Here is a story about the founder of Hasidic Judaism:

After the Ba’al Shem Tov passed, a new shochet took his place. He was well-learned in all the laws and followed them scrupulously. He sharpened his knife, knew just where to hold the neck, how to make the cut. He noticed, though, that a man would watch him as he slaughtered the chickens, and shake his head in disapproval. After several days, he asked the man what he was doing wrong. “I wet the blade, I sharpen it, I make the smallest, quickest cut, just as I learned from the Ba’al Shem Tov. What am I doing that’s upsetting you?” The man, who remembered watching the Ba’al Shem Tov prepare for and slaughter animals, shook his head. “It is true, you wet the blade and sharpen it. But where you use water to sharpen your blade, the Ba’al Shem Tov used his own tears.”

Hey, this year at hanukkah I had my mom fry a batch of latkes using coconut oil. Just about everyone else ate the regular toxic vegetable oil kind. But at least I tried.

All major religions develop at pastoralists or farmers societies, and no wonder, they typically prescribe eating in the way that was prevalent in their own culture. Religious restrictions could affect pork (Judaism and Muslims), alcohol (Muslims) but agriculture is never opposed (with the obvious exception of holy days like Shabbath,etc). For Zoroastrians, agriculture was highly encouraged.

yep. most (I'm tempted to say all, but not positive) major world religions develop during when population density ramps up so you get all sorts of neat stuff like trade and class specializations (i.e. merchants, priests, soldiers, scholars). Checkout guns, germs and steel--great read in general. So it definitely makes sense that most world religions will endorse/codify the food-culture that they emerge in (think about the infrastructure that needs to be in place to produce the bread and wine of the christian sacrament). IMHO the codification of scientific/behavioral beliefs are when religions start to get involved in stuff that they are systematically bad at (opposed to helping the individual re-relate to his finite life, the group and the world/universe--whatever though).

This is wildly off topic, but possibly interesting:

What is the relationship (scientifically speaking) between diet and spiritual practices?? Why is it that in pretty much every monastic setting where intense spiritual exercises are engaged in (sleep deprivation, intensive meditation, prayer, physical exertions like prostration) fasting and some form of vegan/vegetarianism tend to show up? And not just in major world religions, but I know fasting plays a pretty big role before/during hallucinogenic vision ceremonies of alot of indigenous peoples (plus the famous and probably misunderstood 'vision' quests in alot of north american indian tribes)

I mean it could just be that a lot of these practices developed in hermetical environments where it wasn't feasible to, say, tend to and slaughter livestock.

Apologies for this tangent, I'll admit it's eminently flaggable. Patrik please dont kill me.

K thx -_-.

The hubby and I are Hindu, and eat all types of pastured meat, seafood, eggs, and dairy.

excepts from a Swami: http://naturalhygienesociety.org/articles/swami_narayanananda.html

Ancient Indian sages were non-vegetarian and offered even beef to the gods.

...bulls, calves and barren cows were allowed to be killed and eaten. Instances from the Vedas support this statement. Yajur Veda, Satpath Brahmana, Brihatarunyaka Upanishad, Adhyaya 6th, 4th Brahmana, 18th verse runs thus: — "He who wishes for the birth of such a son as would be a reputed scholar, frequenting the assemblies and speaking delightful words, and as would study all the four Vedas and attain the full term of life, should have rice cooked with the meat of a vigorous bull or one more advanced in years and he and his wife should eat it with clarified butter. Then he would be able to beget such a son." Even the old meat-eating habits of the people are still to be found in many parts of India, where the Brahmins and 'the other three castes take fish and meat freely, as in Bengal, Assam, Orissa, Kashmir and parts of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Manu, Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Mahavira, Zoroaster, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Nanak, Leotose, Sinto and RamaKrishna were all non-vegetarians. If religion forbids fish and meat-eating as sin and limits its followers to vegetable diet alone, were these great. men, non-religious ?

We must take into consideration the time, clime, constitutional agreement and local availability. Nature has Her own plan concerning this. Necessity is the mother of invention. In all these cases, if the people are to live, they must utilize the easily available articles of food and drink in their region. The food chosen should be sweet, pleasant, simple, nutritious and easily digestible.

Don't Muslims and Jews (Kabbala) have strict food laws? I know Judaism uses bread as part of religious ceramony. The idea that something is good by comparing it to Milk and Honey is mentioned in both the Koran and Torah I believe. The first of the Five Precepts in Buddhism is to not kill any setinent being. This includes all animals and even insects so Buddhists are supposed to be close to Vegan (no garlic or onions allowed either.)

btw, I'm always on this website on my cellphone so sorry about spelling and sentance structure.

Edit: I was wrong The Buddha ate meat

Kaballah is not a mainstream aspect of Judaism. Its something that you should only study if you are 40 and have studied all of the Talmud and Torah.

Islam: The most repetitive food/drink in the Quran is water. "We have made every living thing out of water." (Sura 21 The Prophets, ayat 30). (many other verses, (if you're curious google -mentions of water in Quran-)

In islam, the meat should be halal, which generally means that they shld be raised and treated well (as nature intended), and they shld be slaughtered in the fastest/least painful way, and the animal has to bleed out. But nowadays many meat industries have a cheap "halal" section which is not very close to the true halal-ness. Also the kuran mentions the importance of figs, olives, onions, garlic, pomegranate, cow meat, lamb, grapes, dates, water... I don't remember what else.

“O mankind! Eat of that which is lawful and good on the earth.” [The Quran, 2:168] <- so GMOs are basically not allowed.