MILK CRAZE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22398, 20 October 1934, Page 14

MILK CRAZE

SYDNEY’S “NEW” DRINK (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, October 11. Sydney seems to have discovered a “ new ” drink. It is milk—milk straight from the cow and sometimes more or less “ adulterated ” with every sort of flavouring it is possible to imagine. Hotelkeepers have been complaining that their trade is not what it used to be, and there is nothing surprising about that when one considers that there are now in the city between 50 and 60 milk bars—shops that provide milk drinks exclusively—selling about 10,000 gallons of milk a week. The number of bars is being added to every week, and each bar seems to be doing a roaring trade. In addition milk is being retailed in the city by hundreds of refreshment, rooms and restaurants. Sydney, it would seem, has suddenly become milk conscious, and if there is anything in what medical men have said about the healthgiving qualities of this beverage, then Sydney bids fair to produce a race of super men and women. The milk bar trade was pioneered In Sydney about two years ago, and the pioneers did so well that there has be«n a remarkable expansion, accompanied with ingenuity in the invention of new milk drinks. At one up-to-date bar in the centre of the city the ingredients used in various mixtures include 10 varieties of fruit, cream, butter, eggs, chocolate, honey, caramel, malt, yeast, and, surprisingly, rum. Lest the combination of rum and milk should lead to a false impression it should be explained that this certain flavouring contains only 1 per cent, of rum. One of the big bars sells on the average 200 gallons of milk a day, and those who are inclined to scoff at milk as a “ sissy ” sort of drink are confounded by the fact thar of the 18,000 weekly customers the majority are men. These milk-drinking men are neither so young that milk would seem to be their natural food nor so old as to be suspected of invalidity. They are of all ages and descriptions, and obviously they all like milk. Needless to say, the Metropolitan Milk Board heartily approves of the milk bars, and it has figures to show that in the city and suburbs nearly 22,000,000 gallons of milk are consumed each year. The figure is not all-embracing, and it is safe to say that the consumption is close on 28,000,000 gallons—a huge increase on the quantity of milk sold in Sydney two years ago.