Mother's breast milk, straight up
Wow, so I'm not alone. Very interesting. If I was in Toronto I'd FOR SURE without a doubt go to this! Very interesting/fascinating!
Now, let's here others' opinions (this should be interesting...)
And would you try breast milk yourself at your current age? (in this form, or directly from a woman's breast?? I'd be very interested to, the latter, I mean, especially.  )
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Co...ol=969483191630
Mother's milk, straight up
Performance art used breast milk
Show had tasting, video and feeding
Jul. 14, 2006. 08:13 AM
ALWYNNE GWILT
ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER
Zeesy Powers, left, and Moynan King sniff some breast milk at the Lactation Station Breast Milk Bar, an interactive performance art piece at the Ontario Collge of Art and Design.
It wasn't a dry martini that got the Ontario College of Art and Design buzzing during last night's cocktail hour.
Instead of the usual fare, dozens of people saddled up to the bar for something quirkier: breast milk.
Jess Dobkin's blue highlights shone under the spotlights as she handed out samples of six women's milk in tiny plastic cups as a part of her performance art piece entitled The Lactation Station Breast Milk Bar.
The piece was meant to foster dialogue on breastfeeding.
The single mother of a 1-year-old says the project was brought on by a desire to integrate two major experiences in her life — being a mother and an artist — into one show, while discussing an issue that resonates with many women.
"Sometimes I think it's oversimplified — to breast or bottle — but this (show) is to talk about the complexity of women's experience and certainly the experience of being a new mom," says the 36-year-old Dobkin, whose project was funded in part by the Canada Council of the Arts.
The samples boasted names like Sweet Fall Harvest and Temple of the Goddess. Though sounding more like someone's wine cabinet after a trip to Niagara, the names were based on Dobkin's assessment of the women's characters when interviewing them.
The donors mingled on white leather chairs yesterday, playing with their babies and openly breastfeeding, while their videotaped interviews about motherhood were projected onto a back wall.
Liss Platt, who edited the tapes, says the experience showed her how varied women's motherhood experiences can be.
She was also struck by how much variation there was in the milk.
"The first was a more watery, runny, sweet milk but the second one was very different," says Platt. "It makes me start imagining, `What do they eat? What do they do?' It's like finding an identity within the breast milk."
Like a new chi-chi bar that everyone has to try, the softly lit atmosphere beckoned people from all walks of life to go up and taste — despite a warning issued yesterday from Health Canada that breast milk can be dangerous if purchased over the Internet.
"Given the way that this has been processed, there wasn't much of a taboo for me," says Adam Herst, who tried his wife's milk 12 years ago when she was breastfeeding their son.
Dobkin assured tasters that each donor's milk had been screened and tested for HIV and STDs, and was pasteurized.
Herst said breast milk is no tastier than a cow's or goat's; it was Dobkin's concept, rather, that caught his attention.
"I felt this was interesting in terms of her questioning the commodification of the food supply and the whole taboo surrounding drinking human milk, (when) we have no hesitation in drinking cows' milk or other milks that are treated and processed in the same way," he adds.
For breast milk donor Selena Middleton, the contribution was more about supporting breastfeeding.
"It really brings breastfeeding into the limelight, so I wanted to be a part of it," says the 26-year-old. As a young first-time mother she was shy at first with breastfeeding in public but says there was never a choice for her between formula or breast milk.
"(Finally) I just said, `Enough with this, I want to go out and I don't care; if she's hungry, I will feed her wherever I am,'" says the mother of her now 13-month-old girl, Istra.
"I just hope it really allows people to see it more as a natural thing ... and a really important part of the mother-child relationship."
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Taste test
Somewhere, recessed in our minds, we already know what breast milk tastes like. After sipping a couple of samples at the the humanized "Got milk?" event yesterday at OCAD, no long-gone memories came flooding back, however.
In another part of the paper, I write about beer. So, evaluating the two samples of breast milk as I would a beer, I would say it has virtually no scent upon presentation, and no discernable head when poured — or in this case, dripped out of an eye-dropper into a tiny plastic glass. Breast milk has a silky mouthfeel, leaving a slight film — but much less even than the skimmest milk from a cow.
As for aftertaste? That varied the most. The colour does too. White, yes, but some are watery, some slightly creamier-looking. The first sample I tried was nutty, slightly sweet and had the consistency and mouthfeel of watered down soy milk. It was called Life Force Elixir, and felt like it. If this came to you, topped on your Second Cup, you would not scrape it off.
The second, nicknamed Temple of the Goddess, however, would be sent back. It had a surprisingly angry aftertaste that several on the tasting panel agreed shot directly up one's nose and stayed there. Performance artist Jess Dobkin advised the mother who supplied it had consumed highly spiced food around that time.
So breast milk: Ideal for summer sipping? Not really: Both milks lacked the proper crispness. Hardly thirst-quenching.
Should you wish to try it yourself, however, I suggest you get your breast milk from an independent producer. This is really a product in which you want to trust the maker.
Jon Filson
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TECHNO IS THE BEST NOISE ON EARTH.
Save Techno - Stop Minimal / Tech-House
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