Milk is a staple food and is part of the human diet in most cultures. The properties of milk are well known: it has calcium that allows us to strengthen our bones, a percentage of fat necessary for our body, it serves to feed infants, it has iron and proteins that help our metabolism and it has vitamins of group B, C and A. These properties are essential and therefore milk is used in various ways: in the form of yogurt or kefir, combining it with coffee or tea, transforming it into cheese through a fermentation process or in the different dairy products that we consume.
A basic product of the family economy
Milk as a food product is generally obtained from cows, goats, or sheep. From an economic point of view, milk is part of the first sector of the economy, that is, of the livestock activity
Thanks to pasteurization, this food can be kept fresh and with all the guarantees for more days, which makes it a key product in the families' shopping basket and, therefore, is part of the list of products included to calculate the CPI or consumer price index. A possible increase in the price of milk would directly damage the economy of families, especially those most in need.
Milk in language, culture and history
Milk is more than just a staple food. In this sense, it is worth remembering some well-known everyday expressions (this is milk, do not cry for spilled milk, a thousand milks, give someone a milk, be in a bad mood, give yourself a milk, all milk, etc). In the proverb it also has a prominent role (no one buys a cow with free milk or you put nothing on the milk).
From a cultural point of view, the references are very varied
We have all heard of the story of the milkmaid or the donkey's milk that Cleopatra used to bathe. On the other hand, let's not forget that the Milky Way is so called because it has an aspect that is reminiscent of spilled milk.
In times of crisis or war, milk is a symbol of survival (for example, after the Spanish Civil War, children were fed with powdered milk that replaced the traditional one).
If we think about the origin of civilizations, milk played a leading role. In fact, the human being abandoned nomadism and began to lead a sedentary life when he knew how to domesticate livestock, which allowed him to obtain a basic food for the nutrition of a community, milk.
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