Milk Craze : : Body, Science, and Hope in China / / Veronica S. W. Mak.

Why do the Chinese, who are mostly lactase non-persistent, suddenly thirst for milk today? Whether it is formula milk, fresh cow milk, or tea with condensed milk, the rocketing milk consumption and production in China are of increasing global food safety, health, and environmental concerns. Milk Cra...

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Bibliographic Details
Superior document:Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter DG Plus PP Package 2021 Part 2
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Place / Publishing House:Honolulu : : University of Hawaii Press, , [2021]
©2021
Year of Publication:2021
Language:English
Series:Food in Asia and the Pacific
Online Access:
Physical Description:1 online resource (224 p.)
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Other title:Frontmatter --
Contents --
Acknowledgments --
Introduction: The Cultural Politics of Milk Consumption in China --
1. Milk, Body, and Social Class in Ancient China --
2. Dairy Farm, British Milk Tea, and Soy Milk in Milk Bottles --
3. Global Capital, Local Culture, and Food Uncertainty --
4. Bottle-Feeding as Love, Success, and Citizenship --
5. Pharmaceutical Nexus: Creating Illness and Giving Hope --
Conclusion: The World Food Regime, the State, and the Medicalized Individual --
Notes --
References --
Index
Summary:Why do the Chinese, who are mostly lactase non-persistent, suddenly thirst for milk today? Whether it is formula milk, fresh cow milk, or tea with condensed milk, the rocketing milk consumption and production in China are of increasing global food safety, health, and environmental concerns. Milk Craze examines and compares developments in China's dairy industry and dietary dairy consumption, cross-nationally and globally, and more specifically in two localities: Shunde and Hong Kong.Through an innovative analysis of medical texts and social media, as well as careful ethnographic studies, Veronica Mak ponders why the surge in demand for Western cow milk coincides with the plunge in sales of indigenous water-buffalo milk and cheese. She reveals the multiple ways in which global industries and Chinese dairy conglomerates sabotage and destroy local dairy farms. She shows that the rise of milk consumption is not just about the globalization of cow milk production and Westernization of the Chinese diet, but also due to the crossovers between the traditional Chinese diet and medicine and modern global diets. She uses these reference points to explore the multiple meanings of dairy foods in China, such as the class and cultural attributes associated with British “milk tea” and flavored yogurt products, water buffalo curds and cheese, and the lower class associations of labor in the water-buffalo dairying industries, and then discusses these developments in China through colonial and modern global perspectives. Milk Craze argues powerfully that the Westernization or dramatic change of diet in China too often obscures structural, educational, occupational, and social stresses and constraints, while naturalizing the dubious redefinition of health, cognitive performance, and ideal body shape as individual responsibility and imperative.
Format:Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
ISBN:9780824887674
9783110743357
9783110754001
9783110753776
9783110754186
9783110753967
9783110739688
DOI:10.1515/9780824887674?locatt=mode:legacy
Access:restricted access
Hierarchical level:Monograph
Statement of Responsibility: Veronica S. W. Mak.