Why do some countries prefer UHT milk and cream? My wife and I recently moved to Belgium.  We were absolutely shocked by the fact that UHT (long life) milk and cream dominate supermarket shelves compared to pasteurized - by a factor of at least 10 to 1.  The UHT products are sold in cardboard containers and taste poor compared to the refrigerated fresh stuff.

Considering Belgium is well known for it's rich tradition of dairy products, this struck us as rather odd.

I asked around and was told that France was also going UHT. 

Anyone know how this came about? I can see how UHT makes sense when there is a poor distribution network, but surely it isn't by choice???
My guess is that the Belgians (like the French) rarely eat milk cold and uncooked in the way that the British do. The Belgians will have their milk in hot chocolate, or cakes etc, whereas the Brits will have it cold in cereal (again, in France at least, cereal is eaten with warm milk).

I have found that the UHT milk in French supermarkets tastes a lot better than the UHT milk in British supermarkets.