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Q: If so many people are supposedly lactose intolerant why is dairy so big here?
A poster on one of my recent posts wrote that 90% of Chinese people are lactose intolerant according to google. I didn't verify the claim but I have also heard that many people here can't consume dairy products. But I find this really strange, especially given the fact that yogurt, milk and even infant formula made from cow's milk is so huge here.
People are aware of the health benefits for children in having milk. If you stop eating dairy after teenage years, you can quickly become lactose intolerant.
And I can certainly understand why people stop eating dairy when their parents no longer force them. There are some shitty products on the shelves. (e.g. milk with hardly any protein or calcium, either the cows are sick or the farmer waters it down)
I don't think dairy is that big here. Certainly nowhere near as big as in the UK.
To find cheese and cream here, nevermind cream cakes, is almost an impossibility.
I agree whoever said that or found out that statistic and relayed it to you must have been one of those people that believes in anything they read. I see people hitting up the DQ joint all the time.
Sidicas:
Soy Milk is not real milk.
Coconut water is not real milk.
Yakult is not real milk.
WangZai milk is not real milk.
The "milk" that is stored in little plastic cartons at room temperature. It contains "Water, sugar, food additives (makes it thicker), and artificial milk flavoring"
So 99% of Chinese that drink "milk" aren't drinking real milk.
The only real milk I've seen in China that comes from a cow is the ones that are sold in the little glass bottles for about 4 kuai. It's also the only "milk" my girlfriend can't drink and most Chinese don't buy it.
As my wife said : "It is fashion, to eat by western way " for many of them
Historically dairy products have not been consumed as much in China as in other countries. Whereas in European countries, and by extension, (warning Imperialist alert), counties colonised by European countries, dairy has been a large part of the diet of ordinary folks for much longer. I have heard that as a result, Chinese and Asians in general are less able to synthesise lactose present in dairy products. Anyone with a medical background feel free to jump in.
