Mrs. Samurai's Kitchen

Many people aren't aware of the growing "raw milk" movement going on in North America, and the resulting political fallout. Basically, many folks have come to realize that drinking milk in its natural, non-pasteurized state has many significant health benefits (plus the flavor is far superior). For many thousands of years, of course, humans drank milk this way and thrived on it. The only reason milk became a health problem in the late 19th-early 20th centuries is that as more people moved to cities, dairies were also moved to the city. Cows were kept penned up in unsanitary conditions and often fed things like liquor mash, rather than grass. The milk quality was so poor that they often had to add white powder to make it look normal. Combine that with the lack of sanitation and refrigeration, and no wonder there were problems.

Now, with stainless steel and electricity, there's no reason we can't safely consume milk from healthy cows (i.e., they hang out in a pasture or a clean barn and eat grass and hay) that hasn't been pasteurized. The FDA feels differently, however, and has been increasingly performing raids (often with guns drawn) on farmers suspected of selling raw milk illegally. (Every state has its own law about raw milk sales, but there is a Federal prohibition against transporting it across state lines. Sheesh - you'd think they'd have better things to worry about.)

So - today there is a great protest happening by a group of (mostly) moms called the Raw Milk Freedom Riders. Check it out here. What do you think?

For more basic information on raw milk, see here.