Prohibited Meat

And I'm not talking about cannibalism this time!

In The United States, we have a cute and cuddly relationship with animals. We anthropomorphize creatures like bears, squirrels, and rabbits. We’ve done this for so long that people have started to think of those animals as the cartoon character depictions we’ve created.

When we do this we change our relationship with nature and our view on what some consider food.

Alternative food sources must be considered in areas where food isn’t plentiful or is virtually non-existent. Some of the animals consumed worldwide are, in the U.S., considered not only to be pets but pests in some cases.

Some of us in the first world enjoy hunting for our meat, most of these hunters probably don’t need to hunt for their food while others do. One thing that we would never hunt for in The U.S. is rats, or would we?

Take Nutria for example, they are hunted for their meat, and to me, it’s nothing more than a nasty giant rat, but to some it’s dinner, and if it was the only thing available I would eat it.

If you don’t know, Nutria is an invasive species, a semi-aquatic rat-like mammal that originates in the swamps of South America. Today Nutria can be found in almost any swampy bog worldwide, you could say they’ve taken over.

Horse, on the other hand, is taboo in The United States because we have a special bond with that particular beast, but there are a few countries that consume quite a bit of it.

The top 5 horse meat-consuming countries in the world are as follows - China, Mexico, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Argentina, Italy, and Brazil.

Those are just the top 5 but there are others that you may not think of, like Canada, in particular, French Canada. Although I’m sure the average Canadian doesn’t eat a steady diet of Horse it’s certainly available right here.

Dogs are another animal that we would never consider eating in the first world, they’re a part of our family and we love them, but if food was not as plentiful as it is here then your opinion may change.

Some cultures view the consumption of dog meat as part of their traditional, ritualistic, or day-to-day cuisine while others are vehemently opposed to the idea.

Opinions also vary drastically across different regions within different countries. It was estimated in 2014 that worldwide, 27 million dogs are eaten each year by humans.

Photo by Victor Grabarczyk on Unsplash

Would I eat dogs in my everyday life? No! I can’t see a reason for this under normal circumstances, but if for some reason I happened to be a tourist in a dog-eating culture where food was extremely limited, and they were nice enough to prepare a dish of K9, then out of respect, I would try to eat it.

I might vomit at the idea of it, after all, I’m a dog person, and I love dogs more than most other animals, but if impoverished people shared their small amount of food I think it would be rude to not at least give it a shot. This is an unlikely scenario that will probably never happen, but if it did…

Pork is prohibited under Jewish and Islamic dietary laws because they are seen as unclean, cows are considered sacred in Hinduism.

Snails, rats, and animal lungs are off-limits for pregnant women in the Upper Manya Krobo district of Ghana, while in The U.S. we advise avoiding deli meats while pregnant due to Listeria.

Animals that are endangered are not to be hunted for their meat out of fear of extinction.

There are many animals the world over that are taboo to eat under ideal circumstances, but what happens when circumstances change and your ideal food source is unavailable? What do you do then?