Well, I've discovered something new to add to the list of things I’ll never put in my mouth – donkey milk.
No, that’s not something that’s part of a hazing ritual at an OSU frat, nor is the name of a movie Ryan Walters watched in his office on some obscure Roku channel. It’s a real-life thing that Oklahoma donkey farmer Saundra Traywick was pushing at the Capitol yesterday as part of “Raw Milk Freedom Day.”
KOKH’s Emma McAndrews has the raw details:
"Raw Milk Freedom" proposals drew attention at the Oklahoma Capitol on Tuesday, as lawmakers were asked if they would like to sample nontraditional donkey milk.
Saundra Traywick, owner of Dulce de Donke in Luther, started a petition in support of raw milk food freedom bills. After the petition reached more than 1,000 signatures, she brought milk to the Capitol.
“So, you know, people that say, oh, we need more research before we'll approve this or before we'll say this is okay, great. Put some money towards researching natural things and why they're helping people. Don't try to shut us down. We're literally something that Oklahoma should be proud of. Oklahoma should be telling everyone, we have the only donkey dairy in the United States,” Traywick said…
Yep. Throw it on the license plates and cue up the tourism campaign. Oklahoma is home to the only donkey dairy in the United States! Sure, that’s probably because nobody in their right mind wants to drink donkey milk, but, hey, at least we’ve cornered something!
Traywick went on to explain why she thinks raw donkey milk should be legal:
Traywick said she believes raw milk has benefits and argued consumers should be able to choose what they buy.
“We want people to be able to eat real food and not be worried that cloned meat or cloned milk is making its way into what they're buying at the store. So knowing your farmer, trusting your farmer, knowing how that was produced is essential. And we don't make anyone drink this. So this isn't stepping on your right,” she said.
Traywick said current laws prevented her from bringing raw milk from her farm to the Capitol.
“It would have been illegal for me to bring you raw milk, so that's the kind of restrictions that I've had legislators ask me to bring them raw milk up here, and I say I can't, it's against the law, so I brought you my pasteurized freeze-dried donkey milk from Portugal,” she said.
Yep, instead of the raw stuff, the poor lady has to serve lawmakers pasteurized freeze-dried donkey milk from Portugal.
And you know what, good!
I know I’m a bit of a homogenized softie here, and it’s been a minute since I last contracted listeria, but one reason raw milk hasn’t really caught on is that it’s objectively risky to consume. Regardless of the animal, it can harbor things like E. coli, Salmonella, and Listeria. I mean, there’s a reason Louis Pasteur is a celebrated scientist.
Hell, even Trump’s FDA warns about it!
Despite those risks, Oklahoma lawmaker Jim Shaw – a member of the Oklahoma Freedum Caucus – says he’s committed to helping get raw donkey milk out to the masses.
After chugging a glass of pasteurized, freeze-dried donkey milk like he just won the Indy 500, he spoke in favor of getting those pesky health and safety regulations out of the way – just as God would have intended:
“We need to allow people to produce the food that they're able to produce on their farm without the government telling them no, you can't, or you can, but with a laundry list of regulations and what have you, right? Unnecessary regulations. So that's what this boils down to, is the government getting out of the way and letting people do what God has called them to do and produce food the way that God's designed it to be,” Shaw said.
I’ll admit I don’t understand all the complexities of Christianity, but if God wanted animal milk consumed the way it’s “supposed” to be, why did He invent pasteurization, refrigeration and other preservatives to make it safer, longer lasting and more readily available? Does this mean Braum’s is the work of the Devil?
Anyway, while I never want to taste raw or pasteurized donkey milk, if some weirdo wants to make it on their farm for private consumption, go for it. You do you. But if you want to sell it to the public, you should (a) be required to clearly inform consumers of the risks, and (b) carry a very good insurance policy for when someone drinks your milk, and then gets sick or dies.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
