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WHY WAS PIGMEAT REJECTED IN THE MIDDLE EAST? MICHAEL L. RYDER The influx of Moslems into Britain in recent years has made us realise that the rejection of pigmeat is not restricted to the Jews. It is part of a wider distaste for pork in the Middle East, although the oldest record of this taboo, in Judaism, appears in the Old Testament of the Bible. The pig is also regarded as ritually unclean in Islam, which began as recently as the seventh century AD. What is it about pigs in that area that makes whole groups of people consider that these animals are unclean on what are now regarded as religious grounds? The basis for this religious taboo against pigs is almost certainly not their over-rich fat, nor their habit of wallowing in mud to keep cool; neither is it their habit of scavenging for food. Douglas (1978: 30) pointed out that in the book of Leviticus there is no reference to the scavenging habit of pigs. She saw the answer in ritualistic and symbolic terms, pointing out that the Israelites considered as ritually unclean animals that did not fall clearly within certain categories. In the first few verses of Leviticus Chapter ii it is stated that only beasts which "parteth the hoof and chew the cud" may be eaten. The pig is anomalous because, although cloven- hoofed, it is not a ruminant. She further suggested that the pig symbolised prohibited exogamy, since it was eaten by neighbouring peoples with which intermarriage was forbidden. I am among those who consider that direct explanations of cultural differences are more likely to be true than those relying on symbolism. A more attractive explanation is the proneness of pigs to become infested with the intestinal roundworm Trichinella spiralis. This parasitic nematode reproduces in the intestine and the larvae produced bore through its walls and enter the muscles of the pig. Here they create cysts in which they lie coiled and dormant causing a condition known as trichinosis. People eating pork diseased in this way themselves
