【推荐1】Milk, it comes from cows, right? Well, not all the milk you see on supermarket shelves is from cows. These days we see many plant-based alternatives to dairy, such as oat, pea and soya milk. But why would someone stop drinking their full-fat, semi-skimmed or skimmed cow’s milk and trade it for one of these? There are many reasons why someone might try alternative milks.

Some people believe the alternatives are healthier than milk from cows. Those with lactose(乳糖) intolerance or thinking about becoming vegan might start drinking alternative milks. Also, concerns about the impact of dairy farming on the environment could be a factor. Whatever the reason, there are many alternatives to dairy out there for us to consume. But what are the differences between these other options and regular cow’s milk? Soya milk is one common alternative. According to some sources, such as healthline.com, it contains a similar amount of protein to regular milk. It is also lower in calories than some cow’s milk, which could be good for those on a diet, and often comes strengthened with things like calcium and various vitamins.

So, all good? Well, soya, according to foodallergy.org, is one of the nine foods which cause the majority of allergic reactions, such as lactose intolerance and nut allergy. Almond milk is a low-calorie, low-fat drink and is naturally lactose free and has a slight nutty taste. When unsweetened, it also has lower levels of carbohydrates and sugars than some dairy options. However, even when strengthened, it doesn’t provide the levels of protein seen in soya or regular milk. Then there’s coconut milk, which is low in calories and may affect people with lactose intolerance as much as other options, but is lacking in protein.

Whichever plant-based milk you choose, there are positives and negatives. Dieticians agree the most important thing is getting a healthy balanced diet which won’t trigger any allergies and comes with all the minerals and vitamins you need. And at the end of the day, it may just come down to which one you think tastes better.

【推荐2】In late June, the US government agreed to allow two companies Upside Foods and Good Mo. to sell chicken meat that has been grown in a lab. That makes the US the second country to approve (批准) lab-grown chicken.

Unlike normal chicken meat, lab-grown meat isn’t created by raising and killing chickens. Instead, it’s a meat product developed from animal cells (细胞) that are grown in a lab.

The first cells come from live animals. Scientists have known for a long time how to keep living cells alive and grow them in a lab. In this case, they choose cells that can grow quickly and will have good taste. The cells are grown inside a “cultivation (培植) room”, where they’re fed with everything they need to grow. In a few weeks, the cells grow into sheets of meat. The companies then form this meat into more familiar shapes that can be cooked and sold

The lab-grown meat is better for the environment than meat from animals. Raising animals for food uses plenty of land and water. It also creates a lot of pollution. Lab-grown meat can also help out in other ways. For one thing, raising animals for food is very hard on animals. They are often kept in small spaces, and are treated badly.

Since lab-grown meat is made from animal cells, it is very hard to tell it apart from actual meat. It looks, smells, and tastes like chicken. However, many people aren’t too interested in lab-grown meat. Lots of people believe that it just sounds strange.

Right now, the lab-grown meat is far more expensive than meat from animals. Now that the companies have been approved, they have the huge challenge of figuring out how to make much more meat far more cheaply. The two companies say the lab-grown meat will mainly be served in high-end restaurants. It will probably be a long time before you’ll be able to buy lab-grown chicken in stores

【推荐3】This is going to sound weird, but I want you to look closely for a moment at your thumbs. See how they bend flexibly forwards as well as back. The human thumb is not just a device for giving the thumbs-up sign or for picking up dropped keys. It is also one of the most efficient and sensitive tools in existence for determining the ripeness of fruit.

However, most of us don’t use them that way anymore. One of the most striking things about eating in the modern world is that we act as if we were sense-blind. Our noses can distinguish fresh milk from sour milk, and yet we prefer to look at the use-by date rather than sniffing. Senses, wrote the late anthropologist Jack Goody, are “our windows on the world” —the main tools through which humans acquire information about our environments.

But today, we have yielded many of the functions of our own senses to the modern food industry — which suits that industry just fine. A survey of 7,000 young people in 2011 found that most of them would be hypothetically (假设地) prepared to give up their sense of smell if it meant that they could keep their laptop or phone.

In reality, it is not easy to live without a sense of smell. According to the survey data produced by Fifth Sense, more than half of the respondents having smell loss said that cooking had become a source of stress and anxiety because they could no longer experience the joy of trying new recipes, and could not easily tell when something was burned, which even increases feelings of loneliness and depression and leads to the breakdown of relationships.

No human activity is more multi-sensory than eating, but to eat in the modern world is often to eat in a state of profound sensory disengagement. We order groceries on a computer, or takeaways on a phone, and they arrive wrapped in plastic, so that we can neither smell them nor see them before we take the first mouthful.