How Food Is Socially Acceptable For What We Eat?

While every culture has its own standards for what is socially acceptable, what is considered acceptable for some, may be considered odd for others. Humans need food in order to sustain life, but some extreme cuisines are hard to stomach. Imagine swallowing the still beating heart of a snake or snacking on cockroaches, crawling grubs and a salad of bugs. A delicacy in some cultures is disgusting for others. What we eat says a lot about who we are. It is a clear case of nurture over nature; what a person chooses to eat depends very much on where they are born and raised. A westerner might flinch at the sight of boiled bat or a half matured duck egg, and raw oysters, whereas blue cheese may equally sicken a Japanese native. Often enough, what

Some of man’s strongest taboos surround what can and cannot be eaten. Food is a universal need, without it, we would die. Yet the taboos that surround food are not always driven by health and well being: tradition, religion, social status and affluence can also influence what people will and will not put into their mouths. What humans consume is defined much by culture as by geography. Food is important in differentiating one culture from another because it is one of the few things we incorporate into our body and in almost every culture there exists this idea that “you are what you eat.” While certain foods may sicken and repel, disgust can be a cultural reaction, as it comes from the mind, and not the mouth. Though there are some foods that are so forbidden, that just touching it can be

Yet, most of us would not even think of touching the food with a four foot fork. For most of us, it is impossible to imagine swallowing something we could not even bare to touch: silk worms, bee larvae, cockroaches and scorpions. Even among people of similar cultures, it is common for certain local foods to challenge some palettes more than others, but there is one Chinese specialty that unites most travelers in revulsion, even moral outrage. In Beijing’s markets and streets, seemingly any creature is sold as food. Within Chinese culture, dog is a common and conspicuous part of the daily diet. Most westerners would cringe at the sight of these grimacing, seared carcasses. It is hard to reconcile man’s best friend as a main course. While more and more chinese are raising dogs as pets, outside of Beijing, puppies are bred for dog meat. Those who breed and sell dogs for food claim that the meat is safe and tasty, though some say it is hard to digest. It is high in protein, low in fat and locals say it warms the blood, however, I still struggled to break the taboo. Across the street, vendors sold ready cooked dine-in dog including canine kabobs. While it is expensive, many chinese locals are happy to pay the price as the Chinese also believe that food brings special powers and abilities to the human