Milk Contains Multitudes: Terroir, Tradition and the Future of Dairy is a 75,000-word narrative non-fiction book that explores the burgeoning movement to elevate dairy from a cheap, mass-produced commodity to an artisanal product deserving of celebration.

For the last half-century, dairy has been industrialization in an inexorable race for efficiency. Driven by the pursuit of sheer volume, the industry has standardized flavor, compromised animal welfare, and erased the geographical identity of milk. The result is a highly processed product that has lost much of its inherent nutritional value, while the farmers who produce it are continually squeezed out of their livelihoods.

However, a path out of the “get big or get out” trap has been pioneered. Decades ago, the global wine industry was dominated by mass-produced, low-quality blending. The small winegrowers that supplied the industry learned how to differentiate their wines, not only taking large part of the market but also rejuvenating the industry.  They did so by educating consumers about terroir, heritage grape varieties, and artisanal care. Milk Contains Multitudes argues that dairy is poised for the exact same renaissance.

A new wave of adventurous dairy farmers is succeeding by raising heritage breeds like Jerseys, Guernseys, Brown Swiss, Ayrshire, using pasture-based farming, and cow-with-calf rearing.  These are not just farming choices, but produce milks that vary in flavour and health benefits.  These farmers are proving that milk contains multitudes.

The first part of the book argues that, like fine wine, fine milk should and can be a gift to our palates.  The first crucial step is to convince readers that milk should be appreciated for its taste qualities.  The first chapter compares wine and milk appreciation, detailing the components of wine and milk flavours and the chemistry of flavour precursors, likens grape varieties to cow breeds, and most significantly finds commonality in terroir as the basis of wine and milk variation and nuance. Milk should also be imbibed because not only is it one of our most nutritious comestibles,  the variations in breeds and terroirs produce their own diverse health benefits. The third chapter explains how fine milk can be a viable alternative.  The industrialization of milk production is reviewed to show not only the challenges faced by fine milk producers, but also their terroir competitive advantages, and how they can complement and integrate into the production, distribution and marketing of the industrial system. 

The subsequent chapters take readers out of the theoretical and directly onto the farms. Through immersive, on-the-ground case studies,Milk Contains Multitudesintroduces the diverse farmers and rural communities who are actively building a resilient, cooperative future. The objective is to inspire readers to not only appreciate the joys ofterroirmilk, but also to understanding the profound socio-economic and environmental ramifications of their choices at the grocery store.