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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.

@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.

@omnomnom... Woo hoo! Your mom's badass!! Falling out of a tree? Holy Hanna.

I even use milk instead of water to make my oatmeal. Why not beef up the nutritive value of oatmeal while I'm at it?? Milk is an excellent source of calcium and it enriches many foods.

Think it's tough to get kids to drink milk? Try getting them to eat kale. Barbed wire would probably be more palatable to kids.

Milk is probably on the balance pretty neutral. I don't think it's an important part of anyone's diet, and the calcium benefits are generally pretty overblown. Few children have calcium deficiencies in developed nations, and you can get plenty via vegetable sources.

On the other hand, I don't think it has many major flaws. Chocolate milk is sugary but not heinously so, and the amounts served in most cafeterias are modest. So I'm going to say this is a non-issue. Leave it there for kids who want it, but provide other options for kids that don't (water, ideally).

@Cassaendra - Nope, not joking. I think it's awful that industries control what children eat or drink in school (and quite a few long-held nutritional beliefs). No one needs milk. There are very good plant-based sources of calcium, and too much animal protein in the diet can actually hurt bone development. Encouraging children to drink milk with every meal is ludicrous.

I like what PCRM had to say: http://www.pcrm.org/news/release091109.html

And for those saying that they have never broken bones - traditional East Asian cuisine does not include dairy, and the people eating it did not see their bones turn into noodles.

I've always enjoyed the sweet smell you get in a cigar/tobacco room. Just earlier today I was thinking that it seemed as though I ought to be able to add those notes to a sweet. I believe I saw an Iron Chef episode wherein one or both of the chefs used tobacco, I think one was an ice cream (with vanilla I believe). I went out to get a cigar, and exploring my collection of flavorings, sniffing them next to the cigar, it seems as though it would work well. Particularly pleasant were vanilla, cinnamon, chocolate, and cumin. So tonight, I am going to try steeping some tobacco bits in some heavy cream with a vanilla bean, which will be used to make a salted sweet caramel which will be drizzled atop some dark chocolate brownies.

Needless to say, I bet a truffle would be very nice!

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.

Um, I'm almost 24-years-old and I STILL drink chocolate milk everyday. It's skim and/or soy milk now, but I continue to have it with my breakfast every morning, just like I've done my whole life.