We know that when Pakistan became an independent state in 1947, ninety-percent of the country’s population lived in villages. Households tended cattle and produced raw milk for their own consumption. Any excess amount was converted into ghee, butter or yoghurt. However, with the passage of time, Pakistan experienced a great surge of urbanization, giving enterprising farmers an opportunity to distribute their milk in densely populated areas.
(L-R) Nuscie Jamil, Yawar Ali, Amna Zuberi and Kiran Aman
During the 1970s and the early 80s, the Government of Pakistan introduced favorable policies to help fuel the growth of the dairy and packaged milk industry. Following this, in 1988, Nestlé partnered with MILKPAK Limited to revolutionize the dairy industry as we know it today.
All this history, the evolution of this important industry and its development in Pakistan, was captured and presented in Drops of the Divine: A Story of Milk in Pakistan, a coffee table book launched at the Alhamra Arts Council, Lahore. The book has been launched by Nestlé Pakistan in collaboration with Markings Publishing. The coffee table book takes us behind the scenes and uncovers the entire journey from grass to glass. It shines a spotlight on the history and journey of the packaged milk sector in the country and also features a variety of easy-to-make dairy recipes that we all love.
(L-R) Nazish AtaUllah, Adeel Hashmi, Maryam Mahmood and Mehek Saeed
‘Drops of the Divine: A Story of Milk in Pakistan’s book launch was hosted by Adeel Hashmi.
Commenting on the significance of the packaged dairy industry, Bruno Olierhoek, CEO Nestlé Pakistan said, “Apart from tracing the dairy trail and the packaged milk industry in Pakistan, the coffee table book also features insight from those associated with the country’s dairy sector over the years. We hope this book goes a long-way in adding to readers’ knowledge of the evolution of packaged milk in Pakistanâ€.
Kiran Aman, the founder and CEO of Markings, said, “Working on a book about milk for Nestlé was totally characteristic of Markings Publishing, solely because I know it has never been done before in Pakistan nor worldwide. We enjoyed creating content and giving it a visual.”
(L-R) Hiba, Aatekah, Maryam and Jugnu Mohsin
The event also featured a photo exhibition of the images in the book by Kohi Maari and Amna Zuberi. The evening ended with dinner and an uplifting concert by Khumariyaan.
