I'm a milk lover. Skim milk tastes refreshing to me and whole real unprocessed fresh stuff is like a dessert. I buy 1% or 2% most of the time. I didn't allow the boys to have any cow's milk until after they were 2 because of family history of lactose intolerance and diabetes. Now they both will reach for whole milk if given the option.

There are times when I have a couple different % types in the fridge as well as heavy cream (for cooking or coffee creations). Other times, like now, no milk here at all because the kids seem to be in a no cereal cycle and I am off milk for diet reasons. Boo. Loves me some dairy products, but they don't love me.

There was some weirdness where we paid for milk separately from the lunch - like a dime each meal

I have a slight bell ringing that some kids got free lunch and some just got free milk, so maybe that's why it was separate?

I mean, I don't know about black, but in my experience, I've never met a Hispanic, at least, not a Cuban, who was lactose intolerant. Not that they don't exist, but it's not anything that was common in my neck of the woods. It wasn't until I was exposed to more Americans of European background that I even realized things such as lactose intolerance and wheat gluten sensitivities even existed.

According to the NIH [link] (PDF file), 50-80% of Hispanics are lactose intolerant. Lactose intolerance is least common among people of northern European descent.

Yay I am so glad that the polish box made it there safely!

so maybe that's why it was separate?

Probably something like that. I just know I was always getting in trouble for losing the quarters and dimes that were supposed to pay for the milk I wasn't drinking.

I never liked milk.

I have baked and put away 5 & 1/2 dozen cookies. Shall go for a walk in a bit, I think.

I just ate a bowl of cereal before making cream of asparagus soup. MILK!!!

According to the NIH [link] (PDF file), 50-80% of Hispanics are lactose intolerant. Lactose intolerance is least common among people of northern European descent.

It appears that's a very limited report. Those ranges are awfully broad for one thing, suggesting the reporting groups were on the smaller side. What was the methodology employed? Was it self-reporting in terms of the ethnic backgrounds? How was the lactose intolerance tested? Was it tested or was THAT self-reported?

Perhaps the most telling statement is this:

Research shows that lactase is high at birth in all infants regardless of race or ethnicity, but wanes by age 5 to 7 in non-Caucasians and other populations that don't traditionally include dairy products in their diets.

That statement would seem to suggest that it's not so much the genetic background, but the culture of including dairy in a diet. Whether that culture is ethnic or situational is somewhat irrelevant to the end result.

In news about my upcoming soup, the canned broth I had was with roasted garlic. I hope that wasn't a mistake.

There are a bunch of different studies showing similar results about lactose intolerance in various ethnic groups. I think the pamphlet was reporting the range from various studies. And since various studies pretty consistently show lactose intolerance in the vast majority of Native Americans, it would make sense that there would be a high incidence in those Hispanic groups that have a lot of Native American ancestry. (I don't know enough about Cuban history to even be able to speculate about the ancestry of Cubans.)

As for genetic vs cultural things, I know that the plural of anecdote is not data, but I know plenty of Ashkenazi Jews (including most of my family) who grew up in the American culture of having several glasses of milk a day and still ended up lactose intolerant by the middle of elementary school. (I also know at least one person who takes advantage of this by having a latte every morning, thus making her uncomfortable enough that she can't eat much for lunch. She says this is dieting.)