Talking Southern – Sweet Milk

The author reminisces about a breakfast outing with his family almost twenty years ago when his sons were teenagers. They ordered different beverages, including orange juice, coffee with half-and-half, and sweet milk. The waitress at the Waffle House seemed puzzled by the request for sweet milk, showing a generational gap in understanding. In the South, buttermilk was once considered a delicacy, with some preferring it over sweet milk. The author’s wife had a unique way of enjoying buttermilk with cornbread, but their sons did not share the same taste. The decline in the popularity of buttermilk may explain why the term “sweet milk” has fallen out of use. Despite this, the author still prefers using the term and may even test it on his now adult sons to see if it still embarrasses them, as he believes occasional embarrassment is a crucial part of fatherhood.