13 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
No trivia, but a question.
The latest generation of vegetarianism movements often categorize all animals together, or else divide them based on their perceived capacity for suffering. But even Jainism, with similar motivations, categorizes the edible world differently due to different cultural measures of that capacity (strict Jains avoiding tubers, for instance). When vegetarianism is motivated by different taboos, the dietary categories are completely different: Catholic fish/meat distinctions and kosher rules around cloven and uncloven hooves are well-known examples.
What are examples of lesser-known dietary categories in your field of study related to vegetarianism?
Comment by postal-history at 03/12/2024 at 18:00 UTC
8 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Some early modern popular movements in Japan forbid eating mammals but permitted fish, chicken, and waterfowl. This is because livestock were never bred for food in Japan but only used as farm equipment, that is to say, they were friends and not food. Horses were also literally friends for some Japanese people in the Edo period.
In my youth I referred to this as "vegetarianism" in a paper and the editors correctly got mad at me. I guess it is properly "pesco-poliotarianism". In fact, due to the general lack of livestock, it was the most common diet from 737 until about 1600 when the Europeans introduced red meat; after this it became a religious thing