Food History:

DRAFT

How Almond Milk Was Used in History

Almond milk was invented in the 15th century. For instance, we see almond milk mixed with white poppy seeds in books such as Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes from 1636. Almond milk was utilized not for the health and diet purposes as it is today. Rather, it was a cooking tool and often a way to 'balance' out dishes as seen in blancmange.

Reasons Almond Milk is Used Today

-Allergens

About 2/3rds of the world is lactose intolerant, meaning that the sugar found naturally in milk and milk products causes illness and digestive problems in a good portion of the world. Thus, almond milk gives a dairy-alternative for people who do not like milk or who are allergic.

For people who are allergic to almonds, there are other non-dairy alternatives such as soy milk, coconut milk, and even oat milk.

-Diet Choices

As information about animal wellness advocacy spreads, so does the overall consumption of animal products and animal by-products. For people who are carnivores, vegetarians, or vegans, almond milk provides a non-dairy alternative to drink or cook with. Animal rights activists and groups like PETA frequently challenge the idea of drinking milk as well as campaigns such as "Got Milk?"

-Health Choices

Health and diet information provides evidence that milk, especially whole milk, can be a high source of calories and saturated animal fat. Almond milk, on the other hand, has virtually no calories and very little fat. In comparison, almond milk is a lower-calorie option for people who want to lose weight or manage health conditions such as obesity, high blood pressure, or even diabetes.

Finalized Topic: Almond Milk

Last semester I briefly wrote about almond milk, but not in depth. This time, I want to add information about the sustainability of almond milk as well as some of its modern uses. I think both of these topics are important, because I want to discuss how almond milk and non dairy milks have evolved to be used in cooking and baking and also discuss some of the modern sustainability issues (such as drought and water intake of almonds) that have risen in light of modern popularity of the drink.

Great, glad to see you are passionate about this and can continue to capitalize and progress on previous study. Make sure you are keeping a definite historical perspective to this project as this is a Food History course. Other than that, looks good. Rgh234 (talk) 00:56, 18 October 2017 (UTC)

Bibliography:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/30/almond-milk-recipes_n_5630093.html

https://www.fitnessmagazine.com/recipes/healthy-eating/almond-milk-recipes/

https://www.vegan.com/milk/

https://silk.com/products/original-almondmilk?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwPbp1tv21gIVSx2BCh1_Qw1XEAAYASAAEgJyf_D_BwE

https://ca.water.usgs.gov/data/drought/

http://www.almonds.com/consumers/about-almonds/sustainability

Possible topics:

1) Diet and Nutrition of Monks in Ancient Buddhist China

I can't find anything on Wikipedia for this specific topic. There is information on Buddhism as well as monks, but not so much focusing on their diet as a whole and how they got their nutrients.

2) History of Non-Dairy Milks Plant milk

There is very little data here, and could be expanded for the history of these milks as well as how they are made and used for today.

3) History of Boba/Bubble Tea Bubble tea

This is an interesting topic because I'm obsessed with boba! However, I think this article has tons of information already. I would perhaps suggest adding in popular variations on boba such as different milks, maybe how it is served differently around the world, the spread of the food, etc.

Article title: Amarogentin

  • Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference?

- Yes, each fact appears to have a relevant, scientifically referenced source to support it's claim .

  • Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?

- The information comes from scientific sources, papers, or textbooks. These sources are not biased and are just stating facts from the science literature.

Articles I'm interested in working on:

1) Waist-to-hip ratio Waist–hip ratio

2) Genetically Modified Tomatoes Genetically modified tomato

3) "Superweeds" (as a result of herbicide resistance) https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/superweed

4) Stevia Stevia

5) Almond Milk Almond milk

My finalized topic:

Almondmilk

I see that the Almond milk page on Wikipedia is rather short. I think something it is missing is the resources/processing needed in order to make the milk, as well as the excessive waste of almonds. Moreover, the article doesn't discuss the environmental consequences of almonds, which I think would be interesting to add. I would likely add the environmental factors of almonds to the article, such as how much water it takes to grow an almond.