I remember that in 2011 an ice cream parlour in Convent Garden, London, started selling breast milk ice cream. It seemed rather decadent to me, with many mothers struggling to breastfeed their newborn. Shouldn’t any excess milk be donated to milk banks instead, helping babies in need?
But Mrs Hiley, who donated the milk and was getting £15 for every 10 ounces of milk, stated that it was a great “recession beater”. “What’s the harm in using my assets for a bit of extra cash?” she added. “I teach women how to get started on breastfeeding their babies. There’s very little support for women and every little helps.”
Photographer Ursula Groos is challenging our perceptions with ‘breast milk cheese ’ ;“Manufacturing cheese from mother’s milk is a taboo. It was in the early nineties that I first had the idea of manufacturing cheese from mother’s milk. I didn’t realize it at the time, but my idea became part of an ongoing discussion with my friends. What is this discussion about?
Many people’s first reaction to the idea: “That’s disgusting!”
But why do they react that way?
We eat cheese from cows, sheep and goats. In fact, we eat many different products from these animals’ milk. So, then why isn’t it completely natural and common for humans to drink human milk?
Is this a taboo with some inherent merit? Or is it just a matter of culture and education?
Culture, religion and education are major factors in our likes and dislikes, our acceptance and taboos, often on an unconscious level.” Ursula Groos
In 2010, New York haute cuisine chef Daniel Angerer had been struck by the same idea. Eight weeks after his wife gave birth and began freezing her excess milk, Angerer became curious as to whether human milk could be used in the kitchen.He began to experiment in using it to make cheese. He aged it for a fortnight before testing it – and was apparently amazed at its sweet taste. In the time the chef’s Klee Brasserie was selling it and using it in a range of upmarket dishes.
Photo’s ; Breast Milk Cheese 2016, Uschi Groos, Photography, Ugroos.de
Anna Versteeg
