Spoiled: The Myth of Milk as Superfood

Spoiled: The Myth of Milk as Superfood, by culinary historian Anne Mendelson, Ph.D. ’72 offers a critique of milk and its alleged universal health benefits. Mendelson’s wide-ranging account tells the story of milk from the Stone Age peoples who first domesticated cows, goats, and sheep to today’s troubled dairy industry. Drinking fresh milk, Mendelson writes, was rare until Western scientific experts— unaware of genetic differences in the ability to digest lactose— deemed it superior to traditional fermented dairy products. Their flawed beliefs, says Mendelson, fueled the growth of a massive and environmentally devastating industry that turned milk into a cheap, ubiquitous commodity.

E. N. Anderson, author of Everyone Eats: Understanding Food and Culture, wrote of the book: “Anne Mendelson does more than take on the many myths surrounding milk. She provides a history of milk in Britain and America, as dense and rich as a good cheese, and details the many controversies swirling in the glass, especially those concerning sanitation: clean dairies, pasteurization, refrigeration, and others.” (Columbia University Press, 2023)