-nods- Oh yes, milk is quite delicious! Especially just for drinking it when you want and as a snack, yes!

[pebblerocker]

And a gallon is... nearly four litres? Wow.

This white person was brought up not drinking milk - my mother's health problems improved when she stopped using dairy products and I never developed the taste for it as a kid because we didn't have any in the house. But my partner loves his milk. He mainly drinks coffee (that's a jar of instant coffee granules, no fancy stuff made with shiny machinery) and he has to have fresh milk for his coffee, so he buys milk several times a week. He'll go out to the shop just for milk. Not gallons of it, just a one- or two-litre bottle (that's one or two quarts, if that's how you measure?), because if he buys too much it goes sour before he can finish it, but he can't go a day without milk in the house because he needs his coffee and can't drink it black. And if he's thirsty at bedtime, instead of a glass of water it's milk. It seems odd to me, but then I don't like milk. I mean, if I liked milk that much but it didn't last the whole week before it went bad, I would drink it until it ran out and then wait until I was buying groceries anyway, not make a special trip!

I don't know how the racial dimension plays out in New Zealand. I'll have to be nosy next time I'm at the supermarket and see who buys a lot of milk! We're in a big dairy-farming region and I know milk consumption per capita is very high here.

Oh, and on the subject of tea: most people put milk in tea here and a lot of people drink tea without sugar. When someone asks me how I'd like my tea and I say sugar and no milk, they just as often give me milk and no sugar. I think they can't believe a woman would ask for sugar, which makes you fat (because EVERYBODY has to want to lose weight, right?) and turn down milk, which women have to have for their bones, so they literally can't hear what I'm asking for.

[amarie24]

Yeah. I know. Wow.

Also, real quick? OMFG, you're white from New Zealand? Wow, I thought you were white from Britain! Shows how much I know!!!

And woah, that is a man that loves his milk in his coffee! Yeah, if I'm going to take coffee, I can't have it black & without sugar. Although, umm...I use creamer instead of milk. Uhh...do ya'll have coffee creamer at all where you're from? Or do white people there just prefer the milk to the creamer usually?????? :O

On how people just go ahead give you milk with no sugar when you ask for sugar, but no milk? That. Makes. Me. So. Angry. Like, seriously? What if you have a fucking food allergy and there they just went and fucked up your body. That is dangerous and infuriating. What in all the fuck.

[pebblerocker]

Well, similar culture, similar dialect of English, and you wouldn't exactly guess I'm an hour out of Hobbiton unless I told you ;)

Coffee creamer is an American thing and we don't have it at all! I wouldn't even know what it is except for people talking about what they like to drink on the internet. Milk in coffee, milk in tea, frothy milk out of fancy machines in coffee shops! Or tea without milk for me.

Yeah, I don't think I was given milk in tea on purpose, it just really seems like they expect people to want milk and don't hear or understand what I really said. Luckily tea looks so different with and without milk there's no danger of accidentally consuming something dangerous in that particular situation! And also preferences are not on the same level as allergies - but yeah, people not thinking it's important to give people the food they specified is a dangerous attitude, and disrespectful.

[amarie24]

Oh WOW. No creamer over there at all?!?!? I never would've thought. Well, I learned something new today! :O :O :O

And Hobbiton?! OMFG, that sounds so cool! :D

Yes, tea with milk & tea without milk does look very different. You're right about preferences vs. food allergies, too. Yep, yep.

[foxinthestars]

My family used to go through a few gallons a week (now we're on a diet that's made us slack off). In my case I suspect it has a lot to do with both my parents having been raised on small midwestern family farms that had cattle; milk was probably easier to come by than money, so they were raised that way and hence raised their kids that way.

It was still mostly a breakfast drink, tho.

It was later on my own that I tried the British milk-in-tea thing. I like it and do it habitually (but only in black tea). And I've done milk-in-scrambled eggs and liked it.

The point about it cooling you off from spicy foods is also a thing.

I also got a lot of messaging when I was a kid about calcium; like if you don't drink lots of milk you are DOOMING YOURSELF TO OSTEOPOROSIS and just asking to end up in one of those life-alert commercials later in life. Being rather insecure, I felt like I wasn't drinking enough of it.

Don't know about the Vitamin D thing.

