Ping
What does 7,000 year old cheese taste like?
Truly fascinating stuff!
There are very few people however, who can’t eat cheese.
Lactose is broken down and converted into lactic acid when bacteria is introduced such with yogurt and sour cream. People can usually eat yogurt without any problems.
Cheese tolerance is somewhere in the middle.
I never understood this one. The Mongols and similar peoples are shown as being largely lactose-intolerant by the map, yet we all know they were historically largely dependent on milk for food.
Lots of twists and turns to this.
The African Maasai tribe consume a lot of cow’s milk, often mixed with cow’s blood. I have no idea about what if any chemical interaction between the two fluids is, or if the blood breaks down lactose.
The Roman legions went great distances with hard cheese, which is one of the few primitive foods, like pemmican, that travel well. If you don’t have such a food, your travel is dependent on game animals, which for a large number of people is unlikely.
At least by the days of the republic, they were also big consumers of meat and grain, enough so that orders were issued that meat had to be either boiled or roasted.
There’s something bugging me about that map of the world. I think there’s something missing, but I can’t quite put my finger on what it is . . .
Did SunkenCiv authorize this post?
That is a very interesting map! Thanks. My ancestors all came from the British Isles and your map shows that is good for milk drinkers. I love milk, it is probably my favorite food.
Interesting
That is a really interesting map. Thanks for posting it.
Odd that a milk tolerance map would use white to indicate milk intolerance.