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the days they ran out of chocolate milk before I came through the line were the days I didn't drink any milk at school.

I did sometimes drink plain milk at home, generally with ice cubes, because really cold was the only way I could stand it. (Or, over cereal. Mom bought only unsugared things like shredded wheat & grape nuts, but we were allowed to add sugar or honey. so, yum.) the milk at school was never cold enough for me.

My weight gain didn't begin until I was nearly 20 years out of school. When I no longer habitually drink cow's milk.

This year is my first vegan Thanksgiving and my aunt, whose house I'm going to for the meal, is sort of put-off by it, I can tell. But, her sides are always amazing and delicious, and I am going to bring some mushroom gravy and maybe some Field Roast for my main dish. She makes an incredible apple pie - made with vegetable shortening and Earth Balance margarine - that is the best I have ever tasted, and I'm not a pie person so that's a saying something.

I'm going to have to agree with other comments that sides and pie are enough for me! 101cookbooks has a great olive oil mashed potato recipe with kale that could be vegan but still omni-friendly.

@nitsuj If I eat meat/chicken stock/etc. I get sick. I don't think it's polite of me to ruin Thanksgiving by getting violently ill just to avoid putting them out and having my host make a different recipe when they are already cooking and have invited me over to eat. Often I will bring a dish, suggest a recipe so they don't have to find one, or offer to cook. Would you think a Jewish guest should eat bacon because they are inconveniencing you by voluntarily keeping kosher?

@therealchiffonade - I was joking about kale. But I think the fact that parents are raising kids who don't eat fruits and vegetables is a problem. It's just accepted that kids won't eat healthy food - yes they will, if their parents eat well and they can't spend their lunch money in a vending machine.

As a kid, I loved food like butternut squash puree (granted, it was my grandmother's, so who knows what badness she put in there), broccoli, spinach (usually in pasta), corn, carrots, tomatoes, and every fruit ever. I used to love giving classmates zucchini chocolate muffins, and then telling them - gasp!- they were eating vegetables. And I loved vegetables in spite of my mother's cooking, not because she was an amazing chef.

I enjoyed plenty of junk, too, of course, because kids freaking love sugar. I am just saying that kids not eating vegetables is a far bigger problem than kids not drinking milk (let me once again point out that people from non-dairy cultures rarely shatter). Milk does provide calcium - but you also get saturated fat, cholesterol, lots of calories, and proteins that prevent calcium absorption.

@Robyn Lee - Maybe we should start a powerful lobbying grop on behalf of kale?

My mother was raised on a dairy farm and is fairly sure that not drinking milk is a slow form of suicide – I drank a lot of milk growing up. It wasn't until I was in college that I put greater thought into it, looked into the research and decided that it's wrong to push milk as a miracle health drink. It's not.

@KarynMC: That's how I feel too. Kids/people in general don't need to be encouraged to drink milk. Unfortunately there isn't a hugely powerful fruit and vegetable board who can be like, "EAT FRUITS AND VEGGIES, LOTS OF EM, here's an ad featuring a celeb eating an orange, etc." Sigh. When I was in 9th grade I did a report in my health class about how milk could be bad for you, and most of my class seemed to think I was nuts except for my teacher.

@therealchiffonade:

My mom drinks a lot of 1 or 1/2% milk, and just turned 50. While she has broken her arm and tailbone (fell out of a tree, etc - really no avoiding it, lol) she has 112% bone density for a woman her age.

I'm surprised more people aren't on the "Do we need milk?" side. I'm not a nutritionist, but as someone who didn't drink milk growing up, I came out relatively okay...(pokes self)...granted, I'm only 24 so my bones could disintegrate later. Of course the milk board wants to push milk; it's their product. They'll make it seem as healthy as they possible can. [...end cynical 'boppy]

I should probably add that I grew up with a health nutty mom (probably more common now, not so much 10+ years ago) and most of the schools I went to for elementary and middle school didn't have cafeterias full of unhealthy food. I had to bring most of my food from home.

@KarynMC: Not sure if you're joking, but I agree with your comment. I think milk should be removed completely and calcium received in a different form.

Keep the chocolate milk in schools, so kids will actually drink milk at lunch time.

Chocolate milk is the only kind my child will drink - she was allergic to milk as an infant and so never developed a taste for it. But she will drink her chocolate milk at school - so I'm all for it. Other than chocolate milk, she drinks water - or very rarely, Sunny D (a treat!).

I think chocolate milk is no big deal - and it is healthy compared to many other drinks.

Oh, seriously? There are worse things to worry about in the school cafeterias. I'd take chocolate milk and pure non-HFCS fruit juice over the pop and various vending machine junk that was prevalent during my school days.