--- product_id: 146980670 title: "Milk!: A 10,000-Year Food Fracas" brand: "mark kurlansky" price: "€ 51.68" currency: EUR in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.gr/products/146980670-milk-a-10-000-year-food-fracas store_origin: GR region: Greece --- # Milk!: A 10,000-Year Food Fracas **Brand:** mark kurlansky **Price:** € 51.68 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Milk!: A 10,000-Year Food Fracas by mark kurlansky - **How much does it cost?** € 51.68 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.gr](https://www.desertcart.gr/products/146980670-milk-a-10-000-year-food-fracas) ## Best For - mark kurlansky enthusiasts ## Why This Product - Trusted mark kurlansky brand quality - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Mark Kurlansky's first global food history since the bestselling Cod and Salt ; the fascinating cultural, economic, and culinary story of milk and all things dairy--with recipes throughout. According to the Greek creation myth, we are so much spilt milk; a splatter of the goddess Hera's breast milk became our galaxy, the Milky Way. But while mother's milk may be the essence of nourishment, it is the milk of other mammals that humans have cultivated ever since the domestication of animals more than 10,000 years ago, originally as a source of cheese, yogurt, kefir, and all manner of edible innovations that rendered lactose digestible, and then, when genetic mutation made some of us lactose-tolerant, milk itself. Before the industrial revolution, it was common for families to keep dairy cows and produce their own milk. But during the nineteenth century, mass production and urbanization made milk safety a leading issue of the day, with milk-borne illnesses a common cause of death. Pasteurization slowly became a legislative matter. And today, milk is a test case in the most pressing issues in food politics, from industrial farming and animal rights to GMOs, the locavore movement, and advocates for raw milk, who controversially reject pasteurization. Profoundly intertwined with human civilization, milk has a compelling and a surprisingly global story to tell, and historian Mark Kurlansky is the perfect person to tell it. Tracing the liquid's diverse history from antiquity to the present, he details its curious and crucial role in cultural evolution, religion, nutrition, politics, and economics. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Dimensions | 5.5 x 1.05 x 8.25 inches | | Edition | Reprint | | Isbn 10 | 1632863839 | | Isbn 13 | 978-1632863836 | | Item Weight | 14.4 ounces | | Language | English | | Print Length | 400 pages | | Publication Date | May 7, 2019 | | Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing | ## Images ![Milk!: A 10,000-Year Food Fracas - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71gWQSfCgcL.jpg) ## Available Options This product comes in different **Format** options. ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Tasty Traipse Through Time *by on Reviewed in the United States October 14, 2026* Great book! More than one soul could ever help to know. I find it odd that we are the only species that consumes the lactation products of other species, but this book makes a good introduction as to the, “why.” ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Skip the Recipes; Stay for the History *by on Reviewed in the United States June 29, 2018* Mr. Kurlansky has a special skill with taking a small slice of the world—cod, salt, paper, the Basques—and showing how that small slice has had a huge impact on history, often in ways that is not immediately obvious. This time around he takes on milk and, as usual, does an excellent job.There is much to learn here. Mammals are not biologically designed to drink milk beyond babyhood. Sometime over the past millennia, however, some humans have essentially bred themselves to be able to digest milk as an adult. (And some have not; thus, the lactose-intolerant.) Throughout that time to the present day, arguments about milk have raged. Is milk actually good for you? If so, which milk is best? (Cow? Goat? Sheep? Camel? Horse?...)In point of fact, for most of history, milk has been comparatively unsafe to drink. It is easily contaminated and spoils quickly; thus, the development of cheeses and other dairy products. It is only in the past 100 years or so that pasteurization and other methods of purifying milk have made it safe enough to be generally sought after. Even then, people complained that safe milk was not as wholesome and tasty as raw milk. Milk, it seems, has always fights an uphill battle.But what made milk desirable in the first place? Mr. Kurlansky reminds us that, until wide-scale production of sugar cane and sugar beets, milk was the sweetest food available to humans, apart from honey. That is why, in the Bible, the land of Canaan is referred to as a “land of milk and honey”—sweetness upon sweetness. In a world saturated with sugary foods and drinks, it is easy to forget this.The main weakness in this book is the number of recipes scattered throughout the text. He notes that these are recipes worth trying at home; however, I would doubt that. I found most of them to be difficult to follow. Granted, I am not much of a cook but from what little I could gather, but they didn’t seem appetizing to me either. Many of them have some historical interest but not enough to justify how many he provides. Maybe a real cook would feel otherwise.Milk is so common in the United States today that it is difficult to remember that this is only a recent phenomenon. Mr. Kurlansky takes us back through the history and shows us the huge impact the development of this foodstuff has had on us. It is definitely worth a read, even if you skip the recipes. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Fascinating and Informative *by on Reviewed in the United States August 31, 2026* As a fan of Kurlansky’s books, I found this one just as interesting as the others I have read. While it didn’t have the same type of stories as Cod or Salt, it did follow the familiar linear historical approach. I have memories of milk delivered to my childhood home, in glass bottles and placed in the special milk box that sat outside our front door. My great uncle delivered milk for a dairy in Pittsburgh, so much of that part of the story was familiar. What I’ll probably return to will be the recipes I want to try. Only a few seemed manageable for me. ## Frequently Bought Together - Milk!: A 10,000-Year Food Fracas - Salt: A World History - Paper: Paging Through History --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.gr/products/146980670-milk-a-10-000-year-food-fracas](https://www.desertcart.gr/products/146980670-milk-a-10-000-year-food-fracas) --- *Product available on Desertcart Greece* *Store origin: GR* *Last updated: 2026-10-28*