Humans' closest relatives, Chimpanzees and other great apes, are mainly herbivorous (although they consume animal-based foods such as insects and small other animals.) This is a radical difference from humans, where meat makes up a large portion of many individuals' diets (not to mention a prevalence of "meat cultures" in many human societies...think the "barbecue party" in American culture.)
shareWhy do you think humans are omnivorous?
God made us that way.
shareFrom what the bible says humans were vegetarian until after the fall. Though I have aleays eaten meat. I don't believe we have to follow the dietary food laws. Frankly though if you ask me because they didn't exist at the time the law was originally made thousands of years ago, you've broken it if you eat meat from cows, potatoes, or any kind of candy. Not to mention that the animal you ate had to be killed and butchered in a certain way most farmers and butchers don't even use anymore. Sorry. I have been harrassed at work often by a 7th day advantist who thinks every Christian has to follow the Jewish Law and yet as far as I am concerned she breaks the Jewish Law anytime she eats the things I mentioned. Cause according to the law in Exodus and Leviticus, following said law is really not as simple as just not eating pork or shellfish. The meat has to be prepared in a way she doesn't even do.
shareyou've broken it if you eat meat from cows
I just mean that when the law was made, the Israelites didn't have cows. So therefore it's debatable about whether or not it's really right. Not to mention it does say not to eat hoofed animals which is what cows are. I frankly don't care that much as I am a Christian who believes Jesus fullfilled the law and that we don't have to follow the dietary food laws.
I also feel the whole not eating pork thing had to do with the fact there was not a good way to cook it thoroughly back when the law was made thousands of years ago.
Then again one everyone breaks in today's world is wearing clothes made with multiple fabrics which similar to the pork law was because there was not a good way of doing it back then. But we all break that one today.
I just mean that when the law was made, the Israelites didn't have cows.
I'm curious why you say that? I googled and found this:
Now, a team of University of Missouri researchers has completed the genetic history of 134 cattle breeds from around the world. In the process of completing this history, they found that ancient domesticated African cattle originated in the "Fertile Crescent," a region that covered modern day Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Israel.
Lead researcher Jared Decker, an assistant professor of animal science in the MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, says the genetics of these African cattle breeds are similar to those of cattle first domesticated in the Middle East nearly 10,000 years ago, proving that those cattle were brought to Africa as farmers migrated south.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140328121025.htm
Kosher rules
Land animals must have cloven (split) hooves and must chew the cud, meaning that they must eat grass.
*Cud is a portion of food that returns from a ruminant's stomach to the mouth to be chewed for the second time. More precisely, it is a bolus of semi-degraded food regurgitated from the reticulorumen of a ruminant. Cud is produced during the physical digestive process of rumination.
Yeah. I said in my first post Candy is debatable too since it didn't exist at the time of the Jewish Law was made. The Jewish Law also says you cannot mix dairy and meat whch is something a lot of people do now too.
shareAs long as candy follows the rules it's kosher. And candy has been around for thousands of years. Apparently there is non-kosher candy. Lol.
Question: What does non-kosher candy contain that makes it nonkosher?share
Answer: When candy is kosher, the ingredients don’t contain forbidden things such as flavors derived from non kosher wine release agents from animal fat, gelatin, glycerin, food coloring, monostearates, as well as emulsifiers and oils. All can be derived from non kosher animals and vermin.(such as beetles and cats)
https://www.jewishanswers.org/ask-the-rabbi-1396/non-kosher-candy/
Well that's too bad because Gummy bears are delicious but are made from those types of things. Oh well.
shareOne beef I have with kosher is the ban on lobster. They say it's a bottom feeder and therefore unclean. I've heard kosher Jews call lobsters the "cockroaches of the sea". I think that's unfair because they're not pests on other animal's food supply and they don't carry disease.
shareI admit I never had Lobster but I am hesitant to try it. It costs over $20 and if it turns out I don't like it, that's a lot of money wasted.
shareIt's just food and not worth going broke over. Lol. There are cheaper things which taste better. But it's good if you ever get the chance to try it.
shareThat's not quite right. Jane Goodall recorded apes hunting, killing and eating monkeys. Many human societies eat little meat and not so long ago, only a few generations, we in the western world ate a lot less meat - mainly because it was so expensive. It's only fairly recently that meat became cheap enough for most people to afford.
But on the other hand we do eat more meat than other 'apes' and it's argued that this gave us the energy to evolve larger brains. Or perhaps our larger brains allowed us to exploit the high energy resource which is what meat is. Sometimes these explanations get very circular.
Yes, I noted that the apes ate small animals (i.e. monkeys) in my original post. But they don't eat animal-based foods as much as many humans (today) though. Think about how many animals are kept as livestock around the world. That makes sense about what you said in the second part of your first paragraph.
Yes, your second paragraph is indeed circular...almost like a "chicken or the egg" kinda deal. But yeah.
But they don't eat animal-based foods as much as many humans (today) though.
Eating meat was indeed important in human evolution, that is true. However our ancestors, of course, did not know that there are many ways to compensate or replace the lost of the vitamin B12 if you do not eat meat, a couple of millions of years later we do.
shareChimpanzees are omnivorous. As to why homo sapiens are more omnivorous, the answer lies in our shared ancestors leaving the forests for the savannah, forcing a change in diet (This is also thought to be why we are bipedal.)
Actually, our anatomy is not widely held to be that of an animal that evolved to eat a lot of meat. We do have canine teeth, for example, but they're self-evidently not the great ripping teeth of pure carnivores. They're more consistent with the theory that early homo sapiens would eat meat occasionally. Human beings don't eat a great deal of raw meat either, because most of that would make us quite sick.
The amount of meat modern humans eat is largely due to our species getting increasingly sophisticated at using tools, harnessing fire for cooking, and developing agriculture and domesticating other animals. This is a relatively recent development in human history.
That's a good explanation and it makes sense. So perhaps I overestimated how much early humans ate meat. I see it became easier to eat with developments in agriculture and technology.
Thanks!
I think it's fun that you mention barbecues, because there must surely be a link back into prehistory in the humble barbecued sausage -- via medieval folk turning whole hogs with apples in their mouths on a spit.
Human beings have probably had parties centred around cooking animals over fire for millennia... and it was probably a big community celebration at first because it wasn't all that common... until they got better at hunting them. But we never lost that celebratory instinct.
Our teeth are made for it and it probably gives a better chance at finding something to eat.
It’s a bit of evolutionary good luck and meat is so tasty too.
Because we were hunters and gatherers. Early humans thrived and survived in extreme climates and across varied geographical regions. They were nomadic and were able to live on plantlife even when prey was scarce.
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/hunter-gatherer-culture/
harsh climate with no fruit and veggies around.
share