Why are pigs considered to be unclean?

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Just wondering.

Because it's written. That's why.

Some dude in the desert became convinced that his imaginary friend was anti-pig, and for some bizarre reason, people(aka religutards) believed him.

It could have something to do with the fact they wallow in mud and waste all day...just a thought.

Propably for hygienic reasosns, like a lot of rules in the Bible. As to why eating pigs in antiquity would have been unhygienic, I don't know.

In ancient times, it was found that pork decomposed faster in a desert climate than say beef or chicken, and combined with the fact that pigs love wallowing in mud, this is what led to pork becoming a prohibited food in Islam and Judaism. Of course, with things like refrigeration and modern hygienic practices, pork isn't really worse than any other meat nowadays, comparatively speaking. That said, I would feel much more comfortable eating raw moose meat than raw pork, since wild meats, especially ones from herbivores, tend to be cleaner.

They wallow in mud.Normally they dont wallow in waste. Theyre cleaner about doing their business than other livestock and 'go' in one spot rather than do it all over the place like cows. If theyre denied moist mud by their human keepers then theyre driven to wallowing in waste.

One explanation was given by anthropologist Marvin Harris in a book called "Pigs, Cows, and Witches". He contrasted the tribes of New Guinea (who cant live without being around pigs) to the Middle East jews, and Muslims, and Christians (the later assimilate to the local 'pig phobia' though their religion doesnt dictate it) who are all pig hating.

He concluded that it evolved from ecological constraints. Pigs need moisture and shade. It messes up the economy of an arid tree-poor region to devout land to pig raising- so the religions of the region all evolved taboos against pork.

In contrast wet forested regions of both the tropics (the south sea polynesians, Melanesians, micronesians, and Malays), and of the temperate zone (China, Europe, the early eastern USA) all went hog wild with hog raising because that was what the ecology of the regions supported. But as the USA expanded westward into the prairie and invented railroads grassfeed beef from the prairie supplanted pork as the venerated main dish of American culture.

Makes sense to me.

As long as they wipe the pig's ass before serving it to me I don't care.

They carry trichinosis,so do bears and maybe other wild meats.If it's not cooked thoroughly you can get worms.I think some of the food laws in the Old Testament were to protect people from possible parasite infection.Catfish are also considered unclean,they can live in water with a lower oxygen content so maybe more germs.Maybe why shellfish are considered unclean.I always heard to never eat seafood unless the month had an R in it.

Maybe, due to inter species mating, they were more human-like.

Maybe they used to talk.





[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSKmCFP7d-A[/youtube]

I could be wrong but I thought pigs wallow in mud to keep parasites off their skin just like the hippos and elephants do.

Ha Stannis you beat me to it. Hitchins explains pocophobia well.

I don't really eat pig anyway.

Oh except for the odd bag of pork scratching's, but that's just for the crunch factor and the salt.

I actually really enjoyed reading all your responses. Thanks everyone.

Also, don't confuse domesticated pigs with wild pigs (which is where they come from).

Pigs are vile creatures. Even domesticated pigs will do horrible things if you don't keep an eye on them.

If you get hurt in the woods and they find you,they will eat your ass.No BS.We ran into some before,the sow had babies.When she looked at me and snorted I think I ran fast enough to qualify for the Olympics.If you ever heard the saying,"I ran so fast my feet didn't touch the ground."That can happen when adrenaline kicks in.