Just a quick look-up online—a 50g serving of ice cream has something like 1.6g lactose. The same amount of cheddar has around 0.05g lactose, and mozarella has around 0.03g. That’s like a factor of 30x-50x.
This explains why even people who don’t think they are lactose intolerant still have digestive problems when they eat ice cream, but have no problems with cheese.
Ice cream may be culturally significant, I just haven’t heard it called a comfort food before.
I’m also a bit confused about the protein comment. Go read the nutritional facts for cheese some time. Cheddar is about 1/4 protein by mass.
https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/328637/n...
That's strange, a famous pop cliché is "crying eating icecream from the tub watching movies on the couch".
Cheese is very high in protein. It's basically concentrated milk. Obviously not lactose free though.
You also say an "unednding desire for calories and protein". *Protein?" Where? Even with metaballs you're not really eating that much meat (aka protein). Did you mean fat?
It's kind of a weird take overall. Ice cream clearly has huge cultural significance in the US as a comfort food.