India, Feb. 14 -- All over the world, nutritionists and food companies are coming to a conclusion that you and I might find a little surprising: Milk is great!

Milk sales are up and those of its imitators or substitutes are either stagnant or falling.

The reason that we, in India, might find this surprising is because we already knew this. We have never fallen out of love with milk. We still associate it with good health, nutrition and of course versatility.

Without milk, there would be no dahi and that would cause a crisis in much of south India. And there would also be no lassi, which would disappoint Punjabis almost as much as the non-availability of paneer. As for Bengal, its greatest contribution to the national food scene, mishti...