It’s rich, it’s creamy, it’s natural; breast milk ice cream hits London

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This article was published 21/03/2011 (5669 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It doesn’t get more locovore than this. Ice cream made from human breast milk. Or what about mom’s milk cheese?

It’s the most natural of foods and yet, human breast milk is lumped in with bizarre and controversial foods, unless, of course, it’s a suckling baby drinking it.

The latest human breast milk product is ice cream, sold in London, England, in a shop called Icecreamist. It’s called Baby Gaga. The restaurant buys milk from mamas to make them into the Gagas. They’re served in martini glasses for about $22.50. “The Baby Gaga tastes creamy and rich. No one’s done anything interesting with ice cream in the last 100 years,” owner Matt O’Connor has said. The ice cream is flavoured with vanilla and lemon zest.

Is it the thin edge of a trend? It isn’t the first human milk product to be sold to the public. Klee Brasserie, a fine dining restaurant in New York City, made limited amounts of breast milk cheese dishes while the owner’s wife was lactating last year. The chef/owner served the cheese dredged in porcini powder; with figs and Hungarian pepper; and with maple caramelized pumpkin seeds and grapes.

The New York City health department didn’t have specific rules on human breast milk products but they did ask the owner to stop selling or giving away the dishes. Owner Daniel Angerer said he got extreme reactions, both positive and negative.

Another New Yorker, Miriam Simun, made and served up breast milk cheeses as a university project. And here in Canada, a Toronto performance artist staged a piece called Lactation Station Breast Milk Bar with samples. The idea has backing from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). They’ve even urged Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream company to start replacing cow’s milk with human breast milk. So far, the reception’s been frosty.

— Postmedia News