[amarie24]

Fox?! You're white, too!??!?!?! :O :O :O

And yeah, I remember seeing something about how you'll mostly see it in Midwestern white families because farms usually=cows=cheap[er] access to milk.

Hmmm...you know, I have black tea up in the cabinet. Okay, I'll think about putting milk in that and see how it goes. :D

[foxinthestars]

Sorry if I misled you! But yeah, I'm very white. I'm like a rebellious child of Sarah Palin's "real America."

[amarie24]

Oh no, you didn't mislead me, friend!

It's just that I get surprised by how many white friends I have in my blogosphere. Goodness gracious!

...You come from Sarah Palin's "Real America"? My goodness, you are in my thoughts. @__@

[silveradept]

I think a lot of the ground regarding keeping perishables cold and the class and race implications of that are covered above. There's also the consideration that white people generally have better access to being able to buy perishables and to not having to ride a bus three hours from where they shop to get home.

Plus, the milk campaigns were a little less subtle a decade ago, talking about "Milk: It Does a Body Good" and pushing heavily the strong bones and teeth idea.

And finally, milk is one of the things that's approved on the WIC list, so anyone on that particular government program can spend some of their allotment on milk and get more than they might otherwise get.

[amarie24]

Yep. This. All of this.

It's fascinating, really. How...something that just looks so strange to my eyes is actually quite possibly borne of the systematic intersections of racism, classism, etc. So powerful when you're just looking at a common food: milk.

And yes, I remember waaaaaay back in the day. Those "Got Milk?" campaigns. Yep, yep!

Do you mind, though, if I ask you about your regular milk habits? Do you drink milk all the time like that??? :O

[silveradept]

Cow's milk is not a common food, in the long game of history - lactose tolerance is a relatively new thing in terms of humans, and even then, it still doesn't last much into adulthood.

But, like other foods, its distribution, availability, and cost are really tied up in race, class, and urban issues.

Anyway, as it turns out, I probably have the normal lactose intolerance to milk, although probably pretty mildly - I drank it a lot with cereal and dinners as a kid, but cow milk makes me sneeze more often than not, so we use non-cow milk for cereal. What I would really prefer to have is orange juice as a drink.

[amarie24]

Oh, wow. Indeed it is not a common food. :O

And I'm so very sorry that cow milk makes you sneeze! D:

And orange juice as a drink...all day every day for me. Yaaaaaaaaaaasss!!

[smurasaki]

People do what their families did. (And what tastes good isn't entirely divorced from that.) Like redsixwing suggests, I'd be willing to bet that not only did refrigeration get to white people first, but that milk delivery aimed for white people first. And it's entirely possible that dairy farming (as opposed to other types of farming) may also have been disproportionately white. (So class ties/race ties all intertwined as they often are in this country.)

And, of course there was the whole big Milk it Does a Body Good, Got Milk, etc push. (Which could well have been disproportionately aimed. God only knows with advertisers.)

I don't know. Though, I'm a bit curious what age these various people you mention are, since it seems like - at least among white people of my generation - the whole milk thing is pretty much dropping off. Like, mostly we only drink milk with sweet things or put it on cereal. (And drink a metric ton of soda. And tea, juice, Kool-Aid, etc... ... Is soda the new white people thing?)

[amarie24]

Depi, I'm loving your icon with the question marks above your head, haha! It's simply perfection! :D :D

And yep, yep on the classist & racist systems at work here. Totally see that now.

I remember that "Got Milk?" campaign, too, from when I was a kid.

As far as their ages? Well...I would say all of them were in the middle age range-surely no younger than mid-twenties and no older than late-forties, yep, yep.

And oooooohh, no! Soda is not just a white people thing, actually! It's just that I personally don't indulge very much in soda except as an occasional treat! Forgot to put that in there as an option! Imma edit it now, thanks for catching it! :D

[smurasaki]

Ha, not drinking soda except as an occasional treat is probably wise. I drink waaaaay too much of the stuff.

And floating question marks are very handy for all the many puzzling things in the world!

[amarie24]

Well, actually, I used to drink it a whole, whole lot more when I was younger. Then my mom just stopped buying so much and, so...here I am today, not drinking all that much soda! But it is delicious, yes?