
The World Wants More Camel Milk - lunchbreak
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-05-23/the-world-wants-more-camel-milk-australia-can-help
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bb101
I wonder whether the camels will begin to be farmed intensively, the same as
cows?

To get cows to produce milk for us, they are artificially inseminated or
introduced to a bull once a year to produce a calf. If the calf is born
female, she may be raised as part of the dairy herd. If the calf is male, it's
off to the slaughterhouse or strapped into a pen the size of a cupboard for a
few months before slaughter: that gives us veal. Three months after birth, the
cow is inseminated again for the next year's cycle.

The cows are distressed at being separated from their newborn young, year on
year, and most only live 4 to 5 years (natural lifespan would be around 18),
before being sent to the slaughterhouse themselves: that gives us leather,
cosmetics and a hundred other things.

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AndyMcConachie
This article misses out the most important part about Camel's milk. You can
freeze it.

If you've ever tried freezing cow milk and thawing it you know it's ruined.
But Camel milk can be frozen and thawed without changing the taste. I've had
it a couple of times and, as a regular cow milk drinker, have a hard time
telling the difference.

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jws
There is a camel dairy west of San Diego. They have tours one weekend a month
if you want to go.

[https://cameldairy.com/](https://cameldairy.com/) — they also win the obvious
url prize.

Apparently it is illegal for them to sell the milk for consumption, so they
turn it into skin care products.

~~~
seangirard
Wouldn’t the obvious URL be dromedairy.com :)

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rurban
The world maybe, Germany certainly not. On our last German Perl user group
meeting an old ex-organizer presented their struggles with the German
authorities to import a small amount of camel milk to Germany from Israel. We
wanted to make ice out of it, and we are obviously very fond of camels, being
our mascot. Even if we got first permission to import camel milk, in the end
the veterinarian refused to hand it over and it was destroyed in orderly
fashion. We had to take the costs. I hope they will put up the YouTube video
soon of this camel milk story.

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yial
Having been around camels, they can truly be foul tempered creatures (while 1%
are quite lovely) and I do not envy anyone who works with them daily.

On a side note, I am going to go try some camel milk now. But this absolutely
seems more like a fad then reality. I mean goats milk seems to have a solid
market share (and I am a sucker for carrageenan free chocolate goats milk) but
unless camel milk tastes like a fresh macaron, I don't know if I would go out
of my way or pay a premium.

~~~
globuous
At least in France, goat milk is highly popular, same with sheep milk. We make
so many cheese from it ! And we're not alone ! Plenty of cultures around the
world make goat and sheep cheeses, they're delicious !

Other than that, I don't think anyone drink sheep (or goat) milk in France. I
may be wrong, but I assume if anyone did that'd be pretty exceptional.

That being said, why am I commenting on camel milk articles when I should be
finishing this program -.-

~~~
yial
I do love goats milk cheese ! I think I’m going to have to make a Trader Joe’s
run...

Good luck on your program!

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c0nducktr
These submarine articles are getting weirder and weirder

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etaioinshrdlu
Camel meat is also delicious.

~~~
amingilani
I live in Pakistan and tried it only once because it was so foul. It was
straight from a farmer, though. I guess I'll try it again then. Thanks for
convincing me random person on the internet!

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zitterbewegung
So is this the new fad after almond and coconut milk?

Or does it also cater to people who are lactose intolerant? I wonder if I will
be seeing Camel milk at a Starbucks soon.

~~~
otoburb
Oat milk[1] is the next fad after soy, almond and coconut milk. These are
mainly for people who are lactose intolerant, although perhaps some people who
aren't lactose intolerant prefer a different taste for lattes or cappuccino
drinks.

In the US I believe there’s now also another type of milk called A2 that
doesn’t have certain forms of beta-casein proteins[2], which allegedly will
help ease the discomfort lactose intolerant people feel after they ingest
cow's milk.

[1] [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/19/style/oat-milk-coffee-
oat...](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/19/style/oat-milk-coffee-oatly.html)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A2_milk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A2_milk)

~~~
fanzhang
Isn't lactose the ingredient that causes discomfort with lactose intolerant
people's stomach's?

