Western taboo diet

There is no unified set of dietary taboos that applies to all Western countries and all Western groups. All foods that are generally classified as "cannot be eaten in the West" are essentially fine rules formed by the superposition of four dimensions: religious beliefs, historical legacy, public agreements, and individual preferences. The differences between different groups and countries are even greater than the differences between Chinese and Western diets.

I was participating in a cross-cultural exchange program in London two years ago, and I brought home-made braised pig ears for everyone to try. I originally thought that I would get a lot of comments about how "novel" it was, but the Jewish classmate sitting opposite me waved her hand and ran away. The British girl next to me who believes in vegetarianism also quietly moved the plate further away. Instead, a guy from Ireland reached out and grabbed two pieces and stuffed them in his mouth. When he was chewing them deliciously, he told me that his grandmother also made pig head jelly during the Chinese New Year, and it tasted similar to this. You see, the same "Westerners" have very different acceptance levels of the same food.

The Jewish classmate who just hid the pig ears later talked to me and said that their family strictly abides by the Kosher rules. Pork, scaleless fish, and blood products are not allowed to be touched. A rabbi must be present to complete a special ceremony when slaughtering. Even milk and meat cannot be eaten together. I once made a joke before when I handed a cheese and beef burger to another Jewish friend. His face turned green for a long time before he said, "You are equivalent to handing pork and green onion buns to the Muslims." Similar to the kosher food rules, there are the Halal dietary requirements of Muslims. The two overlap in banning pigs and blood, but the specific slaughter specifications and the range of edible ingredients are different. But don’t think that all religious people adhere to rules. I know many young European Muslims who specifically avoid pork only during Ramadan. On weekdays, they will buy a bacon sandwich to eat in the morning. They say, "Rules are dead, but the salary deduction for being late for work is alive."

Interestingly, many people have the stereotype that "Westerners do not eat animal offal, heads and feet". In fact, it has nothing to do with religion. It is completely a historical legacy after the Black Death in the Middle Ages. At that time, medical conditions were poor and the source of the disease could not be found. The church simply called on everyone to throw away perishable animal "leftovers", saying that these were "unclean things that could easily attract diseases." Over time, this became a dietary habit in many areas. But this rule doesn’t apply at all in southern Europe. I ate tripe buns at a roadside stall in Rome last year. The stewed tripe was soft and mixed with basil sauce and sandwiched in hard bread. The boss said that his family has been making this for three generations. Every morning, a group of local old men line up to buy it. ； In the wet market in Barcelona, ​​Spain, there are more varieties of fried pig ears and braised beef trotters than in many braised food restaurants in China. How can there be any saying that "Westerners don't eat scraps"?

There are also some taboos that are not "what you can't eat" at all, but "what occasions you can't eat". For example, it is basically a consensus to eat spicy food in a closed public space. I was cooking snail noodles in my apartment in Amsterdam. My neighbor, an old Dutch lady, knocked on the door with a gas alarm. When she walked in and saw the noodles in my pot, she was relieved and said she thought there was a gas leak in my house for half an hour. There are also things like not smacking your lips in public and not using your own chopsticks to turn over public dishes. These are essentially agreements in the realm of table etiquette, and are not considered dietary taboos at all.

In the past few years, the most controversial issue in the West has been the boundaries of "ethical dietary taboos," which are the requirements put forward by vegans such as "a ban on eating animal products, a ban on cooking seafood alive, and a ban on eating cat and dog meat." One group believes that this is a sign of civilization and progress, and that incorporating animal rights into public rules is an inevitable trend. In the past two years, a British vegan blogger even rushed to a seafood restaurant to protest, saying that boiling lobster in the store was "animal abuse."” ； But the other group believes that this is purely moral kidnapping. Many seafood shop owners in southern Europe directly responded, "The paella we have eaten for hundreds of years has lobster in it. Why should we listen to the Nordic vegetarians to tell us what to do?" ”The dispute between the two sides has not come to a conclusion yet, and the attitude of most ordinary people is also very ambiguous: if you want to be vegetarian, you can eat it, and you won't care about what others eat.

Oh, by the way, another category that is easily regarded as a "cultural taboo" is actually individual health restrictions. For example, the proportion of nut allergies and lactose intolerance in European and American people is much higher than in China, so most restaurant menus will specifically indicate whether the dishes contain nuts and dairy products. When I ordered a latte in a New York cafe, the waiter's first reaction was to ask me if I wanted to switch to oat milk, saying that recently there have been so many lactose intolerant customers that the store has run out of regular milk.

Last week I went to Chongqing hot pot with a German friend. He originally refused to touch a bite of duck blood, saying that he had heard from his family that blood was an "unclean thing" growing up. But after I forced him to take a bite, he now drags me to eat it every week. Last time, he took the initiative to order two portions of brain lobster. While eating, he said, "What a taboo, deliciousness comes first." In fact, that’s how it is. Food taboos have always been “do as the Romans do and wait for the dishes.” If you’re dining with devout Jews, don’t order cheese pork chops. If you’re dining with friends who are allergic to nuts, don’t bring peanut crisps. If you meet an American guy who loves braised food, no one will care about you two squatting on the roadside eating sausages. There are no rules that are universally applicable.