feta cheese----dairy or not?

[bonitamae]

so we're supposed to be gluten free/dairy free....................is feta considered dairy?

[eric593]

so we're supposed to be gluten free/dairy free....................is feta considered dairy?

I would say it depends if it comes from a cow or a goat.

I should add... in MS, a hypothesis is that a protein in dairy (cow's milk and products) resembles myelin and through molecular mimicry, our bodies end up attacking our myelin.

Another theory is that we have an inflammatory reaction to cow's milk products which is bad for our system to be in a state of chronic inflammation.

Neither of these apply to goat'as milk or products as it has different proteins and is far less likely to cause an inflammatory reaction in the body.

There IS a debate whether goat's milk is considered "dairy", but for our purposes, I think it's fine as it doesn't seem to cause the same reaction as cow's milk. Unless you're allergic to goat's milk. Or the argument is against any animal products at all.

[sou]

Original feta cheese is made by a mixture of sheep's and goat's milk. It contains no cow milk at all. If it does, it is not "feta".

[tzootsi]

Dairy is dairy - doesn't matter if it's cows, sheep, goats or racoons. If you are following a dairy free diet, eliminate ALL cheeses, yogurts (except non dairy), butter and ice cream.

[CureOrBust]

Original feta cheese is made by a mixture of sheep's and goat's milk. It contains no cow milk at all. If it does, it is not "feta".

Off topic, but just on a culinary note, I can only find Sheep OR Goats milk Feta (in addition to the hundreds of Cow milk brands).

I was wondering which was the "real" Feta, and now are you telling me neither is? without being a mix of the two (Sheep & Goat)?

[zinamaria]

Sou is correct ( he is after all Greek!!). Typically feta is made from sheep's milk, but I guess it depends which country you live in, where it may be mixed with goat's milk....so tasty, but it is all dairy.

It is also very high in saturated fat, which is inflammatory, which is why so many of us stay away from red meat high in sat fat, like lamb.