Camel milk

An Arab Cure: Camel milk, delicious but impossible to describe

Camel milk producers in the UAE are struggling to keep up with domestic demand. (File photo

By UMITA VENKATARAMAN
Special to Al Arabiya

 

I am in an Arab city, doing what many of my Arab friends do. I am looking at a glass of camel milk on the table.

I feel as though the glass of milk is looking back at me somewhat reproachfully, as though saying, “Oh, come on, how bad can it possibly be? Nobody ever died of drinking camel milk—although plenty of people have died because drinking alcohol.” I remember my Friday night binge guiltily and a renewed determined to conquer my uneasiness of the drink overtakes me.

It looks quite harmless, inviting even—with cubes of ice floating in it. The ice is there for a reason—just in case it tastes vile, I’ve put enough ice in it to numb the taste buds. I decide to down the lot.

It’s not bad at all. Not as bland as cow’s milk; it has a distinctive taste that’s impossible to describe. But that’s not unusual: it’s equally difficult to describe the taste of rice or bread or potatoes. The milk is definitely salty, like someone actually put salt in it. It’s liquid. It’s smooth. It goes down easily and, before you can say “Osama Bin Laden,” I’ve actually gulped the glass. “Fear of drinking camel’s milk” has been banished as well. I say: Bravo!
You may well ask, “Why are you drinking it? What’s the fuss all about?”

To cut to the chase—or, more appropriately, to cut to the camel—my physician (who’s not an Arab) said I should get more calcium and rack up on the vitamin C as well. Since cow’s milk doesn’t agree with me and I absolutely refuse to eat a pound of raw spinach as Dr. Joel Fuhrman advises in his book, “Eat to Live,” I’ve decided to give camel’s milk a shot.

Luckily for me, I live in Dubai where camel’s milk is available widely. In fact, you get it in supermarkets and the brand is called “Camelicious.” The packaging is cute and funny: the bottle has the visual of a funky camel in sunglasses.

Let’s look at what the milk has to offer: According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), one glass of camel’s milk is rich in B vitamins, has three times as much vitamin C and 10 times as much iron as in cow’s milk. It also has as much calcium as seven sardines, and is very good for bone growth. It’s low on saturated fats as well.

Now, it must be mentioned that you should introduce your digestive system to camel’s milk gently until your system is well acquainted with it. Because the milk is renowned as a treatment for constipation too much of it at the first encounter can have alarming results. It would make you want to dismount your camel and run to a spot behind a rock. The good news is that the human digestive system can actually tolerate camel’s milk better than cow’s milk because its proteins are shorter, making them easier to digest.

Camel’s milk is high in lactoferrin, an antimicrobial agent and it’s been touted as (well, almost) the panacea to all illnesses. It is said to fight infections, tumors and diabetes, and it is traditionally used as a treatment for liver diseases in central Asia and North Africa.

The big news is this: Camel’s milk contains insulin and can be of great help to diabetics. Anecdotal evidence from India and Tunisia suggests that regular consumption of camel’s milk can lower the need for insulin injections. In Nairobi, urban Somalis suffering from diabetes value regular supply of camel. Consider this: in Nairobi, sub-standard, unhygienic, raw camel milk fetches almost twice the price of pasteurized quality cow’s milk.

Many Kenyans say that their overall wellbeing suffers if they don’t drink camel milk on a daily basis. Somali diabetics who know the secret value of camel milk are willing to spend up to a week at a time in camel camps away from town to receive camel milk therapy.

This beats “I’d Walk A Mile For A Camel” which was an advertising line for Camel cigarettes. As a lifelong smoker, I feel at home in Arab society. Now that I am a consumer of camel milk, I have truly bonded here.