Religion and Food Choice

From a religious standpoint, food is a culturally and spiritually powerful substance that affects human relationship, promotes an understanding of the world, and is at the heart of human interactions with the divine. Religious teachings about food include both dietary laws & guidelines for what may be termed usual or customary practice.

Religious food practices often require the use of specific foods in specific situations, especially during special celebrations such as feasts or fasts, where particular foods often have important symbolic values. Conversely there are many examples of foods that are not allowed for consumption though they are freely available, and religious codes often exclude whole categories of foods from consumption. What must not be eaten may be determined by characteristics of individuals such as age, gender, and social or physiological status, or by external constraints such as time of day or time of year. Prescriptive rules of what must be eaten, when and how, are the counterpart of prohibitions.