The
3:08
soybean gave China everything that dairy
3:10
gave Europe. Protein, fat, fermentation,
3:13
preservation without a single drop of
3:15
milk. But biology and agriculture are
3:17
only part of the story. The deeper
3:19
answer lies in how China organized its
3:21
land, its labor, and its identity.
3:23
China's heartland was densely populated
3:25
crop land. Every acre was precious.
3:28
Raising cattle for dairy requires
3:30
enormous amounts of grazing land,
3:32
roughly 10 times more land per calorie
3:34
than growing grain or legumes. In a
3:37
civilization where arable land was the
3:39
foundation of political power and social
3:41
stability, devoting vast tracks to
3:43
grazing animals would have been an
3:45
extraordinary waste. European geography
3:48
allowed it. The cool rain soaked
3:50
grasslands of France, Switzerland, and
3:52
the Netherlands are poorly suited to
3:54
growing rice or soybeans, but they are
3:56
perfect for grazing cattle. Europe had
3:58
the land. China did not. Or more
4:01
precisely, China had better things to do
4:03
with its land.

Dairy was
4:32
the food of barbarians. It was the food
4:34
of people who wandered, who did not
4:36
plant, who did not build permanent
4:38
cities. To eat dairy was in a sense to
4:40
reject the values of Chinese
4:42
civilization itself. Agriculture
4:44
settlement order. This was not a subtle
4:46
prejudice. Chinese historical texts from
4:48
the Han dynasty and later are filled
4:50
with references to nomadic peoples as
4:52
the stinking ones partly because of the
4:55
rancid smell of fermented dairy on their
4:57
clothes and breath.

So the pieces
6:00
come together. Biology made dairy
6:02
uncomfortable. Agriculture made it
6:05
unnecessary. Geography made it
6:07
impractical. Culture made it
6:09
undesirable. And the soybean made it
6:11
redundant.

In the year
6:28
2000, the average Chinese person
6:31
consumed virtually zero cheese. By 2023,
6:34
China was importing more than 180,000
6:37
metric tons of cheese annually, and
6:39
domestic production was climbing
6:40
rapidly.

7:41
We tend to assume that cheese is a
7:43
universal human achievement, something
7:45
so obvious that any culture should have
7:47
invented it. But that assumption is
7:49
rooted in a European perspective. From
7:52
China's point of view, the real question
7:53
might be the reverse. Why did Europeans
7:56
never develop tofu?
Their path was
8:15
cheese. China's path was the soybean.
8:18
Neither path was superior.

I cannot support ANYBODY making or selling a very cruel product like foie gras. The cruelty to the animals involved is very disturbing.
OMG, now I can afford to eat these food. Thank you China.
Thank you China for making luxury and prestige products affordable for everyone.
Democratizing luxury foods like caviar is a fantastic development; high-quality delicacies should be accessible to everyone
commoners should have the rights to have 'luxury food'
China once again economizes previously unattainable luxury items and makes it available to the common man.
Caviar and sturgeon from the Sea of Azov began reaching the tables of aristocratic and noble Greeks in the 10th century, after the commencement of large-scale trading between the Byzantine Empire and Kievan Rus'.[12] The Russians likely learned to process fish eggs with salt from Greek traders who had passed along the Black Sea coast, but it was not until after the Mongol invasions that the caviar industry developed in Astrakhan.[13]
As Jews became established in Western and Central Europe, they encountered difficulties finding suitable cooking fat for use in dishes containing meat or to be served with meat. Lard was widely available, but Judaic dietary law, Kashrut, completely forbids it because it comes from an animal considered unclean. Butter, also commonly available, was not in itself proscribed, but it could not be used with or in meals containing meat because kashrut also prohibited mixing meat and dairy products.[9] Jewish cuisine used olive oil in the Mediterranean and sesame oil in Babylonia, but neither cooking medium was readily available in Western and Central Europe. Jews in these regions therefore turned to poultry fat (known in Yiddish as schmaltz), which could be abundantly produced by overfeeding geese, where fat was needed with meat.[24][26][27]
The delicate taste of the fattened goose's liver was soon appreciated; Hans Wilhelm Kirchhof of Kassel wrote in 1562 that the Jews raise fat geese and particularly love their livers.
...
In 1570, Bartolomeo Scappi, chef de cuisine to Pope Pius V, published his cookbook Opera, wherein he writes that "the liver of [a] domestic goose raised by the Jews is of extreme size and weighs [between] two and three pounds".[28] In 1581, Marx Rumpolt of Mainz, chef to several German nobles, published the massive cookbook Ein Neu Kochbuch, describing that the Jews of Bohemia produced livers weighing more than three pounds; he lists recipes for it, including one for goose liver mousse.[28][29] János Keszei, chef to the court of Michael Apafi, the prince of Transylvania, included foie gras recipes in his 1680 cookbook A New Book About Cooking, instructing cooks to "envelop the goose liver in a calf's thin skin, bake it and prepare [a] green or [a] brown sauce to accompany it. I used goose liver fattened by Bohemian Jews; its weight was more than three pounds. You may also prepare a mush of it."
...
Foie gras became a significant part of French culinary tradition during the 17th and 18th centuries, particularly under the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI. It was served at royal courts as a symbol of luxury and refinement. In 1779, French chef Jean-Joseph Clause elevated foie gras to new heights by creating pâté de foie gras. His innovation earned him a patent in 1784, and he later established a business supplying this delicacy to the French aristocracy. By the early 19th century, Strasbourg had become renowned as the "goose-liver capital of the world".[30][31]
After the French Revolution, foie gras transitioned from being an exclusive royal delicacy to one enjoyed by the middle class.[32] Its production and consumption became particularly associated with Southwest France, including regions like Dordogne and Alsace, where traditional methods of preparation flourished. Today, these regions remain central to foie gras production in France, with over 90% of producers located in the Dordogne Valley.
Foie gras is so deeply embedded in French culture that it is protected under French law, which declares it part of the country's "protected cultural and gastronomical heritage." This legal recognition underscores its importance as a symbol of French culinary excellence.

