🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Sámi

The Sámi are the Indigenous people of northern Norway, Sweden and Finland, historically reindeer herders, fishers and hunters. For them the reindeer is transport, food and material for clothing.

Until the 20th century the Sámi milked reindeer does. Reindeer milk is very rich (10–20% fat), and even a small yield was valuable. It was drunk, added to coffee, thickened and made into cheese, which was dried and stored for winter. Reindeer milk was also frozen in small casks for use in winter.

From the 20th century reindeer herding became larger in scale and more mobile, herds were kept in enclosures less often, and milking almost disappeared; diseases that spread when animals were crowded together also played a part. Today reindeer milk and cheese are rare: only a few farms make them, partly to keep the tradition alive.