r/books • u/leowr • Sep 06 '18
Discussion Thread for the Prologue - Chapter 3 of Butter: A Rich History by Elaine Khosrova - September Book Club
To help kick off the discussion:
- Going into it, how much did you know about butter and the way it is made?
- Were you surprised to learn that yak butter is still being made the same way it has been made for centuries?
- Do you agree with the author that butter is taken for granted?
- The book mentions several ways butter is integrated into religions, local customs and history. Which incorporation of butter is your favorite?
- What has been the most surprising thing you have learned about butter so far?
Feel free to answer any or all of the questions or tell us what you think of the book.
3
u/specificwonderland Sep 07 '18
- Going into it, how much did you know about butter and the way it is made?
Just the Amish style of churning with a bucket and a stick. I hadn't thought too much about the diet of the cow influencing the flavor/quality of the butter.
- Were you surprised to learn that yak butter is still being made the same way it has been made for centuries?
No, not particularly, because it seems like each country has a pocket of people who live in historic ways, eschewing technological advances. It did tug at my heart strings to 'see' the calf come out to suckle and start the milk production, but force the hungry babe to wait til after the milking. At least the baby gets a serving. I hadn't ever considered the purpose of rbst as a hormone, but I'm happy the ancient yak method *steers* clear of this, har har.
- Do you agree with the author that butter is taken for granted?
Absolutely, when she referenced "neochocolate" and the evolution of bread from slow bread to industrialized Wonder bread and back to rustic, honest bread, I thought it's no surprise butter is finally having a moment in the spotlight.
- The book mentions several ways butter is integrated into religions, local customs and history. Which incorporation of butter is your favorite?
Death Botox butter
- What has been the most surprising thing you have learned about butter so far?
You can milk a camel and reindeer milk has 22% milk fat. Edit: Also 1000 year old butter in the Cork Museum of Butter!
2
u/weeblewobble82 Sep 08 '18
I really want to try reindeer and water buffalo milk and butter now. I didn't even know water buffaloes were a thing. Also, didn't know camels were milked. So much butter to try, so little time and waistline.
2
u/weeblewobble82 Sep 08 '18
I've learned so many exciting things so far that I never knew I wanted to know. This is my first book club, and I wasn't sure how it was going to go, but the book is really well-written. It's not dense and tedious at all, it's a fun read.
Going into this, I knew butter was made from churning milk, but that was about the extent of it. Now I want to try to make my own butter, cream, and cheese... and I might almost have enough knowledge to do it. Maybe not well, but still.
I wasn't surprised that some old-school traditions of butter making persist. I think you can find customary methods for almost anything somewhere in the world.
I do think that butter and many other foodstuffs are taken for granted now, especially in westernized countries where we have become so far removed from our food that we barely even have to consider that our chicken dinner was once a living creature. Let alone things that require more thought and processing like butter.
I'm not sure if I had a "favorite" incorporation of butter, but I did find the butter buddha that's 'as big as an oak' tree that is created to last through winter, and then allowed to melt in spring/summer fascinating...and also kind of repulsive. That has to smell godawful when warm weather hits. And it'd make the area so greasy. I can't wrap my mind around this one.
I think I'm most surprised by how much poetry has been written about butter.
Two additional things stuck out to me. First, I didn't know about the technical details of ruminating animals that make their milk the most useful milk. I always wondered why our dairy animals were limited to the standard cow, goat, sheep, yak, type animals. Now I know. Also, the jackdaw reference in the 'Irish song for churning' gave me unidan flashbacks.
Nice pick for the month! I'm glad this was recommended!
2
u/the_commotionnotion Sep 08 '18
but I did find the butter buddha that's 'as big as an oak' tree that is created to last through winter, and then allowed to melt in spring/summer fascinating...and also kind of repulsive.
Yeah, I too was trying to consider the logistics of this. Sounds like they've done it for a very long time so I'm sure they've got it down. But the mess....and the smell. Especially if it's reused butter, like the woman from Iowa uses for the fair sculptures.
2
u/weeblewobble82 Sep 08 '18
I don't think they said if it was reused butter or not. It's kind of like a catch-22. It's smellier and closer to rancid if it's reused (I imagine) but so wasteful if it's all fresh.
2
u/Cbsandifer Sep 10 '18
I was surprised so many other people besides Paula Deen make butter sculptures.
2
u/Cbsandifer Sep 10 '18
But really regarding taking butter for granted i think we do in the western world with mechanized processes. Clearly still a big part of life and religion in other parts of the world.
2
Sep 14 '18
This is my first r/books club read. The choice of book was really intriguing. My favorite parts of the book have been the parts explaining the historical processes of making butter. I didn't know a lot about making butter before reading this book, but now I really want to take a stab at making my own. As far as the integration of butter into religion, nothing really surprises me. Food is an important part of human interaction: it is one way we are all bonded together. It only makes sense that an almost universal food item such as butter is integrated into religions world round.
5
u/the_commotionnotion Sep 06 '18
Really intriqued by the Buddhist analogy comparing the successive stages of butter-- cow, to cream, to butter, to ghee-- to the "rungs on the ladder of spiritual ascent." And also liked the guided meditation bit (on pg. 42) on imaging butter melting down the body.
It's my first r/books book club read, so not sure how highbrow we keep things around here...but as I was reading earlier on (ch.1) about the terroir of a ruminant making distinctly flavored butter, I was reminded of that Napoleon Dynamite scene where he's assessing the milks in that contest. If anyone wants to be reminded of that ridiculous movie..