Food Taboos

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Food Taboos

“Would You Eat Breast Milk Cheese?” (Hamm, 2010). I have shown this headline to multiple people and have received the same reaction from everyone. Most of these people I work with at a daycare. We all handle and serve breast milk on a daily basis. Also we watch mothers nurse their infants. Yet, the reaction did not surprise me, even with this comfort level with human breast milk. This reaction falls along the line of disgust and shock. One person even reacted with a sharp reply of “I DID NOT NEED TO SEE THAT!” There is something about the thought of consuming human breast milk that makes people squirm.

Human Breast Milk is touted as the perfected food for infants. There is extreme pressure placed on new mothers to nurse or feed expressed breast milk (EB) elusively for the first six months of life. The extreme of this can be defined by a group called La Lache League International.

Exclusive breastfeeding takes place when you give your baby nothing but your milk; that is, the baby's only nutrition and hydration is milk suckled directly from your breasts. A normal healthy baby does not need water, other liquids, or solids during the first six months of life. The healthiest gift you can give your baby is to exclusively breastfeed him for the first six months of life. Breast milk is sufficient for nutrition and hydration. (LLLI, 2010)

Those who are able to do so are proud to tell you how they are glad to not have to use formula. Yet, if you asked her if she would drink it herself, she would probably “no way!” Yet, this article expresses a lesser known and curious prospective.; it opens the door for the question, of: “Is human breast milk as an acceptable food for adults?” It (what?) features a well known New York ...

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... point. But they don’t need to cause strife. Some taboos may be shocking or even scary to people when it is a need concept for them. If we are able to allow and foster differences and to be allowed them to live side by side, we can live in a better and more accepting world. There will continue to be shock and disbelief when our central core beliefs are confronted and challenged. Who knows? Maybe you would even eat breast milk cheese!

Works Cited

Hamm, L. (2010, March 29). Would You Eat Breast Milk Cheese. People, March, 94.

Food Taboos: It's All a Matter Of Taste. (2004, April 19). Daily Nature and Science News and Headlines | National Geographic News. Retrieved July 14, 2010, from http://news.nationalgeographic.com

LLLI | Breastfeeding: An Optimal Way to Space Babies. (n.d.). LLLI | Home. Retrieved July 15, 2010, from http://www.llli.org/NB/NBSepOct08p4

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