As someone lactose intolerant, I looked at the citations and none of them
claim A2 milk is lactose free, as I understand it.

~~~
otoburb
This is why I threw in the word "allegedly" above. The producers of a2 milk
are trying to go with a new theory that claims that people who self-report as
lactose intolerant aren't _actually_ lactose intolerant, but that the cause of
their symptoms is their inability to digest the A1 beta-casein protein which
is commonly found in North American milk[1].

That's the spiel anyway. I have yet to try it. I'm one of those self-
reporting-as-lactose-intolerant-people-who-experience-discomfort-after-
ingesting-cow's-milk.

[1] [https://thea2milkcompany.com/about-
us/](https://thea2milkcompany.com/about-us/)

~~~
rickycook
a2 has been around in australia for ages (started in new zealand afaik), and
from personal anecdote, i can say that it works. i could drink cows milk (and
did a couple of times per day in flat whites) but by the end of the day, it
made me feel a little off and i frequently had a “enough milk for today”
moment. after starting on a2 i get none of that, and what’s more it makes it
easier to drink regular milk for a few days after a week of only a2

nothing scientific, but i’m going to continue paying a bit more for my milk :p

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SeriousM
Milk, produced by the mothers on this earth is supposed to be drunk by their
infants, not by any other animal or humans! It's quite stupid to drink
"another type" of animal milk to cure stomach problems. Stop it all together
to cure because the human body is not made to drink milk after infant state.

~~~
PhasmaFelis
Milk (and milk-derived foods like cheese and butter) have been a staple food
in Europe for more than seven millennia. That's why most European-descended
people are lactose-tolerant; it was so nutritious that we kept eating it until
we evolved a tolerance for it. If your ancestors were European (or African, or
Mongolian), you are absolutely "made" to drink milk.

I never understood why drinking animal milk is supposed to be weirder than
killing them and eating their flesh, anyway.

~~~
Keverw
I am a picky eater so I doubt I could ever go vegan but I do think some of the
stuff done is really odd and sad... Like to lactate they need to keep having
babies. Like if you're a woman you can't just go produce breast milk on demand
like it's some sort of tap. Because the milk is meant to feed your young.
That's why we have veal, as they keep having to have babies and they don't
want to spend the resources to let them grow up to be big happy cows on a open
field. So they are killed so young, little chance to even live and start their
lives.

Then for silk fabric, they boil the sac's alive. Then a lot of meat and egg
plants, due to bio security the employees there have to wear company issued
underwear and clothes which isn't cleaned between shifts always... Some
reports of them wearing disposable diapers instead for underwear.

So a lot of odd things go on in the farming industry. I love eating steak and
chicken but if I had to go kill them myself I'd feel so guilty. Well some kids
raised on farms will play with the chickens and then grow up where their
parrents force them to kill them and help out on the farm.

Seems like a hard life. I always wanted to own a farm though, nice open fields
and private. No loud neighbors or anything, seems peaceful but I'd stick to
somthing like corn, water melons, pumpkins, potatoes probably. Well plants are
technically alive too but I guess they don't show any emotion and aren't
fluffy.

~~~
GordonS
> Like to lactate they need to keep having babies. Like if you're a woman you
> can't just go produce breast milk on demand like it's some sort of tap

Not true - a woman will keep producing milk for as long as it is being taken.
A woman could continue to express milk indefinitely after stopping feeding
their infant. As an aside, lookup "nursing maids".

~~~
Keverw
Interesting, wonder if the same applies with cows?

I know on PETA's website they say "Cows produce milk for the same reason why
humans and other mammals do: to nourish their young. But the millions of cows
who live on U.S. dairy farms are forced into a vicious cycle of continuous
pregnancy so that they will produce milk for human consumption." [1]

Only reason I really looked into this is I have a friend who's vegan and I'm
like "What's wrong with milk? How are you hurting them?" since not eating
their meat. Thinking cows that made milk were some magical special animal that
main purpose was just making milk.

I've never been a huge fan of plain milk, but I do love ice cream, milk in
coffee, mashed potatoes, tomato soup I like with milk better, etc.

[1] [https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/animals-
us...](https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/animals-used-food-
factsheets/veal-byproduct-cruel-dairy-industry/)

~~~
PhasmaFelis
I honestly don't know either way, but I wouldn't trust PETA's word on anything
without double-checking. I believe they mean well, but they've never shied
from bending the truth and using blatant propaganda techniques to try to meet
their ends.

If cows are forced into continuous pregnancy, it's more likely to be because
beef is very profitable...

