One of the most distinctive food practices in both Judaism and Islam is the avoidance of pork products. In Judaism, the prohibition has been a way of showing Jewish identity and of challenging it.
Pork is a food taboo among Jews, Muslims, and some Christian denominations. Swine were prohibited in ancient Syria and Phoenicia, and the pig and its flesh represented a taboo observed, Strabo noted, at Comana in Pontus.
Followers of Judaism and Islam, respectively, must eat only kosher or halal food. Prohibitions on eating unclean food are written in the Torah and in the Koran: “He hath only forbidden you dead meat, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and that on which any other name hath been invoked besides that of Allah.
The main reason pork is forbidden for Muslims is because it says in the Holy Quran that some food is allowed, while others are explicitly declared haram, which means forbidden. And pork is one of those forbidden foods.
In Leviticus 11:27, God forbids Moses and his followers to eat swine “because it parts the hoof but does not chew the cud.” Furthermore, the prohibition goes, “Of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch; they are unclean to you.” That message is later reinforced in Deuteronomy.
The only dietary restrictions specified for Christians in the New Testament are to "abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from meat of strangled animals" (Acts 15:29), teachings that the early Church Fathers, such as Clement of Alexandria and Origen, preached for believers to follow.
It is only in Leviticus 11:7 that eating pork is forbidden to God's people for the very first time—“… and the swine, though it divides the hoof, having cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud, is unclean to you.” This is where and when pork in all its forms (including ham, bacon, sausage, etc.)
Hindus, who make up about 80 per cent of India's 1.4 billion people, are not prohibited from eating pork, but many consider the meat impure and this has made restaurants wary about putting it on their menus.
All of India's most widely practiced religions have dietary laws and traditions. For example, Hindu texts often praise vegetarianism, and Hindus may also avoid eating beef because cows are traditionally viewed as sacred. Muslim teachings, meanwhile, prohibit pork.
Eating raw or undercooked pork can also result in trichinosis, an infection of parasitic roundworms called Trichinella. While trichinosis symptoms are usually mild, they can become serious — even fatal — especially in older adults. To avoid parasitic infection, always cook pork thoroughly.
Many Buddhists interpret this to mean that you should not consume animals, as doing so would require killing. Buddhists with this interpretation usually follow a lacto-vegetarian diet. This means they consume dairy products but exclude eggs, poultry, fish, and meat from their diet.
Muslims and Jews, however, do consume poultry, mutton, beef – but no pork, as laws in their respective religions declare pork not 'halal' or 'kosher'.
According to the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, a Mahayana sutra giving Gautama Buddha's final teachings, the Buddha insisted that his followers should not eat any kind of meat or fish. Even vegetarian food that has been touched by meat should be washed before being eaten.
Dietary avoidance out of politeness
However, there is no religious prohibition about eating beef and pork.
The sale and consumption of pork is mostly illegal in Pakistan, a Muslim-majority country where halal dietary guidelines are observed. Being 96% Muslim majority makes pork hard to find. Like alcohol however, the meat may be consumed by non-Muslim citizens and foreigners who reside in the country.
Hinduism does not require a vegetarian diet, but some Hindus avoid eating meat because it minimizes hurting other life forms. Vegetarianism is considered satvic, that is purifying the body and mind lifestyle in some Hindu texts.
Hindus don't eat beef. They worship the animals. The Muslims don't eat pork. The Buddhists are vegetarians and the Jains are strict vegans who won't even touch root vegetables because of the damage it does to the plants.
"The Government of India has agreed to allow imports of US pork and pork products into India, removing a long-standing barrier to US agricultural trade," the statement, dated January 10, said.
Prohibited foods that may not be consumed in any form include all animals—and the products of animals—that do not chew the cud and do not have cloven hoofs (e.g., pigs and horses); fish without fins and scales; the blood of any animal; shellfish (e.g., clams, oysters, shrimp, crabs) and all other living creatures that ...
Forbidden food substances include alcohol, pork, carrion, the meat of carnivores and animals that died due to illness, injury, stunning, poisoning, or slaughtering not in the name of God.
Also, on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and all Fridays during Lent, adult Catholics over the age of 14 abstain from eating meat. During these days, it is not acceptable to eat lamb, chicken, beef, pork, ham, deer and most other meats. However, eggs, milk, fish, grains, and fruits and vegetables are all allowed.
What did Jesus eat on a typical day? The short answer: a lot of bread. Bread was a staple in the typical daily diet in the first-century Greco-Roman world, supplemented with limited amounts of local fruits and vegetables, oil, and salt. Bread in first-century Galilee would have been made with wheat or barley flour.
Plutarch stated Egyptian priests abstained from legumes, mutton and pork because these foods give rise to an abundance of excrement.
They eat calorie-dense foods, not only nuts and grains but also less salubrious items such as carrion, human corpses and feces. Pigs were unclean because they ate filth. The Jews were not alone in this prejudice. In the great civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt, priests and rulers avoided pork at all costs.