Crittenden press. [volume] (Marion, Ky.) 1879-1907, 1906-03-22
CONDEMNED AS FOOD
NEARLY EVERYTHING WORTH EAT
ING HAS BEEN UNDER A BAN.

Forbidden Meats aud Vegetables
The Peculiar belief OF 'sTofcmism. -
From the days OF Adam and Eve I,
the present time there has been no
only forbidden fruit, but forbidden
meats and vegetables For one rca.
son or smother people have rcsolutely
refused 20 cat any and all kinds Of
flesh, fsh. fowl. fruits aud plants.
Thus the apple. the pear. the strawber-
~. the ounce. the bean. the onion. the
leek. the asparagus. the woOdpecker,
the pigeon, the goose. the deer. the bear
the turtle and the eei-thcse. 10 name
only few eatables. have been avoid.
ed as II unwholesome or positively in
furious 10 health and digestion.
As we all know. the Jews have long
had hereditary antipethy to pork. On
the other hand. swine's flesh was high
ly esteemed by the ancient Crooks and
Romans. This fact Is revealed by the
many references to pig as dainty bit
OF food. AT the great festival held an
nually I'm honor OF Demeter roast pig
was the piece de resistance In the bill
OF fare because the pig was the sacred
animal OF Demeter Aristophanes in
The Frogs" makes one OF the char
actcrs hint that some OF the others !
smell Of roast pig" These people I'M |
dOubtedly had been at the festival, |
known as the Thesmophoria, and had |
eaten freely OF roast pig Those who
took part in another Greek mystery or
festival known as the Eleusinla, alb
stained from certain food and. above
all from beans
Again. as we all know, mice are e.
tecmed In China and In some parts OF
India. but the ancient Egyptians,
Greeks and Jews abhorred mice and
would not touch mouse meat. Rats and
field mice were sacred In old Egypt
and were not TO be eaten on this ac-
count So. too. Ia some parts OF Greece.
the mouse was the sacred animal OF
Apollo. and mice were fed In his tenn
pies. The chosen people were forbid
den TO eat the weasel and the mouse
and the tortoise after his kind" These
came under the designation OF unclean.
But people have abstained from cat
ing kinds OF flesh which could not be
called unclean. For example, the people
Of Thebcs as HerOdOtus tells us, alb |
stained from sheep. What Is the mat ,
ter with mutton chops7 Then the an
clients used 20 abstain from certain /
vegetables Indeed, the Romans sneer-
cd at those Egyptians who did not dare
TO eat onions ieeks or garlic. and yet
Ia Do itra.l |
iious about what they ate or what they
should avoid eating. l.
In his "Roman Questions" Plutarch
asks. why DO the Latlns abstain
strictly from the flesh OF the woodpeck-
err In order 10 answer Piutarch's 4
question correctly II Is necessary 10
have some idea u the peculiar custom
and belief called "totcmisn" There is
= stage OF society n which people claim
descent from aud kinshlp with beasts.
birds. vegetables and other objects.
This object. which Is Totem" or
family marx they relgiously abstain
rom eating The members OF the tribe
ire divided into clans or stocks. each
n which takes the name OF some ami
nal. plant or object. as the bear. the
buffalo. the woodpecker. the asparagus.
md SO forth. No member OF the bear
'amlly would dare 20 eat bear meat .
lut he has no objection TO eating buff
'alo steak. Even the marriage law IL
BASED on this belief, and no man whose
amlly name IL Wolf may marry q wo- /
nan whose family name Is also Wolf. !
In a general way II may be- said that
almost all our food prohibitions spring
rom the extraordinary custom gen z
rally called totemism. Mr. Swan. who
vas n missionary for many years In
he Kongo Free State. thus describes
he custom: If | were TO ask the Yeke q
,eople why they do not eat zebra flesh. q
hey would reply. "ChlJIla"-i e. 1T is
thing TO which we have an antipa-
by" or. better. 1T Is one OF the things
which our fathers taught us not TO eat" Z
70 II seems the word "hashilang"
means "the people who have an an
ipathy 20 the leopard" the 'basha-
amba." those who have an antipathy
o the dog" and the "bashilanlanZefu,"
those who have an antipathy TO the
ELEPHANT" In other words. the mem
'ers of these stocks refuse TO eat their ,
otcms, The zebra. the leopard and the
ELEPHANT from which they take their
umc3
The survival OF autipathy TO certain
Gods was found among people as
ighly civilized as the Egyptians. the
;rceks and the Romans. Quite list q,
( animals whose flesh was forbidden
night he drawn up For example. In :
III Egypt the sheep could not be eaten I
a Thebes. nor the goat In Mendes, nor
hc cat in BubaStis. nor the crocodile
{ OmboS, nor the rat, which was ga :
red TO Ra. the sun god. However. tne :
cople 81 one place had no scruples
bout eating the forbidden food Of an ?
thcr place. and this often led TO re d
gious disputes and bad blood. @
Among the vegetables tabOoed as 81,
bod by the Egyptians may be men