A Starved Man Commits No Sin

"Lokobhinna ruchihi", -- "Diverse taste is the name of the world" says an ancient proverb in India. Nowhere else is the human diversity more discernible than in the matters of food. We tend to dislike or criticize people whose food habits are different than our own, while forgetting that others might find the same about our food habits.

Beef and pork eating, even use of bulbs like garlic are avoided by certain communities due to age old taboos and customs, though nothing is wrong with eating hygienically clean meats. All food habits are a result of geographical diversity and surviving necessity. Abundance of vegetables in a fertile land might have made vegetarians out of some Indians, while those residing in the cold areas of the subcontinent consume meats as a necessity, regardless of their religious following.

Hunger knows no bounds. There are people who subsist on dogs, snakes, crows, and termites. There's the story of the great Hindu sage Vishwamitra who is credited with the Gayatri Mantram, a sacred hymn of the Hindus. Vishwamitra, among the holiest of men, had to survive on dog meat during a famine.

"Bhubhukshitah kim na karoti papam?" says an adage in Sanskrit.
"Which sin a starved man won't commit?".

See Also:
• Interviews with Poverty -- Introduction and Index
• Degrees of Vegetarianism in India