We all have ideas about what kinds of foods are good to eat. We also have ideas about what kinds of foods are bad to eat. So people from one culture often think the foods that people from another culture eat are terrible to eat. When the famous boxer Muhammad Ali visited Africa, for example, one member of his group became quite sick when he found someone picked up a butterfly and ate it.
Some people in Africa think African white ants make a delicious meal. Many other people will probably be sick if they have to eat white ants, but one hundred grams of white ants contain more than twice as many calories and almost twice as much protein as one hundred grams of cooked hamburger.
However, food likes and dislikes are not always related to nutrition. For example, broccoli is first on list of the most nutritious common vegetables, but it is twenty-first on a list of vegetables that Americans like most to eat. Tomatoes are sixteenth on the list of most nutritious Vegetables, but they are first on the list of vegetables that American like most to eat.
Some cultures will not eat a certain food, but dislike is not the only reason for it. In some cultures, certain foods are taboo. (Taboo means something that is forbidden.)Some foods are taboo in certain religions, but there are also other food taboos that are not related to religion. We do not usually think about why certain things are taboo in our culture. Anthropologists try to discover the hidden reasons for taboos. For example, the sacred cows of India are well known. In India cows can go anywhere, and they can eat anything they want from the supplies of the foodsellers on the street. So the cows are a problem. However, no one in India will kill them or eat them. It is taboo to do so. This custom seems strange to other people, but anthropologists believe that there are reasons for it. First, cows are valuable because the farmers need them to take care of their fields. Second, cow manure is used as a fertilizer on the fields. In India, many farmers are not rich enough to spend money on fertilizer. Third, the cow manure can be used to make cooking fires. So farmers that kill their cows for meat soon find that they cannot take care of their fields or make a cooking fire.
Here is another example. Americans do not eat dogs, although people from some other culture think they are good food. In the United States, dogs are very important to people as pets. They are usually part of the family, almost like a child in some cases. And also, dogs protect us against criminals. Dogs will bark and sometimes attack a stranger who is trying to get into a house. Clearly, the dog's place in society as a friend and as a protection against criminals makes the dog taboo as our foods.
The taboo against eating pork can be seen in more than one culture. For example, some ancient Egyptians did not eat pork. The ancient Israelites also thought pork was taboo. Some explain that eating pigs is taboo because pork that is not cooked well may spread a disease called trichinosis. However, most people no longer think that this is a good explanation for the pork taboo. Others explain that the Israelites were always moving from place to place. People have to stay in one place to raise pigs. The Israelites did not want to stay in one place because they did not want to change their culture. So they did not eat pigs.