Can we get an update on this
How well we know the stereotype of the rugged Plains Indian: killer of buffalo, dressed in quill-decorated buckskin, elaborately feathered eaddress, and leather moccasins, living in an animal skin teepee, master of the dog and horse, and stranger to vegetables. But this lifestyle, once limited almost exclusively to the Apaches, flourished no more than a couple hundred years. It is not representative of most Native Americans of today or yesterday. Indeed, the "buffalo-as-lifestyle" phenomenon is a direct result of European influence, as we shall see.
Among my own people, the Choctaw Indians of Mississippi and Oklahoma, vegetables are the traditional diet mainstay. A French manuscript of the eighteenth century describes the Choctaws' vegetarian leanings in shelter and food. The homes were constructed not of skins, but of wood, mud, bark and cane. The principal food, eaten daily from earthen pots, was a vegetarian stew containing corn, pumpkin and beans. The bread was made from corn and acorns. Other common favorites were roasted corn and corn porridge. (Meat in the form of small game was an infrequent repast.) The ancient Choctaws were, first and foremost, farmers. Even the clothing was plant based, artistically embroidered dresses for the women and cotton breeches for the men. Choctaws have never adorned their hair with feathers.
The rich lands of the Choctaws in present-day Mississippi were so greatly coveted by nineteenth century Americans that most of the tribe was forcibly removed to what is now called Oklahoma. Oklahoma was chosen both because it was largely uninhabited and because several explorations of the territory had deemed the land barren and useless for any purpose. The truth, however, was that Oklahoma was so fertile a land that it was an Indian breadbasket. That is, it was used by Indians on all sides as an agricultural resource. Although many Choctaws suffered and died during removal on the infamous "Trail of Tears", those that survived built anew and successfully in Oklahoma, their agricultural genius intact.
George Catlin, the famous nineteenth century Indian historian, described the Choctaw lands of southern Oklahoma in the 1840's this way: "...the ground was almost literally covered with vines, producing the greatest profusion of delicious grapes,...and hanging in such endless clusters... our progress was oftentimes completely arrested by hundreds of acres of small plum trees...every bush that was in sight was so loaded with the weight of its...fruit, that they were in many instances literally without leaves on their branches, and quite bent to the ground... and beds of wild currants, gooseberries, and (edible) prickly pear." (Many of the "wild" foods Anglo explorers encountered on their journeys were actually carefully cultivated by Indians.)
Many of the Choctaw foods cooked at celebrations even today are vegetarian. Corn is so important to us it is considered divine. Our corn legend says that is was a gift from Hashtali, the Great Spirit. Corn was given in gratitude because Choctaws had fed the daughter of the Great Spirit when she was hungry. (Hashtali is literally "Noon Day Sun". Choctaws believe the Great Spirit resides within the sun, for it is the sun that allows the corn to grow!)
Another Choctaw story describes the afterlife as a giant playground where all but murderers are allowed. What do Choctaws eat in "heaven"? Their sweetest treat, of course: melons, a never-ending supply.
More than one tribe has creation legends which describe people as vegetarian, living in a kind of Garden of Eden. A Cherokee legend describes humans, plants, and animals as having lived in the beginning in "equality and mutual helpfulness". The needs of all were met without killing one another. When man became aggressive and ate some of the animals, the animals invented diseases to keep human population in check. The plants remained friendly, however, and offered themselves not only as food to man, but also as medicine, to combat the new diseases.
More tribes were like the Choctaws than were different. Aztec, Mayan, and Zapotec children in olden times ate 100% vegetarian diets until at least the age of ten years old. The primary food was cereal, especially varieties of corn. Such a diet was believed to make the child strong and disease resistant. (The Spaniards were amazed to discover that these Indians had twice the life-span they did.) A totally vegetarian diet also insured that the children would retain a life-long love of grains, and thus, live a healthier life. Even today, the Indian healers of those tribes are likely to advise the sick to "return to the arms of Mother Corn" in order to get well. Such a return might include eating a lot of atole. (The easiest way to make atole is to simmer commercially produced masa harina corn flour with water. Then flavor it with chocolate or cinnamon, and sweeten to taste.) Atole is considered a sacred food.
Eat your goyblock and shut the **** up
Another disgraceful example of businesses in Japan not being welcoming to tourists.
Fancy chicken served at the 3-Michelin star Epicure restaurant in Paris, France.
Academics at an Oxford museum will research the 'political nature' of milk and its 'colonial legacies'.
One of the experts involved has previously argued that milk is a 'Northern European obsession' that has been imposed on other parts of the world.
Dr Johanna Zetterstrom-Sharp said the assumption that milk was a key part of the human diet 'may be understood as a white supremacist one', as many populations outside Europe and North America have high levels of lactose intolerance in adulthood.
...
Dr Zetterstrom-Sharp took part in a talk titled Milk and Whiteness during a Wellcome Trust exhibition on milk in 2022.
In the panel discussion, she said a 'Northern European obsession with milk' had led to the assumption that it was a vital part of any human diet, and should be produced and provided on a vast scale.
The Wellcome Trust exhibition highlighted the imposition of dairy economies by colonial powers, including in regions where populations had high levels of lactose intolerance.
Dr Zetterstrom-Sharp also highlighted issues with the way local milk production in Africa may have been quashed in favour of industrial methods aimed at producing greater volume, and how milk has been distributed by aid organisations.