I made the decision to mostly give up dairy products over a period of years beginning around 2003. Milk wasn’t a big issue with me, as I’d never been fond of it growing up or at any time afterward. Eggs weren’t too difficult, either, as I tend to look at them as eating an abortion (sorry if that imagery is a bit disgusting), even though mainstream commercial eggs are unfertilized. There’s still all the amniotic fluid (aka egg whites) inside, and the thought of frying that up and eating it strikes me as more than a little disgusting. The real issue, then, with removing eggs and milk from my diet has been not the two ingredients themselves, but the fact that they (and their derivatives) are so heavily utilized in almost everything edible on the market that’s not a raw fruit or vegetable. To me, there’s a real point to be made regarding cow’s milk in that it contains elements necessary for a calf’s growth and development, not for a human’s. It isn’t, nor has it ever been, something intended for human consumption. As a child I had to load it down heavily with chocolate or strawberry flavoring to be able to drink it, and as I got older I gravitated farther and farther away from even that until I arrived at my present point, where I try not to consume it at all, in any form, save for the use of butter on toasted breads and on popcorn.
When it comes to desserts, there are alternative binders and leaveners that can be used in place of milk and eggs for many breads, cakes, and cookies. As for those particular foodstuffs for which those ingredients are integral to the taste or texture, they are simply not things I’m particularly interested in making. I’m not interested in using eggs at all, for any purpose, at any time. The whole point of cooking for oneself is to be able to make food exactly the way you want it.
In any case, that’s my stance on dairy. Back to work now 🙂
