Diet in Hinduism - Food in The Vedas

Food in The Vedas

The oldest Hindu text Rig Veda (10.87.16-19) speaks about the flesh of the cattle and the horses:

The fiend who smears himself with flesh of cattle, with flesh of horses and of human bodies,
Who steals the milch-cow's milk away, O Agni,—tear off the heads of such with fiery fury.

The cow gives milk each year, O Man-regarder let not the Yātudhāna ever taste it.
If one would glut him with the biesting, Agni, pierce with thy flame his vitals as he meets thee.

Let the fiends drink the poison of the cattle; may Aditi cast off the evildoers.
May the God Savitar give them up to ruin, and be their share of plants and herbs denied them.

Agni, from days of old thou slayest demons never shall Rākṣasas in fight o’ercome thee.
Burn up the foolish ones, the flesh-devourers let none of them escape thine heavenly arrow.

— Rig Veda (10.87.16-19)

Some consider this as a disapproval of the cow slaughter and meat eating in general. Others put it in the context of demons and evil spirits (Yātudhāna) stealing the cattle and the milk, and mention that the beef eating was common in the Vedic times. Multiple other Rigvedic verses in Mandala 10, including 85.13, 162.4 and 162.12-13, contain references to the slaughter of cattle, horses and other animals, as well as meat eating.

The Atharva Veda bans only the eating of the raw flesh and the human flesh:

Those who eat flesh uncooked, and those who eat the bleeding flesh of men,
Feeders on babes unborn, long-haired, far from this place we banish these.

— Atharva Veda (8.6.23)

The Āpastamba Śrautasûtra from Yajurveda has clear references to proper preparation of beef in certain occasions.