I’ve
been an early adapter of web trends and hence started blogging around
2007 and continued for some years, making 3–4 different blog websites.
However, seeing no response I eventually stopped updating those and
started using Facebook for expressing opinions. Then Quora came and
captured most of my writing time, but I ended up writing more answers in
specific topics and based on A2As.
With
this post, I am trying Quora blogs feature first time while also pumping
back my original blog on Blogspot. This is so as to cater to the Quora
audience in a post blogging era while also catering to any invisible
audience on the blog (and also for legacy purposes). I shall update this
blog and Blogspot simultaneously. How frequently or for how long is a
mystery even to me!
So coming to the subject
matter, a small observation few years ago led me to a conclusion (which
may be obvious to many people) - the reason people of different
communities eat different kinds of foods may be more because of
geographical conditions of their place of origin or occupation of their
ancestors.
The event that brought me to this conclusion was that on a trip to Dubai desert safari, at evening it was very cold, yet I had a cold drink and it didn’t hurt my health. On the other hand, having a cold drink on a cold night in India made me sick. So what was the difference? My dinner that night on Dubai was mostly chicken, in India it was veg. The heat generated by eating meat keeps you fit in cold conditions. Pondering on this I realized some points. Pls. note that following are the conventional trends. I do not imply that everyone of these communities follows these today.
The event that brought me to this conclusion was that on a trip to Dubai desert safari, at evening it was very cold, yet I had a cold drink and it didn’t hurt my health. On the other hand, having a cold drink on a cold night in India made me sick. So what was the difference? My dinner that night on Dubai was mostly chicken, in India it was veg. The heat generated by eating meat keeps you fit in cold conditions. Pondering on this I realized some points. Pls. note that following are the conventional trends. I do not imply that everyone of these communities follows these today.
Case 1: Muslims eating halaal meat — Islam originated in middle east where
a) Desert region used to be really cold at night and the heat generated by eating meat helps survival
b) There was scarce vegetation and hence no many vegetarian options.
c) In desert day, normal meat would quickly go bad due to heat. Halaal involves draining all blood from the meat which increases the shelf life of the food.
a) Desert region used to be really cold at night and the heat generated by eating meat helps survival
b) There was scarce vegetation and hence no many vegetarian options.
c) In desert day, normal meat would quickly go bad due to heat. Halaal involves draining all blood from the meat which increases the shelf life of the food.
Case 2: Sikhs eating meat —
a) Punjab is a cold region and eating meat helps. Similar for alcohol consumption.
b) Punjabis are known for being hard workers and for that physical output, non veg helps in building physical strength.
a) Punjab is a cold region and eating meat helps. Similar for alcohol consumption.
b) Punjabis are known for being hard workers and for that physical output, non veg helps in building physical strength.
Case 3: Brahmins being fruitarians/strict vegetarians while kshatriyas consumed non veg food —
Now here, some vegetarians tend to think of eating non-veg as being impure from a religious point of view and hence brahmins being pure vegetarians. This doesn’t make any sense. God made everything in the world, how is anything pure or impure in his eyes? Also, god made us omnivores, and also gave us the survival instincts which made us most powerful beings. So the evident reason why brahmins actually did not eat non veg food, in my opinion, should be:
a) Conventionally, brahmin dharma was to engage in worship, teaching and research. All of these activities are such that not much physical activity is involved. In such a case, digestion of meat is difficult. This brings obesity and a lot of problems.
b) Since a lot of intellectual work was needed, simple satvik food with high vitamin concentration helped.
On the other hand, kshatriyas were warriors and needed to be physical strong and active. The high proteins in meat helped them build physical strength and it was also not difficult to digest because of their regular physical training.
Now here, some vegetarians tend to think of eating non-veg as being impure from a religious point of view and hence brahmins being pure vegetarians. This doesn’t make any sense. God made everything in the world, how is anything pure or impure in his eyes? Also, god made us omnivores, and also gave us the survival instincts which made us most powerful beings. So the evident reason why brahmins actually did not eat non veg food, in my opinion, should be:
a) Conventionally, brahmin dharma was to engage in worship, teaching and research. All of these activities are such that not much physical activity is involved. In such a case, digestion of meat is difficult. This brings obesity and a lot of problems.
b) Since a lot of intellectual work was needed, simple satvik food with high vitamin concentration helped.
On the other hand, kshatriyas were warriors and needed to be physical strong and active. The high proteins in meat helped them build physical strength and it was also not difficult to digest because of their regular physical training.
So I suppose if we look at customs with a logical perspective, we may end up finding things like these.
