Hi Everybody:
    When I was reading the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls
Wilder with my daughter, it struck me how cow's milk was portrayed. Cow's milk
was essential to make important foods like cheese and butter. Fresh milk from
the cow was a treat. There is one scene where the whole family is standing
around to take a taste from the cup of fresh cow's milk; everyone takes a sip,
and then the whole rest of the cup is given to the youngest child. In other
scenes, milk and bread was the whole meal. I was wondering about human's
desires for treats: things that are sweet or salty which weren't so common in
our hunter-gatherer days, but were rare treats. Nowadays, this country has an
overabundance of sweets and salts, which has led to a wide variety of health
problems. The population of the USA is making itself sick by overindulgence in
treats. These treats are everywhere, all the time...hard to resist.
    Also interesting to note that the reason cow's milk is pushed so much is
our enormous dairy industry....can you imagine movie stars on billboards with
say, tomato sauce dripping off their faces saying "Do the right thing, eat
tomatoes every day"? Someone (sorry as I can't remember who it was) wrote a
piece on the fact that a person could go from cradle to grave with a formula
(fancy cow's milk with additives and flavoring) to suit. This country has
invested way too much in the cow. Warmly, Nikki