Breast Milk Ice Cream, Cheese, and Soup: Is Breast Still Best?

When Are You Too Old to Enjoy the Benefits of Breast Milk?

Sylvia Cochran
When breast milk ice cream is in the news, you know that the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) cannot be far behind. True to form, the folks who brought you celebrity nudes protesting the use of animal hides for clothing are now bringing you the call for breast milk ice cream.

Ice cream, as you know, is made from cows' milk. The Virginian Pilot reports today that PETA have contacted Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream fame to do their bidding. Known for their sometimes outlandish, sometimes whimsical ice cream concoctions, they most likely appeared like a sympathetic company for the breast milk ice cream request.

Mother's Milk Ice Cream Company Shows That PETA Has a Belated Point

Breast milk ice cream is actually not a new concept. The Mother's Milk Ice Cream Co. has been in the business of whipping up ice cream with donated breast milk since 2001.

Offering seasonal flavors, such as mango, raspberry, fig and avocado, the company also sells old favorites like vanilla bean and coconut. The business originated as an experiment of the Department of Biology at the University of Miami, and has since grown into a viable trade.

Breast Milk Cheese and Breast Milk Soup

If ice cream is not to your liking, Indrani has several recipes for making cheese and soup from human breast milk. Explaining that as someone who donates breast milk, there are times when bags remain in the freezer past their three months expiration date, and since throwing them out seems wrong, the next logical step is the use of the human milk for cooking.

Breast Is Best, But Is It Taboo For Adult Consumption?

Breast milk ice cream, breast milk cheese, and even breast milk soup may appear odd to the average consumer of ice cream, cheese, and cream soups. We may enjoy cheese with copious mold, or ice cream made from cows' milk that comes from hairy, smelly animals treated with hormones, antibiotics, and who knows what else, but we are squeamish when it comes to ingesting human milk.

The health concerns for the bovine donor and human consumer aside, why is breast milk in adult years taboo? Breastfeeding advocates go to great lengths to display the natural aspect of the practice, yet when it comes to drinking the milk as an adult, they are nowhere to be found. Why?

Sources:
http://hamptonroads.com/2008/09/peta-wants-ben-jerrys-ice-cream-use-human-breast-milk
http://www.bio.miami.edu/muscarella/MMICCo_PressKit_07.doc
http://www.indrani.net/index.php?q=2006/03/breast_milk_cheese

Published by Sylvia Cochran - Featured Contributor in Automotive, Politics, Travel and Lifestyle

Sylvia Cochran works out of sunny Southern California and has been freelance writing -- full-time -- since 2005. SEO-optimized Internet copy includes news analysis, political Op/Ed and parenting as well as a...   View profile

5 Comments

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  • Jennifer Waite-AC & Tucson Rock Music Examiner 1/16/2010

    Should have read this before writing my latest just-for-fun piece! I may have to edit and cite you as a valuable source if I get the time!!

  • Shanika 9/27/2008

    If I'm going to take the time to pump more than my daughter needs, then Id rather that milk went to a needy child - not some fat, sweet-toothed American.

  • Bob Muscarella 9/25/2008

    (Continued...)

    Therefore, we are suggesting an alternative approach in order to give PETA a chance to put it's money where it's
    mouth is.

    Instead of consistently butting heads with existing institutions, PETA might be better off achieving it's mission by engaging in the
    capitalist marketplace. We are offering the following recommendation: If PETA supplies the base capital for our company to expand, we are
    confident that we can dominate the ice cream market and put B&J's out of business in 3-5 years time. Our financial executives and economic
    theorists are currently putting together very sophisticated models of the details of this plan and we will keep you post as they develop.

    Enjoy and good luck,

    Bob Muscarella
    C.E.O./C.F.O./D.D.T.
    Mother's Milk Ice Cream Company
    http://www.bio.miami.edu/muscarella/mothersmilkicecream.html

  • Bob Muscarella 9/25/2008

    Most Auspicious Greetings,

    The following is a formal statement from the board of directors of Mother's Milk Ice Cream Company: The B&J's representatives have made numerous uninformed statements such as, "We applaud PETA's novel approach to bringing attention to an issue, but we believe a mother's milk is best used for her child." There are a few things we would like to point out with this statement. First, as you all are aware, this is hardly a 'novel approach'. In fact, you, dear customers, have been enjoying Mother's Milk Ice Cream since 2001. Second, while a portion of a mother's milk certainly should be used to feed a their babies, many mother's naturally produce, or are capable of producing, bountiful harvests of milk as surplus to the dietary needs of the child. Clearly B&J's is missing the point. PETA has graciously suggested a market expansion that would be positively lucrative for the ice cream giant, and it has fallen on deaf ears. Therefore, we are suggesting an alt

  • Justice Lives Not 9/24/2008

    I am sorry, I do not mean to be insulting to any of my PETA friends, but this organization is run by kooks, pure and simple. Their leader, Ingrid Newkirk, wants to be skinned, butchered, and served up at a barbecue when she dies as a final protest to eating animal flesh (yum!). I once owned a book on cats written by the delightful Ms. Newkirk telling me that when the wife and I make whoopie, we should let our cat join in if he/she wants to (O-kaaayyy). I am an avid animal lover, much more likely to cry when one of my pets die than if a human dies, but PETA goes too far in wanting women to produce the milk for B&J's ice cream because the poor, poor cows have had enough (I wonder what NOW thinks about that?). Lastly, Ben and Jerry's is a very liberal company, regularly donating to a plethora of liberal causes. I love it when they turn on their own like that!

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