How "biologically recently" are you talking about ? In India, milk has been there since the first domestication of cattle 8000 years ago. Ancient Indian civilization was built on milk. Not only was it drunk regularly but it was also turned into ghee.
> How "biologically recently" are you talking about ? In India, milk has been there since the first domestication of cattle 8000 years ago
10,000 years. See top comment.
North Indian lactase was inherited from the Middle East. (I’m Northern Indian, in large part.)
"Staple" has a specific meaning: it's a significant source of calories. For North Indians, this is true of dairy. For India as a whole, it's not true even today [1].
The entire nation of India has essentially lived on milk for thousands of years. Tribes in East Africa essentially only live on meat, milk and blood. All of Central Asia has always lived on milk from livestock. It’s pretty much everyone other than pre Columbian South Americans and East Asians. Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, the Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Indus Valley civilization etc.
