Posted 14 June 2012 - 12:39 PM
Marvin Harris posited that the reason for the pork taboo had more to do with how shitty it would be to herd pigs through the desert. Unlike, say, goats, pigs basically just eat the same things humans do, so they'd be taking away some of the people's own food supply instead of just grazing. Also, goats provide wool, milk, and blood all throughout their lives, whereas pigs only provide meat. Well, I guess pigs have milk, but I've never tasted any and I assume there's a good reason for that. The thing about food poisoning doesn't make that much sense because the other meats they ate apparently had just as high (if not higher) rates of food poisoning.