I really, really love milk. And cheese. And cream, yoghurt, custard and ice cream! But I get that not everyone enjoys (or can tolerate) dairy. Whatever your reason, the problem with not consuming dairy is that it is pretty difficult to obtain enough calcium in your diet via non-dairy sources – the calcium in vegetable foods such as broccoli, kale, dried figs and chickpeas tends to be poorly bioavailable, inadequately digested and inconvenient (you’d have to eat a truckload of figs or broccoli, which may come along with other, uh, ‘side effects’). 

There’s something magical about the way the French eat food. In France (pardon the generalization), people don’t seem to diet or deprive themselves, they appreciate quality of produce, real ingredients, developed flavours, and they take the time to savour long, lavish meals in an unhurried and sociable way.