ANTH 205 Lecture 23

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Exam next Monday

Food and Religion

Major World Religions:

  • Christianity (33%)
  • Islam (22%)
  • Hinduism (14%)
  • Buddhism: (7%)

Why do religions have rules about food?

  • demonstrate faith
  • strengthen religious identity
  • demonstrate separateness
  • influence social behavior
  • self-denial
  • communicate with the devine
  • ecological sustainability
  • mark boundaries in time


Taboo

  • Prescribed = commanded (e.g. Judaism: Chalah Bread)
  • Proscribed = forbidden (e.g. Judaism: pigs)

Great variation even within groups (geographic distribution

Islam

Newest Religion: 7th century by Muhammad

  • "Islam" = "submission" (infinitive)
  • "Muslim" = "one who has submitted" (active participle)

Belief that Muhammad was last of Allah's prophets (along with Abraham, Moses, David, and Jesus)

5 Pillars of Faith:

  1. Declaration of the faith ("There is one God, and Muhammad is his prophet")
  2. Prayer (5 times a day)
  3. Almsgiving (2.5% income tax)
  4. Fasting (During Ramadan)
  5. Pilgrimage (Hajj to Mecca)

Holy book: Qur'an ("to recite", verbatim word of Allah as recorded by Muhammad)

Food

Qur'an mentions food frequently:

  • Praises as one of Allah's gifts to humanity
  • Dietary laws resemle Jewish dietary laws (both have foundation in respect for amimals and sensible hygiene

Halal

(allowed)

  • Milk
  • Fish (must be alive when taken from water)
  • Most veggies and grains
  • Legumes
  • Nuts
  • Cows, sheep, goats, chickets, and camels (all ritually slaughtered by Muslim butcher, facing mecca, reciting words)

Haram

(prohibited)

  • Pork
  • Carnivorous animals
  • Shellfish
  • Animals not ritually slaughered
  • Animals killed in name of anyone other than Allah
  • Blood
  • Alcohol

Also: Mushbooh (doubtful)


Christianity

Middle east ca. 2000 years ago

Based on life and teachings of Jesus Christ, Son of God

  • Encouraged followers to be less concerned about material posession
  • Revolutionary ideas about spiritual and social equality was threat to Rome
  • Put to death, rose from the dead, and ascended to Heaven

Eventually became official religion of Roman (Byzantine) Empire

Holy Boook: Bible

Food

Garden of Eden:

  • Adam & Eve ate from tree of knowledge of Good and Evil and tree of Life
  • Serpent convinces them to eat from tree of knowledge
  • God expels Adam and Eve from Eden (Fall of Man)

Forbdden Fruit

Debated:

  • Grapes
  • Apples
  • Pomegranates
  • Figs
  • Wheat
  • etc.

Apple gets worst of it

  • Red color
  • White flesh
  • Hardens as it ripens
  • Texture is enticing
  • Sweet flavor
  • Sour tang
  • The Star


Exodus

Manna

  • Bread from heavan, sustains Israelites in desert
  • Made into bread, tastes like wafers made with honey
  • Bibleisn't clear about what manna actually was
    • Lecanora esculenta: moss-like lichen that grows on cliffs
    • Desert winds will scatter it and make it rain from the sky
    • Natural sweet flavor
    • Locals call it "fat of the Earth" (made into bread)

Quails

  • After 40 days of nothing but manna, Israelites start complaining
  • God sends quail; they feast gluttonously and have plague in punishment
    • Quails migrate through area on their way to Africa
    • Fly to point of exhaustion
    • Eat toxic herbs, concentrated by dehydration.

Mormons

(actually, not really Christian)

No alcohol, tea, coffee, or tobacco

Seventh Day Adventists

(Mid-19th century) Ovo-lacto vegetarians, no alcohol or strong seasonings

Kellogg's started by 7th Day Adventists; invented breakfast cereal

Catholics

Feast and Fast days

Lent

Meatless Days (esp. in Lent)

Buddhism

(India in 6th century BC)

All started with Siddhartha Gautama

  • Born into wealthy family
  • renounced to seek truth and understanding
  • attained enlightenment (nirvana); called Buddha "enlightened one" from then on
  • taught 4 noble truths:
    1. All life is suffering
    2. Suffering is caused by attachment
    3. Suffering ends when attachment ends
    4. Eightfold Path can end suffering
  • Reincarnation (cycle of Samsara)

Not many restrictions, but

  • Humans can be reborn as animals; try to avoid harming living things (most are vegetarians)
  • Meat is allowed if animal has not been killed specifically for consumption
  • Some buddhists avoid strong-smelling plants in effort to control desires

Stricter rules for monks

  • only eat twice per day (morning and early afternoon)
  • Zen cooking: developed my Chinese monks as meditative art:
    • Seeks to achieve delicacy, harmony, and balance
    • Influenced by Chinese cuisine


Hinduism

Ancient religion (ca. 2000 BC in India) Arguably oldelst living religion

  • Many different traditions
  • Usually very personal
  • No single founders
  • 330 Million gods (all aspects of Brahman, universal spirit)
  • Most hindus choose to worship a particular deity or collection of deities (many have shrines in their homes)

Samsara

Hindus and Buddhists believe in cycle of reincarnation

  • Next reincarnation determined by Karma (cycle of cause and effect: good → good; bad → bad)
  • Goal is to escape cycle and achieve Moksha (enlightenment)

Caste System

Officially illegal, but still practiced

  1. Brahmins (priests, scholars)
  2. Kshatriyas (warriors)
  3. Vaishyas (farmers, merchants)
  4. Sudras (peasants, servants)
  5. Dalits (untouchables)

Born into caste, remain until death (reincarnation helps move up caste system)

Strict rules determine who can interact and rules for eating

  • Untouchables can eat anything without losing social status (can't get any lower)
  • Brahmins must eat strict vegetarian diet
  • May not share meals

Vegetarianism

Ahimsa = nonviolence

Almost all avoid beef

Secular reasons:

  • Milk and derived products are valuable
  • Manure/fuel
  • Labor
  • Ecology (takes 22 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of beef)

Religious regions:

  • cow is thought to be home to 330 million gods
  • food cooked in butter is good for karma
  • takes 86 reincarnations to move up from devil to cow, but only 1 to move from cow to humans


Connections?

Many similarities between orthodox Hinduism and orthodox Judaism

  • Both have hygienic, economic, ecological, and social functions

Jews have been called Sons of Abraham (A Brahmin)

  • Perhaps they share common origin in a prehistoric priesthood?
  • Emphasized in attention to the connection between food, purity, and morality
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