A genre-expanding collection of stories that Publishers Weekly calls “perplexingly captivating” and “astonishing.” Wild Milk is like Borscht Belt meets Leonora Carrington; it’s like Donald Barthelme meets Pony Head; it’s like the Brothers Grimm meet Beckett in his swim trunks at the beach. In other words, this remarkable collection of stories is unlike anything else you’ve read.

Mark Kurlansky's first global food history since the bestselling Cod and Salt; the fascinating cultural, economic and culinary story of milk and all things dairy – with recipes throughout While mother's milk may be the essence of nourishment, it is the milk of other mammals that humans have cultivated ever since the domestication of animals more than 10,000 years ago. Today, milk is a test case in the most pressing issues in food politics, from industrial farming and animal rights to GMOs, the locavore movement and advocates for raw milk, who controversially reject pasteurisation. Profoundly intertwined with human civilisation, milk has a compelling and surprisingly global story to tell, and historian Mark Kurlansky is the perfect person to tell it. Tracing the liquid's diverse history from antiquity to the present, he details its curious and crucial role in cultural evolution, religion, nutrition, politics, and economics.

Beginning in 2006, the agriculture departments of several large states-with backing from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration-launched a major crackdown on small dairies producing raw milk. Replete with undercover agents, sting operations, surprise raids, questionable test-lab results, mysterious illnesses, propaganda blitzes, and grand jury investigations, the crackdown was designed to disrupt the supply of unpasteurized milk to growing legions of consumers demanding healthier and more flavorful food. The Raw Milk Revolution takes readers behind the scenes of the government's tough and occasionally brutal intimidation tactics, as seen through the eyes of milk producers, government regulators, scientists, prosecutors, and consumers. It is a disturbing story involving marginally legal police tactics and investigation techniques, with young children used as political pawns in a highly charged atmosphere of fear and retribution. Are regulators' claims that raw milk poses a public health threat legitimate? That turns out to be a matter of considerable debate. In assessing the threat, The Raw Milk Revolution reveals that the government's campaign, ostensibly designed to protect consumers from pathogens like salmonella, E. coli 0157:H7, and listeria, was based in a number of cases on suspect laboratory findings and illnesses attributed to raw milk that could well have had other causes, including, in some cases, pasteurized milk. David Gumpert dares to ask whether regulators have the public's interest in mind or the economic interests of dairy conglomerates. He assesses how the government's anti-raw-milk campaign fits into a troublesome pattern of expanding government efforts to sanitize the food supply-even in the face of ever-increasing rates of chronic disease like asthma, diabetes, and allergies. The Raw Milk Revolution provides an unsettling view of the future, in which nutritionally dense foods may be available largely through underground channels.

"After drawing its first breath every newborn mammal turns his or her complete attention to obtaining milk. This simple act was once thought to stem from a basic fact - milk provides the initial source of calories and nutrients for all mammalian young. That truth, however, is only a piece of the story. Milk, it turns out, is an extremely complex biochemical cocktail. The authors of this fascinating book, biologists Michael L. Power and Jay Schulkin, reveal milk's ancient history and show how the ingredients of mother's milk have evolved over many mammalian generations. Power and Schulkin walk us through the evolutionary origins of the mammary gland and describe the incredible diversification of milk among the various mammalian lineages, culminating in a discussion of the history of humans and milk. Once the roots of lactation are revealed, the authors describe the long list of substances that naturally occur in milk. They discuss all of the biological functions of milk - functions that reach far beyond being a baby's first food. Mothers, it turn out, pass along numerous biochemical signals to their babies through milk. The authors describe how milk boosts an infant's immune system, affects an infant's metabolism and physiology, and even helps inoculate and feed the baby's gut microbiome. Throughout the book the authors weave in stories from studies of other species, explaining how comparative research sheds light on human lactation. The authors then turn their attention to the fascinating topic of cross-species milk consumption"--

Meg and Ben are a creditor away from losing their family farm. To the rescue flies a high-powered businessman-- in a private chopper no less-- offering a tidy sum for a taste of farm life and the pure, raw milk that goes with it.--Provided by Publisher.

Although bioactive compounds in milk and dairy products have been extensively studied during the last few decades – especially in human and bovine milks and some dairy products – very few publications on this topic are available, especially in other dairy species’ milk and their processed dairy products. Also, little is available in the areas of bioactive and nutraceutical compounds in bovine and human milks, while books on other mammalian species are non-existent. Bioactive Components in Milk and Dairy Products extensively covers the bioactive components in milk and dairy products of many dairy species, including cows, goats, buffalo, sheep, horse, camel, and other minor species. Park has assembled a group of internationally reputed scientists in the forefront of functional milk and dairy products, food science and technology as contributors to this unique book. Coverage for each of the various dairy species includes: bioactive proteins and peptides; bioactive lipid components; oligosaccharides; growth factors; and other minor bioactive compounds, such as minerals, vitamins, hormones and nucleotides, etc. Bioactive components are discussed for manufactured dairy products, such as caseins, caseinates, and cheeses; yogurt products; koumiss and kefir; and whey products. Aimed at food scientists, food technologists, dairy manufacturers, nutritionists, nutraceutical and functional foods specialists, allergy specialists, biotechnologists, medical and health professionals, and upper level students and faculty in dairy and food sciences and nutrition, Bioactive Components in Milk and Dairy Products is an important resource for those who are seeking nutritional, health, and therapeutic values or product technology information on milk and dairy products from the dairy cow and speciesbeyond. Areas featured are: Unique coverage of bioactive compounds in milks of the dairy cow and minor species, including goat, sheep, buffalo, camel, and mare Identifies bioactive components and their analytical isolation methods in manufactured dairy products, such as caseins, caseinates, and cheeses; yogurt products; koumiss and kefir; and whey products Essential for professionals as well as biotechnology researchers specializing in functional foods, nutraceuticals, probiotics, and prebiotics Contributed chapters from a team of world-renowned expert scientists

From the Foreword— In a very short stretch of years, the Judaic Studies Program at the University of California, San Diego, has developed into one of the most important centers for teaching and research in biblical studies, in ancient Near Eastern and biblical archaeology, and more generally in Judaic studies. The program now rivals far older centers of study in these fields in eastern research universities. I have been an admirer of the program for some years, proud of former students of mine whose energy and foresight have contributed to the developments in La Jolla, including the establishment of endowed chairs that guarantee the future of this center and its program. This collection of essays honoring the Judaic Studies Program and its faculty is a testimony to the fecundity of the program in producing scholars, whose essays dominate the collection. Several essays come from other scholars whose home base is in the West and who have engaged in colloquia and common pursuits with the San Diego faculty. . . . There are sections on Genesis, poetry and prophecy, narrative and history, lexicon, archaeology, and (not least) paleography. —Frank Moore Cross Harvard University

The failing economics of the traditional small dairy farm, the rise of the factory mega-farm with its resultant pollution and disease, and the uncertain future of milk