Milk in Spain and the History of Diet Change

Praise for Milk in Spain and the History of Diet Change:

Unpacks the fascinating journey of Spain's relationship with dairy products. Once a symbol of moving from poverty to prosperity, fresh milk's appeal has dwindled as consumers favour plant-based drinks and gourmet yogurts and cheeses. Spain's late adoption and early shift out of fresh milk highlight a broader trend: people often do not act in their own best interests. This stimulating book examines the reasons behind these choices, revealing the complex interplay between health, commercial innovation, culture, and consumer behaviour. A thought-provoking exploration of how food choices reflect deeper societal shifts. - Avner Offer, University of Oxford, UK

A triumph of food history! This is an important book on changing food systems since 1950. While it focuses on Spain, it has wider implications for dietary shifts and the food industry in Western Europe. Milk is the product under consideration and Fernando Collantes cleverly teases out the main trends in supply and consumption using a combination of detailed empirical evidence and explanatory theoretical models. The result is a satisfying mix of nutritional, economic, and socio-cultural insights. While it may seem obvious – ‘blanco y en botella, leche’ – I now realise that the story of milk is complex, and this book should be read by anyone interested in the trends behind modern food history. - Peter Atkins, Durham University, UK

In barely three generations the Spanish diet has changed beyond recognition. The traditional concerns around nutritional health and scarcity have been mostly left behind, but they have given way to new problems linked to excess. In this book Fernando Collantes shows how the dairy industry has been central to this societal shift. From widespread calcium deficiency in the 1950s to the more recent, and controversial, turn to highly processed foods, it provides a recent history of diet change in Spain. Probing the reasons behind why this shift has occurred, and how, it shows that when it comes to food society, politics, economics and the law are intrinsically linked.

Taking the reader beyond the world of food, Milk in Spain and the History of Diet Change combines qualitative and quantitative methods to position diet change within the broader debate on consumer society and ‘the good life’. Contrasting two models of food consumption, it shows that unless public policy takes the challenge of affluence seriously, the food system can become an obstacle to a better society.