Allow me to get personal for a minute — Matt O’Connor, you are my least favourite person of the week. We’ve never met, but apparently you are the man responsible for foisting ‘Baby Gaga’ breast milk ice-cream on the world. You are the reason otherwise sane and grown up people have been sniggering about the taste of breast milk in newspaper columns, on the internet and on the radio….and in my earshot.
Matt O’Connor, your scheme has got my goat for a number of reasons. First, an awful lot of women resent the way their body automatically becomes public property the moment they become pregnant. (I should say, I’m pregnant myself, and I genuinely don’t mind when friends substitute ‘my God you’re massive’ for ‘hello’. It’s a fair point. I am, at this point, fairly rotund. Doesn’t bother me, but I understand why it would make others peevish). This seems like another way of reducing breast feeding to a novelty, while at the same time placing breast milk at such a premium that anyone who has bottle fed their child formula will once again feel like a failure for doing so. Second, did Mr O’Connor genuinely want to prompt a debate about our ‘preconceptions about food and farming ’, or did he want to find an excuse for charging £15 for a single scoop (and no sign of a 99 Flake)?
Any kind of discussion of breast-feeding seems to bring out the worst in so many people, whether it’s the militant ‘breast is best’-ers or the kind of people who find ‘bitty’ jokes funny. It drives me mad. So, why bother giving Baby Gaga and Matt O’Connor the oxygen of just a little bit more publicity?
Because in one discussion of stupid overpriced breast milk ice cream, someone reminded me about the UK Association for Milk Banking — a charity which co-ordinates the provision of donor breast milk for premature babies. If you haven’t heard of them, have a look at their website. So, begrudging thanks to Matt O’Connor. I think I’ll stick to the Ben and Jerry’s for now though.
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