Or do I just think pork is kinda disgusting...
No they werent on to something because the rationale given doesnt line up with any legit reason to not eat pork. So at best they just were exercising an abundance of caution without understanding why. Pork needs like any meat to be prepared properly for consumption. If its a food they werent very knowledgeable on they wouldnt know how to prepare it safely. So instead of learning how they just banned it.
Now if you want to make an argument for not eating pork with modern knowledge you can. Pigs are extremely smart and even more so than dogs and some studies suggest chimps. So theres the moral argument not to eat it. But that isn't very convincing to me for pork. All animals are pretty smart and clearly have feelings and emotions and i eat them so why single out pigs to be nice to? I would like to see a transition to lab grown meats eventually, and for farms to treat animals humanely. Its not a very high priority for me on reforming society tho since we dont even treat eachother humanely yet.
Also to get in front of it before someone says "just be vegan/vegetarian then". I was for like 10 years and eventually had to stop because due to health related dietary restrictions i couldn't eat enough foods to get all the nutrients i needed. I have allergies and intolerances that if i were to stop eating animal products i wouldnt be able to eat the plant based alternatives that give the same type of nutrients. So i dont have a choice but to eat animals.
The very notion you have given it thought shows you have empathy and a good heart. And a good brain to put together such intelligent and articulate words.
I don’t understand your reasoning specifically for pork but less animals eaten is better in any case.
Maybe for the time? But now, eh yeah and no. It's not the healthiest thing to eat, but prepared properly, it's quite nutritious.
Ethics aside of course. Just speaking as a foodstuff. In moderation, it's not bad for you.
There's a book about this that hypothesizes that middle eastern cultures naturally developed a disdain for pork because it caused a lot of illness in the hotter climate. When chickens arrived in the region, they filled the same role as pigs (turning trash into meat in a cramped urban environment), while causing fewer serious illnesses. This basically eliminated the need for raising pigs and created a cultural disdain for them. Later, religions from the region codified these ideas.
