Serving milk in school lunch is the best way to have children take in calcium, which is essential for their growth. Many children think it’s OK to drink milk with rice.

Dear Opponents, what is wrong with drinking milk and eating rice? In gaikoku we have rice pudding, which is delicious.

Serving milk in school lunch is the best way to have children take in calcium

The worst way probably. Most humans can't digest unfermented dairies like milk.

I see nothing wrong with it. Rather than rice give me bread, Jam and Milk.

Nothing wrong with a good okayu(Japanese rice gruel)

Hate rice pudding topped with vanilla sauce.

I luuuuuv rice pudding! Rich and creamy, vanilla flavor with some raisons on top. Anyone who objects to that is seriously food-challenged.

milk is very important for growing children

Children are very important for growing milk business.

I read about this a bit, as usual its a bit over the top, ok most Japanese don't drink milk when eating rice(neither would I) but seems they have been doing this at schools for some time.

Answer to me is simple, when serving rice dishes serve tea or something else. When serving non rice dishes they can have them drink milk, no big deal.

The J-food freaks just see milk as non-Japanese food & see it as taking away kids inherent "Japanese-ness". Kind of like my mother in law when eating non- J-food she usually makes a POINT that its not a "good" as J-food, so she can maintain her level of Japanese-ness LOL!!!

Milk doesn't do much without vitamin D. Only if they can get more kids out into the sunlight instead of sitting inside playing games all day ...

White rice, like white bread in Europe before it was fortified with minerals by law, does not provide what is needed by developing bone structure. When white flour became popular in Europe, rickets became common. Milk is a good source of calcium. That is why it is given to growing children.

Perhaps GW's mother-in-law thinks good tooth and bone stucture take away inherent Japaneseness.

White rice cannot be properly metabolized, and is not healthy. Period. Milk has some healthy properties, but with hormones and what not has as much bad as good. In any case, eating rice or rice dishes while having milk as your drink is perfectly fine. Suggesting it's weird is simply based on learned behaviour -- there is nothing inherently wrong with it at all. Since it DOES give children some calcium I'll take that little bit of good over "proper Japanese-ness" any day. If you're going to insist it's weird do so at home, but also let them know that (barring lactose intolerance) milk can be good for them.

Me, I stick to soy unless given milk (for some reason), but I drank milk like it was going out of style as a kid and have suffered no ill effects that I know of as a result.

What's the big deal? So what if it doesn't go well with rice?

Japanese people (kids) are a lot more "taller" and healthier than they were 50 yrs ago when dairy products such as (milk, cheese) we not common.

Same with the consumption of beef. . . which, by the way, goes very well with rice.

But why is growth essential? Japanese did ok when they were 150 cm tall and had short forearms and lower legs. Extended bones are just Mottainai !!

They never serve it ice cold. It is luke warm and disgusting.

This is another dairy industry myth. Milk does have protein and calcium but so does a lot of other stuff. The Chinese didn't traditionally drink dairy milk and they've had very low rates of osteoporosis. Other words that pop up when dairy milk is mentioned: saturated fat, cancer, lactose intolerant.

Other things listed here:

http://www.pcrm.org/health/diets/vegdiets/health-concerns-about-dairy-products

I'm on vacation now and I've got easy access to affordable drinks made from soy, coconut, almonds, rice, hazelnuts, etc. Some may not have as much protein or calcium, but I'm loving the variety and affordability. As for Japanese white rice - forget it. I'm enjoy brown Basmati, Thai, long grain, red, black, wild rice, you name it, all here and cheap. Also enjoying WHOLEMEAL bread. REAL bread, not the crap you get in the Japanese supermarkets. If I wanted marshmallow, I'd ask for marshmallow. It's no wonder Japanese jaws are getting weaker.

But yes, I do agree, rice pudding is really great. I just make it with soya milk now. Great with cardamons and nutmeg for an Indian twist.

Let's face it cow milk is designed for calves. Breast milk is a different Formula. Ditto for other mammals.

Cats have a reputation to love cows milk, which will harm then unless heavily diluted. Water is best for them.

Not sure about the stats for processed milk into cheese from cows, goats, sheep's, etc

I have to defend milk as being essential for children. My mother was a dietician and we always had milk to drink. One day (about 20 years ago) I had an accident where I'm sure, if my bones hadn't been so strong, I'd have had a broken leg and ankle. It's a fact that many Japanese people suffer broken bones from a lack of calcium.

