So… last night for dinner I ate breast milk ice-cream. That is not a sentence I ever thought I would write. When I’ve mentioned this to most people their instant reaction has been one of horror, you can physically see the repulsion on their faces. Quite right too, as this was my initial reaction when I first heard about breast milk ice-cream, available to buy from the recently launched The Icecreamists. I then re-considered however. It would be pretty cool to say I’ve eaten some, and there is also the fact that I would have boldly dared to go where many people wouldn’t. What’s my name? Trendsetter.
Straight from the nipple. Well, not quite.
After these thoughts I found myself at the launch of The Icecreamist’s rather trendy Covent Garden bar slash café asking the Manager if I could sample a bit of breast milk ice-cream (it only came on sale today), much to the disgust of my two friends. I am happy to report that it tasted perfectly delightful, with a lovely creamy texture and vanilla-ry taste. This is down to the sweet flavours they churn in with the breast milk, according to the nice northern man at The Icecreamists, ‘you have to balance out the sourness of the breast milk with sweetness of the vanilla.’ And where did my breast milk come from I hear you ask? A Lady in Leeds apparently (which, according to news reports, is paid £15 per 10z of breast milk). The nice northern man was also happy to reassure me with the ‘boring bits,’ like how breast milk is perfectly safe due to the sterile nature of the nipple and the fact that the milk is tested. Boring bits? Necessary bits I think.
Breast milk ice-cream doesn’t taste any different to ‘normal’ ice-cream, so why eat it? The fact is that breast milk has amazing health benefits. Just one drop of breast milk contains one million white blood cells and in the past few years drinking breast milk has been reported to have helped cancer sufferers. I remember being fascinated by this case of Tim Browne, who drank his daughter’s breast milk every day to try and pick up from where chemotherapy had failed. Somehow, I don’t think these health benefits are the reason why The Icecreamists have this on their menu however. The talkability factor has made headlines for them, it’s undoubtedly been an amazing piece of PR. Word of The Icecreamists and their breast milk even reached my mum, a 50 something teacher on her half-term in Kent. Message delivered.
And how do I feel the day after the reality kicks in of having had breast milk ice-cream for dinner? Quite pleased, mixed in with a little repulsion at oneself to be honest. And also a little queasy. I hope this has to do with the shot of absythne administered from an IV drip I had in The Icecreamists’ Sex Bomb cocktail, and not the fact that technically I ate some random’s body fluid last night.
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