Gourmet chef cooks up breast milk

Swiss chef causes stir with plans to use human breast milk

A gourmet chef in Switzerland has caused a stir with plans to use an unusual ingredient in his recipes – breast milk.

Hans Locher, owner of the rustic Storchen restaurant in the village of Iberg near the resort of Winterthur, posted adverts in German newspapers for human milk donors offering around £8 for a litre of milk.

Locher, who trained as a cook in several countries, says that since the birth of his daughter he has already tried out human milk in place of cow’s milk in a range of dishes, including breast milk soup, breast milk lamb curry and antelope steak with chantarelle sauce with breast milk and cognac.

In all cases the human milk is mixed with whipped cream and makes up at least 75 per cent of the sauce.

But local authorities are less than enthusiastic about his experimentation. Yesterday Zurich’s food regulation body and the Association of Swiss Milk Producers threatened lawsuits against the chef and any donors who came forward.

‘I don’t understand all the controversy,’ Loch told The Times. ‘The mother’s milk is the most natural thing in the world – how can anyone be against it? It is, after all, the first thing we taste and I see no reason why I should not include it in my menu.’

‘The idea first came to me when I noticed that there were many young mothers in our village, some of them single. I thought to myself: why not make use of their potential? I served the meals to my friends without telling them about the new ingredient and the feedback was excellent.’