Milk is never just milk.
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WW2 rations with milk bottles, 2 person weekly war ration
by Imperial War Museums. Uploaded by Mark Cartwright, published on 19 June 2024.
Milk can mean care, childhood, health and home. But this familiar everyday substance is also shaped by colonial histories, global industry and decisions about whose knowledge, labour and ways of living matter.
Our project Milking It! follows milk between Kenya and the UK to ask what it can tell us about power, memory, loss and the future of food.
BBC Ideas: Milk!
See us on BBC where we explore how something seemingly so ordinary can reveal much bigger stories about human evolution, industrialisation, colonialism, language, animal relationships and the future of food.
Seen us on BBC Ideas?
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Listen to our podcast, Milk on the Move
If the film made you curious, start here: Industrial milk, Milk and Motherhood and The Magic Milk Machine.
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About Milking It!
Read about our project and the questions we are asking.
Why Milk?
Consumed across the globe and throughout history, milk carries an unusual density of cultural and political meaning. It is associated with nourishment and care, but also with prejudice, regulation, and control. Milk is often framed as natural, neutral, even innocent, but as this book will explore, it is one of the most controversial substances in the modern world.
Why Kenya and the uk?
Both Kenya and the UK have a rich and diverse dairy traditions and practice,. Their historical relationships with dairy share a transition towards high yield and low cost production within formal industrial dairying. However the impacts of this on farmers, peoples preferences, and they relationships with milk differ.
Why podcasting?
We think we know the sounds associated with milk and dairying, but what about violins, roaring, popping corks, suction pads, lorries, and aeroplanes? Podcasting allows us to experience the contrasting landscapes of milk-production, have conversations with a range of milk experts, and share our research with you.
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White Green and Pink Floral Ceramic Teacup With White Spoon
By cottonbro studio, Pexels.
A girl buys milk from a vendor in Kenya
Landgirl's Day- Everyday Life and Agriculture in West Sussex, England, UK, 1944
29 year old Land Girl Rosalind Cox (left)carries milk pails in the dairy on Mr Tupper's farm at Bignor in Sussex, as her colleague Helen Newmarch sits on a stool to milk 'Cleopatra'. The cattle here are shorthorn cows. Helen is from Worthing and was a shorthand typist before joining the Land Army.
Photo credit: Imperial War Museums