The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1906-03-17
CONDEMNED AS FOOD
NEARLY EVERYTHING WORTH EAT
ING HAS BEEN UNDER A BAN.

From the Days OF Adam There Has
Been Not Only Forbidden Fruit. but
Forbidden Meats and Vegetables.
The Peculiar Belief of ST9temism."
From the days OF Adam and Eve to
the present time there has been not
only forbidden fruit, but forbidden
meats and vegetables. For one rea-
son or another people have resolutely
refused to eat any and all kinds Of
flesh, fish, fowl, fruits and plants.
Thus the apple, the pear, the strawber-
~, the ounce, the bean, the onion, the
leek, the asparagus, the woodpecSer,
the pigeon, the goose, the deer, the bear,
the turtle and the eel-these. to name
only a few eatables, have been avoid
ed as if unwholesome or positively in
furious to health and digestion.
AS we all know, the Jews have long
had a hereditary antipathy to pork. On
the other hand, swine's flesh was high
" esteemed by the ancient Greeks and
Romans. This fact is revealed by the
many references to pig as dainty bit
Of food. At the great festival held an
nually in 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
acters 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 aEcther Greek mystery or
festival, L-ow- IS the EleCs;cia, ab-
stained from certain foc5 2cC, above
eli, from beans
Again, as we all know, mlce are eS-
teemed 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 we're not to be eaten on this ac-
count. So. too, in 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 eat
ing kinds Of flesh which could not be
called unclean. For example, the people
Of Thebes, as HerodOtus tells US, alb
stained from sheep. What is the mat
ter with mutton chops? Then, the an
clients used to abstain from certain
vegetables. Indeed, the Romans sneer-
ed at those Egyptians who did not dare
to eat onions, leeks or garlic, and yet
the Romans themselves were SupcrSti-
tiOus about what they ate or what they
should avoid eating.
In his Roman Questions" Plutarch
asks, why do the Latins abstain
strictly from the flesh of the woodpeck-
err" In order to answer Plutarch's
question correctly it is necessary TO
have some idea Of the peculiar custom
and belief called ''totemism.' There is
a stage Of society in which people claim
descent from and kinship with beasts,
birds, vegetables and other objects.
This object, which is a totem or
family mark. they religiOusly abstain
from eating. The members Of the tribe
are divided into clans or stocks, each
Of which takes the name Of some ami
NAL, plant or object. as the bear, the
buffalo, the wOOdpecker. the asparagus.
and SO forth. No member Of the bear
family would dare TO eat bear meat.
/ but he has no objection TO eating buff
! falo steak. Even the marriage law is
/ based on this belief, and no man whose
/ family name is Wolf may marry wO-
man whose family name is also Wolf.
In a general way it may be said that
/ almost all our food prohibitions spring
I from the extraordinary custom gen
/ orally called tOtemiSm. Mr.. Swan, who
was a missionary for many years in
the RongO Free State, thus describes
| the custom: If l were to ask the YekJ
people why they do not eat zebra flesh
they would reply, "Chijila"-i. e., ct is
/ a thing to which we have an antipa-
! thy" or, better, 1T is one Of the things
/ which our fathers taught us not to eat. >
! So It seems the word "baShilang
means "the people who have an an
tipathy to the leopard" the "basha.
LAMBDA" those who have an antipathy