Milk Consumption in China: The Construction of a New Food Habit

10.6641/PICCFC.91012.2011.12.21

Francoise SABBAN

milk ； China ； Shanghai ； infant formula ； milk powder ； food habit

中華飲食文化學術研討會論文集

第12屆（2011 / 11 / 01）

397 - 420

英文

Contrary to what is sometimes believed, milk in China has always been considered an interesting food product and a precious medicinal liquid, but its consumption after the Yuan dynasty has not been very important because it has never been produced on a large scale. Usually it was saved for children with a frail constitution, for sick or aged people. But from the end of the 19th century cow's milk has begun to be produced by industrial plants in the foreign settlements of big cities like Shanghai. Produced and drank by foreign people in its beginnings, it became later an indigenous product and was appreciated also by wealthy Chinese people. However, although this new habit of consumption was inspired by foreign practices, Chinese people demonstrated a peculiar taste for milk powder that could have influenced the future of the milk industry. One question remains: did this new consumption of the 19th century prepared for the adoption of contemporary new food practices?