From the "Make That 32 Flavors" File...

Where's Mikey from the Life Cereal commercials when you need him?

Remember Mikey? He was the kid in that 1972 commercial (that stayed on the air for about a decade, longer than any commercial ever made) who was so picky that he wouldn't try any new foods. But when two of his older buddies at the breakfast table pushed a bowl of Life cereal in front of him, the finicky child chowed down.

I wonder what Mikey would make of this Human Breast Milk Ice Cream (pictured right) they're now peddling at a joint called Icecreamists in London's Covent Garden? They call it Baby Gaga Ice Cream, and they were able to make the first batch thanks to donor Victoria Hiley of Leeds, who apparently furnished enough milk to create 50 servings of the stuff. As AlterNet blogger Sarah Ditum notes:

The milk comes from the breast of Victoria Hilley, apparently, who receives £15 for every 10oz she supplies. (Source)

Well, the finicky young eater might not get a chance to sample the goods. Turns out that local officials raided the restaurant and confiscated their supplies to make the creamy dessert. (Source)

It turns out this is not the first delicacy to be made of human breast milk. You may recall last April, foodies in the New York City area were abuzz over cheese that was made of the human breast milk. The human breast milk cheese caused a lot of controversy and prompted much debate about the use of human milk versus cows' milk in food.

The same debate seems to be starting up again, thanks to Baby Gaga. As the founder of Icecreamists Matt O'Connor explained:

We were debating is it better for us to use milk from cows, which are pumped full of hormones and antibiotics and are impregnated every nine months, or is better that we use mother's milk. It's the most natural thing in the world, and we thought, why not do an ice cream that celebrates the miracle of motherhood. And the Baby Gaga was born. (Source)

Unfortunately, right after Baby Gaga was unveiled last week, there were complaints to the local city council from a couple of busybodies that the breast milk ice cream might be potentially harmful. The council ordered the remaining ice cream confiscated until a verdict on the product's safety could be handed down by the country's Food Standards Agency.

So the $64,000 question for vegans is: Would you try a bowl of Baby Gaga if it were sitting right in front of you? Hmm. We vegans understand the profound irony of human beings consuming cows' milk, which is not meant for us to consume, yet being grossed out by foods containing human breast milk.

That said, I'm not sure I'm ready to trade in my mint chocolate chip Tofutti Cuties for a dish of Baby Gaga.

I know! Let's give it to Mikey!

Yeah, he won't eat it! He hates everything!

Food for Thought... Literally! Put it this way: If this food doesn't make you think, nothing will...

QUESTION: Would you eat cheese made of human breast milk???

A bold New York couple named Daniel Angerer and Lori Mason, owners of the restaurant Klee Basserie, an all-natural eatery where Angerer is the head chef, have made headlines for - yep, you guessed it - featuring human breast-milk cheese at their eating establishment. The cheese is pictured above. Mmm mmm. Someone pass the Triscuits!!!

You can almost hear a collective "Ewww!" across North America.

Apparently, Angerer has also provided a breast-milk cheese recipe on his blog. (Source)

I wish I could shake their hand in person and tell them what a great thing they've done. Yet even before this matter was brought to my attention by my companion (thank you, Luisa!), I'd actually heard stories of people making cheese out of human breast milk. And maybe some plucky entrepreneurs have sold it elsewhere. But this is the first time I've heard about it being on the menu of a respected eating establishment.

Let me clarify something: I'm not excited because I plan to buy it by the pound (apparently it was selling for $2 an ounce on Toronto Kijiji, which is our equivalent in Canada to Craig's List).

(This raises an interesting question: Can vegans eat human breast milk cheese???)

No, I'm excited about it because it is bound to get more thoughtful people thinking about why they routinely eat cheese made out of cow's milk - milk that is meant for cows, not human beings - and not milk made out of human breast milk.

Oh, I know a lot of thoughtless people will dismiss this new treat as gross and not ponder the deeper philosophical implications of why they eat what they eat. I doubt that many patrons who order the Super Nachos at Hooters are going to request human breast milk cheddar atop their beloved snack.

But this is a real breakthrough that will hopefully provoke the more intelligent people to think twice about what they eat.

And who knows? When you think about it, eating cow's milk cheese instead of human's milk cheese is nothing but a human construct. People eat cow's milk cheese because that is what is culturally and traditionally accepted. If you change people's way of thinking, maybe human breast milk cheese might become the preferred choice instead of cow's milk cheese.

Then again, maybe not.

But I still think Angerer and Mason are Culinary Pioneers. I salute them wholeheartedly. This couple gets my Kudos of the week. And I hope - hope, hope, hope... hope against hope - their new delicacy will get people thinking about why the consume milk that is meant for calves, not human beings.