Religious Dietary Laws

[ Hinduism | Buddhism | Christianity | Judaism | Islam ]

Not everyone is allowed to eat any food he likes. In most religions, there are
dietary rules to follow. For example, Hindus have be vegetarians, and
Muslims are not allowed to eat pork. Here we shall introduce some different
dietary laws of religions.

Hinduism
The Hindu believes in the sacredness of all life, and that life should not be
destroyed violently. Most Hindus follow a vegetarian diet, and the Brahmin
priests take only vegetarian food prepared with clarified butter and abstain
from alcohol and strong foods such as onions and garlic. They take the
precautions to preserve the ritual and their ritual purity.

The Sacred Cow

In English, "a sacred cow" refers to something that is immune to criticism,

often unreasonably. But the cow is regarded by Hindus as sacred, and it is a
profound symbol to Hindus because it is milked and used in farms.

Buddhism
Eating fish and meat is allowed in Buddhism, though vegetarianism is
encouraged. As long as a monk is not seen or suspected of killing the
animal, the meat can be eaten. One eats merely to sustain the physical
body, hence he should eat without greed, without craving for any kind of
food, and without direct involvement in the killing. However, Buddha advised
the monks to avoid eating ten kinds of meat for their self-respect and
protection: humans, elephants, horses, dogs, snakes, lions, tigers, boars
and hyenas. Some animals attack people when they smell the flesh of their
own kind.

Tibetans will not ever eat fish, and usually stay away from foul. The reason
is that different kinds of meat supposedly give different kinds of
obscurations. Fish, the obscuration of aggression; foul the obscuration of
desire; and red meat the obscruration of ignorance. Evidently, they would
take the ignorance over the others. Also, it was generally better to eat red
meat because the animal killed was very large and only one life had to be
taken to feed many people; with fish, you usually have to take many more
lives to fill the same number of stomachs.

Christianity
Christians are required not to eat blood because blood is the life of any
creature. Hence they are not to eat pig’s blood or meat which have visible
blood on it.

Judaism
Kashrut is the body of Jewish law dealing with what foods Jews can and
cannot eat and how those foods must be prepared and eaten. These laws
were formulated for health reasons. Foods that are kosher are allowed to be
eaten. Jews only eat animals that have a split hoof and chew their cud, such
as sheep, goats and cows. Reptiles and pigs are forbidden to be eaten. The
food must be thoroughly drained of any blood. Ritual slaughter has to
performed by a shochet who kills the animal with a quick deep stroke of a
sharp blade. This method does not cause the animal any pain and is the
most humane way of slaughtering. Meat may not be eaten together with
dairy, and Jews can only consume wine produced by a Jew. Forbidden
animals may not be eaten at all, be it the flesh, milk, eggs, or organs.

Islam
The dietary laws of Islam are quite similar to those of the Jews, and they
forbid eating blood, pork, animals found dead, and food sacrificed or offered
to idols.