Why do humans eat cheese made from some animals milk and not others?
In: Biology
Cheese-making cultures (ie, Europeans) make cheese from just about every animal whose milk we harvest, which in turn is just about every large mammal we keep, except for pigs and horses. There’s sheep milk cheese (think romano cheese at the pizza shop, or manchego or roquefort cheeses at the cheesemonger’s), goat milk cheese (it’s called chevre, which really just means goat), there’s [water] buffalo milk cheese (it’s usually fancy mozzarella).
So why does cow’s milk cheese dominate? Cost. Modern dairy cows produce an absolute ton of milk. Even specially-bred dairy sheep and goats, even allowing for their smaller size, can’t compete.
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