Taboo food and drink are food and beverages which people abstain from consuming because of a religious or cultural prohibition. Many food taboos forbid the meat of a particular animal, including mammals, rodents, reptiles, amphibians, bony fish, mollusks and crustaceans. Some taboos are specific to a particular part or excretion of an animal, while other taboos forgo the consumption of plants, fungi, or insects.
Food taboos can be defined as rules, codified or otherwise, about which foods, or combinations of foods, may not be eaten and how animals are to be slaughtered. The origins of these prohibitions and commandments are varied. In some cases, these taboos are a result of health considerations or other practical reasons, in others, they are a result of human symbolic systems. Some foods may be prohibited during certain festivals (e.g., Lent), at certain times of life (e.g., pregnancy), or to certain classes of people (e.g., priests), although the food is in general permissible.
Famous quotes containing the words taboo, food and/or drink:
“Lesbian existence comprises both the breaking of a taboo and the rejection of a compulsory way of life. It is also a direct or indirect attack on the male right of access to women.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“The female of the genus homo is economically dependent on the male. He is her food supply.”
—Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935)
“The world is eaten up by boredom.... You can’t see it all at once. It is like dust. You go about and never notice, you breathe it in, you eat and drink it. It is sifted so fine, it doesn’t even grit on your teeth. But stand still for an instant and there it is, coating your face and hands. To shake off this drizzle of ashes you must be for ever on the go. And so people are always “on the go.””
—Georges Bernanos (1888–1948)