dietary law: References & Edit History

Additional Reading

General works include Donald E. Carr, The Deadly Feast of Life (1971), a popular account of food habits and nutritional behaviour; Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo (1966), a definitive source; and Craig McAndrew and Robert B. Edgerton, Drunken Comportment: A Social Explanation (1969), an exploration of the ways people are expected to behave under the influence of alcohol in different cultures.

The following discuss food customs and dietary laws in tribal societies: Raymond Firth, We, the Tikopia: A Sociological Study of Kinship in Primitive Polynesia (1936); Meyer Fortes, “Pietas in Ancestor Worship,” Jl. R. Anthrop. Inst., 91:166–191 (1961), reprinted in Man in Adaptation, vol. 3, The Institutional Framework, ed. by Yehudi A. Cohen, pp. 207–226 (1971); and Margaret Mead, The Mountain Arapesh, vol. 2 (1970).

The basic sources for Judaism and Christianity are, of course, the Old Testament (especially Leviticus 11, Deuteronomy 14, and the prophets) and the New Testament (especially Acts, Luke, Mark, and Romans). See also Johannes Pedersen, Israel: Its Life and Culture, 4 vol. (1926–40); and Mark Zborowski and Elizabeth Herzog, Life Is with People (1952, reprinted 1962), on the shtetl.

The following Islāmic sources may be consulted: the Quʾrān; Ameer Ali, Mohammedan Law, 5th ed., 2 vol. (1929); and Charles C. Torrey, The Jewish Foundation of Islam (1933).

Sources on Indian systems include Louis Dumont, Homo hierarchicus, essai sur le système des castes (1967; Eng. trans., Homo Hierarchicus: The Caste System and Its Implications, 1970); Edward B. Harper (ed.), Religion in South Asia (1964), especially Harper’s “Ritual Pollution As an Integrator of Caste and Religion,” pp. 151–196; Edmund R. Leach (ed.), Aspects of Caste in South India, Ceylon, and North-west Pakistan (1960); David G. Mandelbaum, Society in India, 2 vol. (1970); McKim Marriott, “Caste Ranking and Food Transactions: A Matrix Analysis,” Structure and Change in Indian Society, ed. by Milton B. Singer and Bernard S. Cohn, pp. 133–171 (1968); Kenneth K.S. Ch’en, Buddhism: The Light of Asia (1968); and Charles Norton Eliot, Hinduism and Buddhism: An Historical Sketch, 3 vol. (1921).

For the dietary laws and customs of Japan and China, see Robert N. Bellah, Tokugawa Religion (1957); George De Vos and Hiroshi Wagatsuma (eds.), Japan’s Invisible Race: Caste in Culture and Personality (1966); Kenneth K.S. Ch’en, Buddhism in China (1964); and Arthur F. Wright, Buddhism in Chinese History (1959).

Article Contributors

Primary Contributors

  • Yehudi A. Cohen
  • Matt Stefon
    Matt Stefon was a religion editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica. He earned B.A. degrees in English and American studies from the Pennsylvania State University and an M.A. in religion and literature and an M.T.S. in philosophy, theology, and ethics (comparative religious ethics) from Boston University, where he also completed coursework toward a doctorate in comparative theology and American religious history. A native of the Northeast, Stefon was born and raised in Pennsylvania and educated both there and in Massachusetts, where he also taught college English and philosophy and ran a writing center. He is interested in the literature and folklore of the Anthracite mining fields and of New England. His more "scholarly" pursuits include American Transcendentalism, Confucian and neo-Confucian thought, Daoism, process philosophy and theology, the transmission of Asian religions in the United States, and the intersection of religion with literature and other arts.
  • The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Other Encyclopedia Britannica Contributors

Article History

Type Description Contributor Date
Modified link of Web site: National Center for Biotechnology Information - Pubmed Central - Food taboos: their origins and purposes. Oct 23, 2024
Add new Web site: Academia - Dietary Laws: Is there evidence for modern validity? Sep 11, 2024
Add new Web site: Learn Religions - Halal and Haram: The Islamic Dietary Laws. Mar 29, 2024
Add new Web site: National Center for Biotechnology Information - Pubmed Central - Food taboos: their origins and purposes. Sep 05, 2023
Media added. Feb 09, 2023
Added information about the concepts of halal and haram in Islamic dietary laws. Jan 23, 2023
Replaced photograph. May 30, 2018
Article revised and romanization changed. Feb 16, 2016
Add new Web site: Jewishencyclopedia.com - Dietary Law in Islam. Dec 05, 2011
Add new Web site: ThinkQuest - Religious Dietary Law. Dec 05, 2011
Add new Web site: JewishEncyclopedia.com - Dietary Laws. Dec 05, 2011
Article thoroughly revised. Mar 11, 2010
Article revised and updated. Mar 21, 2008
Article revised and updated. Mar 01, 2007
Article revised. Mar 01, 2007
Article revised and updated. Jan 08, 2007
Article revised. Jul 25, 2000
Article added to new online database. Jul 26, 1999
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