I keep seeing people say stuff like “aw i wish i could eat ___ but i’m lactose”. and im confused because. in my country TM there’s lactose free stuff for every cow milk product in grocery stores, they’re a bit more expensive but they exist??
I keep seeing people say stuff like “aw i wish i could eat ___ but i’m lactose”. and im confused because. in my country TM there’s lactose free stuff for every cow milk product in grocery stores, they’re a bit more expensive but they exist??
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Yes, they exist in grocery stores, but typically not in restaurants, cafes, or places where you go out to eat. It’s more of a specialty at home food
That doesn’t mean it’s gonna be available in that particular moment.
We do have lactose free stuff.
Usually when that phrase is said, it’s not in the context of grocery shopping, it’s usually somewhere out, maybe getting ice cream or a cheesecake, which as delicious as they are, may contain milk, hence, “Aw.”
We have medication you can take before eating/drinking. However hardly anyone uses it. Not sure if it’s laziness or it doesn’t work as I don’t have to personally worry about it, nor have I asked if it does work.
Can you be more specific. There are lactose free milk and ice cream everywhere but the ice cream flavors are limited. There are tons of dairy alternative flavors though. I don’t recall ever seeing lactose free cheese or yogurt, but neither of these things bother me, who’s lactose intolerant. Also, you can get lactase pills at every pharmacy.
Of course we do. Why wouldn’t we?
Milk and so on, yes of course but things such as soft triple crème cheese, no I’ve never seen a lactose free version of that or any higher quality cheese. And this leaves aside all the other things made with dairy such as baked goods or anything in a restaurant. I’m sure I could find a lactose free pizza in a grocery store but certainly not in a pizzeria.
The lactose-free version of anything isn’t the same as the original.
Trees tons of vegan stuff that are totally dairy free
Of course we do. Thankfully, I’m a member of the super species (I am not lactose intolerant).
Not in restaurants.
At the store, yes. In my fridge or pantry, no.
Plenty of people use lactaid/generic lactase but its not exactly the cheapest thing in the world, and depending *how* lactose intolerant you are you should be taking even more of it if one tablet isn’t enough but since people think of it like a ‘medication’ they’re afraid of overdosing, however it is not possible to overdose; its literally just an enzyme. You take it while eating, though most of the time its the situation where you realize “aw shit, i better take a lactase” as your finishing or afterwards but it still usually works if you’re not like hours late.
Obviously there’s directly lactose free milk and icecream but that’s only helpful when you’re at home. Restaurants virtually never have that option, so the pills are the only practical solution for eating out/eating at a friends, etc
That being said, when a box is almost 20 bucks for 60 pills, each additional pill you take is basically tacking 30 cents onto the cost of your meal, kinda rough if you need to take 2-3 because you have total intolerance so some people stick to just avoiding dairy. For those of us who can tolerate low level of lactose they work better for, just keep a sleeve of pills in your wallet/purse/w/e and if you find yourself offered a high lactose item you’re covered. Plus you dont always know, some stuff has way less lactase than you expect, other stuff has way more. A lot of cheeses can actually be pretty low, and its easy to forget that chocolate can actually be pretty high in lactose, for example. So even if you carry the pills on you, virtually every lactose intolerant persons is gonna end up accidentally consuming some without realizing it as its literally never labeled, as its not an allergy, its just an intolerance, and contains dairy =/= contains significant levels of lactose, which is especially misleading when cheese is often the one most often blamed in lactose intolerant memes and chocolate isnt’ when most milk chocolate can have ~10x as much lactose or more by volume compared to some white cheeses like provolone, and yellow cheeses often have even less. Even Ricotta and Mozzarella have less lactose than a Hershey bar by volume, and those are the ones that have enough that I have to take a lactase pill before i eat some pizza or a cannoli.
Like I know milk chocolate has lactose but its extremely easy to forget. Most commercial chocolate syrups for example have been made dairy free, but if a restaurant makes its own chocolate drizzle from milk chocolate than it isn’t. And I shouldn’t waste a pill if i dont need to, sure its only 30 cents per pill but it can add up and i’d rather save it for if I *know* a meals gonna fuck me up.
Other common foods that slip under the radar: mashed potatoes usually have milk and butter (though butter isn’t very high in lactose itself), processed meats often use lactose as a binding agent, most breads have a little, but a lot of, especially sweeter breads that have a lot of milk can have quite a bit.
So some people have resolved to just avoid the foods instead of paying the tax/taking the gamble, especially since high lactose foods aren’t typically very healthy anyways. And it takes some trial and error to know your limits, and its not fun when you get it wrong.
They exist in every large grocery store I know of.
It is very common.