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 practice of vegetarianism is strongly linked with a number of religious traditions worldwide. These include religions that originated in India, such as Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism.
In Abrahamic religions, eating pig flesh is clearly forbidden by Jewish (kashrut), Islamic (halal) and Adventist (kosher animals) dietary laws.
The Indian Constitution gives every Indian the freedom of choice in food. A large section of Indians consume beef. I am a Hindu and I also eat beef, which is my right. In northeastern States, where the BJP is trying to make inroads, beef is an intrinsic part of their food.
Manusmriti (Chapter 5 / Verse 30) says, "It is not sinful to eat the meat of eatable animals, for Brahma has created both the eaters and the eatables." Where the concern of eating beef really belongs is its effect on the human spirit and whether or not eating beef is considered sinful.
Sikhs also generally avoid eating beef because the cow, the buffalo and the ox are an integral part of rural Sikh livelihoods. Similarly, they avoid eating pork when they are in the company of Muslims. However, there is no religious prohibition about eating beef and pork.
For many Chinese Buddhists, beef and the consumption of large animals and exotic species is avoided. Then there would be the aforementioned "triply clean meat" rule. One restriction on food that is not known to many is the abstinence from eating animal offal (organ meat).
Muslims do not eat pork or other haram (forbidden) animals. Insofar as meat products go, animals such as cows, veal, lamb, goats, turkeys, chickens, ducks, game birds, bison, and venison are acceptable for consumption, so long as they are slaughtered according to Islamic law.
In Christianity, no dietary restrictions exists and any kind of meat has been eaten across Christian followers in different parts of India for centuries.
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.
The biggest chunk of beef eating population is Muslim by faith, according to NSSO data. Around 63.4 million Muslims consume beef/buffalo. That adds upto 40% of the total Muslim population. For Christians, this figure is around 26.5%.
Some Sikhs are vegetarian. The religion allows individual choice about meat consumption. However, it is forbidden to eat meat from animals slaughtered according to religious guidelines, and therefore Sikhs do not eat halal or kosher meat. Sikhs do not consume alcohol.
Food is prepared as a spiritual exercise with attention to balance, harmony, and delicacy. Conscious eating is followed among all Buddhists. Buddha advised monks to avoid eating 10 kinds of meat for self-respect and protection: humans, elephants, horses, dogs, snakes, lions, tigers, boars and hyenas.
Certain foods, notably pork, shellfish and almost all insects are forbidden; meat and dairy may not be combined and meat must be ritually slaughtered and salted to remove all traces of blood. Observant Jews will eat only meat or poultry that is certified kosher.
Buddhism, the Thai state religion, teaches that use of intoxicants should be avoided.
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.
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.
Dogs in Islam, as they are in Rabbinic Judaism, are conventionally thought of as ritually impure. This idea taps into a long tradition that considers even the mere sight of a dog during prayer to have the power to nullify a pious Muslim's supplications.
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.
There is a general consensus among Sunni and Shia fiqh experts that Surah Al-Baqarah 221 and Surat Al‑Mumtahanah 10 ban Muslim women from marrying non-Muslim men. This consensus is still standing strong. On the other hand, the Quran allows Muslim men to marry non-Muslim women (“People of the Book”).
Buddhists also abstain from beef. In Taoist circles, the Cantonese phrase sik cai is frequently heard during new moon and full moon days: it means avoiding meat at those times. Strict Taoist adherents rarely consume meat.
Beef ranks number three on China's meat menu, with nine million tons consumed in 2021.
Most people in Thailand enjoy eating meat, even though large numbers of people refrain from eating beef and other kinds of red meat due to their religious beliefs. In fact, many types of meat such as pork, chicken, fish, and seafood are the staple for Thai cuisine that people eat every day.