Pasteurized cow's milk depletes the calcium from your bones and you barely absorb the calcium but actually increase calcium loss from the bones. Milk acidifies the body pH which in turn triggers a biological correction. Calcium is an acid neutralizer and the biggest storage of calcium is in the bones of the body. So that calcium in the bones is utilized to neutralize the acidifying effect of the milk. Once the calcium gets pulled out of the bones, it leaves the body via the urine, so that the net result after this is actual calcium deficit. In the end pasteurized milk is essentially dead because it destroys enzymes, beneficial bacteria, and depletes the levels of vitamins A, B6, B12, C and transforms proteins into unnatural amino acid configurations that are harmful to your health.

Novenachama,

Exactly. Milk is an essential source of nutrition - FOR BABY COWS.

The human digestive system is very different.

I've drunk very little milk in my life, and I've never broken a bone, and have a very sturdy skeleton. My boy has also never drunk much milk, and he's the tallest kid in the class.

Purely anecdotal I know, but I'm far from convinced that kids need milk.

White rice cannot be properly metabolized

Care to explain? When I google, I come across many sites that suggest the opposite. For example,

"Simple carbohydrates such as white rice are easy for your body to break down and digest, so they metabolize rather quickly."

I firmly believe that the typical Japanese diet lacks protein, iron & calcium. I grew up in a family of bodybuilders & rugby players, so have a keen interest in nutrition & fitness. Having played rugby & spent years training here, it's clear that a lot of people have very average diets. Yes, Japanese food is amazing - but not for growing bodies. Kids just don't get enough of the good stuff (protein, calcium & iron). That said, kids here do eat very nutritious lunches compared to kids back home!

Rice pudding is delicious, by the way.

Bertie - heard that one a million times - milk is for baby cows.

And beef is for wolves and salmon for bears. And wheat and rye is for birds.

Millions of people, for milleniums, have been drinking milk and consuming dairy products. Ancient cultures.

Yes I know the old lactose intolerance bit - esp asians - but I would suggest that most children here with an uncompromized constitution, could consume far worse products in their daily lives than milk.

Instant ramen for one. Or any of the other multitude of "created foods" that pass as "wholesome" here because of blinding t.v. or traditions or truths masquerading as such.

@BertieWooster I think you've projected your milk beef with his. He sounds more like one of those who call for "Raw Milk".

To be fair, the site I hit on once did make some decent points, enough that I'll really like to at least try some quality raw milk. But nope, can't get it here.

novenachama:

Milk acidifies the body pH which in turn triggers a biological correction...

Yeah, this is the stuff I've been reading amongst all the other scientific literature which suggests that milk consumption does NOT make bones less prone to breaking. I grew up in an environment where free milk was given to children but I was the only one who didn't take it because I hated the stinking taste of the full fat cream milk. I did like dairy products but the milk on offer was horrible. Haven't drunk milk for well over 15 years now and I don't have a problem. There's just so much else to drink and eat. And I don't fancy all those antibiotics either. But sure, if you want to drink the stuff, go ahead. I see more and more Chinese having serious medical conditions brought on by 'westernized' diets with lashings of dairy milk as this dairy propaganda spreads throughout China. They were once under-nourished. Now, I see malnutrition.

This is a university professor saying this??? Unbelievable! There are countless equally good if not superior ways of getting the calcium you need. I suspect he must be in the pockets of the milk industry.

because I hated the stinking taste of the full fat cream milk

Me too. It was made worse by the school janitor leaving the crate of milk next to the classroom radiator about an hour before we got to drink it.

Pasteurization was developed during the 19th century Industrial Revolution in America because of unsanitary conditions of the urban development and also a cheaper alternative to sanitary inspections and regulations. When you pasteurize milk it means to heat milk to high temperatures in order to destroy all disease causing bacteria and pathogens. But pasteurization denatures milk. In other words it alters the chemical structure of food, makes fat rancid, destroys nutrients and forms free radicals in the body.

?

Drink your milk during mid morning break then.

You might wanna check out what Pasteurisation really is - check compared to homogenisation - and where it started, Novenachama.