I fail to see the point of milk-free milk chocolate. We already have milk-free chocolate - it's called dark chocolate and apart from the sugar content is a good food in small pieces.
Other xxx-free products may be good to fill gaps where people with allergies and intolerances have difficulty, but a lot of it is pretty silly. If you choose to not eat meat, why do you need fake "meat" patties that are over processed and filled with unnecessary or even unhealthy additives? I've often had a laugh at vegetarians eating cheese. I always ask innocently "is that vegetarian cheese?". Sometimes they get it and say "yes it is". More often they are dumfounded to learn that rennet comes from bobby calves.
We have evolved to be omnivores and a balanced omnivorous diet is usually best. A lot of our allergy and intolerance problems relate to unnecessary additives anyway. Eg preservative has a function in prolonging shelf-life, but is way over-used and can cause problems. Some people are simply intolerant and must avoid it. But for everyone else if you start to learn about the role of gut flora you'll question how anything designed to keep bacteria at bay could ever be good for digestion.
I think the best we can all do is eat basic food with as little processing as possible. Buy it fresh and cook it simply when required. And when we do want something that is processed, seek out a traditionally made version that adheres to old principles and isn't full of additives (thinking sausages, bacon, salami, etc). The good stuff can be hard to get because people just blindly buy the cheap versions in front of them instead of seeking out alternatives and rewarding the companies willing to provide them.
At least it is still pure milk. The pasturisation is essential for safety unless you are prepared to go to great lengths to keep the milk safe, but universal homogenisation seems to have crept its way in by stealth. I used to buy non-homogenised milk but decided that it's too expensive.
Other xxx-free products may be good to fill gaps where people with allergies and intolerances have difficulty, but a lot of it is pretty silly. If you choose to not eat meat, why do you need fake "meat" patties that are over processed and filled with unnecessary or even unhealthy additives? I've often had a laugh at vegetarians eating cheese. I always ask innocently "is that vegetarian cheese?". Sometimes they get it and say "yes it is". More often they are dumfounded to learn that rennet comes from bobby calves.
We have evolved to be omnivores and a balanced omnivorous diet is usually best. A lot of our allergy and intolerance problems relate to unnecessary additives anyway. Eg preservative has a function in prolonging shelf-life, but is way over-used and can cause problems. Some people are simply intolerant and must avoid it. But for everyone else if you start to learn about the role of gut flora you'll question how anything designed to keep bacteria at bay could ever be good for digestion.
I think the best we can all do is eat basic food with as little processing as possible. Buy it fresh and cook it simply when required. And when we do want something that is processed, seek out a traditionally made version that adheres to old principles and isn't full of additives (thinking sausages, bacon, salami, etc). The good stuff can be hard to get because people just blindly buy the cheap versions in front of them instead of seeking out alternatives and rewarding the companies willing to provide them.
(22-06-2022, 01:25 PM)harm_less Wrote:(22-06-2022, 12:56 PM)nzoomed Wrote: All this "plant" based stuff can be more unhealthy than regular milk for example. Just think of all the chemicals and processes to make "rice" milk or other types of plant based milk.Our milk is so far removed from squirting a teat into a bottle that it can be regarded as a high processed food itself. Its water footprint and Fonterra's energy consumption speaks for itself in respect to "regular milk".
Its not even something you can naturally extract. Canola oil is another example.
At least it is still pure milk. The pasturisation is essential for safety unless you are prepared to go to great lengths to keep the milk safe, but universal homogenisation seems to have crept its way in by stealth. I used to buy non-homogenised milk but decided that it's too expensive.