re: #146 HappyWarrior

I was told that the Jewish and subsequent Islamic prohibition on consuming pork products is because the screams of hogs resemble mankind more. We’re in a world far removed from where the average person is intimately involved in agriculture. I think that speaks to your point about considering the times holy books were written.

The prohibition on pork isn’t specifically stated as “pork” — the kosher rules say things like
“split hoof” or “chews its cud.” For seafood, does it have scales and fins? For birds, predator and scavenger species are un-kosher. Reptiles, amphibians, worms and most insects are forbidden.

It’s not about their noise; it’s about what the animals themselves eat, because who the hell knows what they’ve got in their systems.