Dietary Laws

Term Paper Title	Dietary Laws
# of Words	1014
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	4.06

Dietary Laws

W.R.1 - Inquiry Activity

Many people fail to realise that dietary laws actually do exist in our society. In many religions there are great restrictions and guidelines that must be followed when it comes to food selection which dates back to the biblical era. Kashrut (the Jewish dietary laws) is a perfect example of these laws. There are however other issues that affect our choice in food including our moral and ethical values, health reasons, self discipline and of course social reasons.

Hypothesis

What affect do dietary laws have on the food selection and consumption of Jews?

Definition of Terms
                    Affect- to act on or influence.
Dietary Laws- Laws (usually religious) that control and persuade a certain religion or race on their choice of food.
Selection- a choice
            Consumption- the act of consuming
     Consume- to use or absorb all of something
     Jew- a person of Judaic race or religion

Method
1. On Friday 5th February I searched the Internet for information on "Jewish Dietary Laws".
2. On Saturday 6th February I searched the Internet for information on "Kashrut".
3. On Monday 8th February I searched the Internet for information on "religion".
4. On Thursday 11th February I searched the Internet for information
On "Judaism"
5.  On Saturday 13th February I read through various Encyclopedias and dictionaries for meanings of words and to look up Judaism.
6.    On Sunday 14th February I searched the Internet for information on Religious Practices and Beliefs and also on Kosher Restaurants.

Kashrut is the Dietary Laws of the Jewish. These laws come from the bible and have been elaborated on over the years. For those observant Jews, Kashrut controls the selection, consumption and preparation of all food.

When most people eat, it is an instinctive thing. Rarely do you think about it when you grab something to eat. Jews however who obey the Kashrut laws make regular choices about the food that they eat. Many believe that these Dietary Laws make you less instinctive because you are constantly contemplating everything that you do and therefore go through life as a more observant person.

Those practicing Judaism are allowed to eat meat as long as the animal has cloven hooves and chews its cud. This does not include pigs of course, rabbits, dogs, cats, horses and whales. The laws however allow them to eat lamb, beef, venison, mutton, goat, turkey, chicken and doves. The reason these animals are eaten is partly because of their symbolism. Animals with split hooves are seen as tranquil and domesticated with no natural weapons and these are the characteristics that the Jewish wishes to absorb when they eat. They refuse to eat scavengers, carnivores or birds of prey because they do not admire these characteristics. The Jewish Dietary Laws define food as either "kosher" (right, proper, fit) or "trefah" (torn, unclean, forbidden) . I believe that these would be the spiritual influences behind the Jew's choice of food for they believe that they will absorb the animals good characteristics once they have
e...

Read entire document