Walk into any Indian home or restaurant and you likely won’t find pork on the menu. While enjoyed in many cuisines globally, pork plays a negligible role in traditional Indian foodways. What factors influenced this absence of pig-based dishes in Indian culture? The reasons trace back centuries and involve religious beliefs, availability, and health perceptions.
Religious Injunctions
Religious scriptures and teachings have profoundly shaped food habits across India. Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, and Sikhism all impacted pork consumption in different ways
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Hindus view cows as sacred and avoid beef. Pigs lack this status but are considered impure in texts like the Vedas. However some do eat pork.
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Muslims follow halal dietary laws prohibiting pork under Islamic law. The Quran specifically forbids consumption of pig meat.
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Jains pursue non-violence towards all creatures, including avoidance of meat. Most strictly avoid pork and other meats.
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Sikh teachings prohibit both beef and pork, as cows are revered and pigs considered unclean.
These widespread faiths established cultural aversions to pork, creating an environment where pig meat remained rare in diets.
Availability and Environment
Geographic and environmental factors also limited pork’s prevalence across much of India. Pigs require cool climates and access to water wallows. Much of India presents challenges:
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Hot tropical and semi-tropical climates stress pigs and impair growth.
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Limited water supplies in dry regions inhibit supporting pig populations.
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Forested areas lack ideal pasture for pigs to forage.
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Urbanization displaced agricultural land previously used by pork producers.
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Higher religious populations avoided pork farming on spiritual grounds.
So environmental constraints prevented pigs from becoming an integral agricultural commodity for most regions. Availability of other meats like chicken, lamb, and goat better suited the landscape.
Perceptions and Preferences
Cultural outlooks molded a climate where pork consumption met resistance in Indian society:
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Pigs seen as dirty creatures wallowing in mud by various faiths.
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Viewed pigs as destructive pests by some Indian farmers.
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Belief that pork spoils rapidly in hot climate and carries diseases.
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Vegetarian diets prized as spiritually purifying in texts like the Vedas.
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Cultural attachment to staples like lentils, vegetables, yogurt and ghee over meats.
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Favoring meat like chicken and lamb which integrated more seamlessly.
These ingrained social perceptions ensured pork never became an accepted part of Indian culinary tradition.
Modern Shift Towards Pork
While deeply entrenched in culture historically, avoidance of pork shows signs of evolving today:
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Muslim populations remain devoutly averse to pork for halal reasons.
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Upper castes still strongly avoid pork, but some lower rural castes do consume it.
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Christianity has no pork prohibitions, so some Indians accept it.
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National pork production is growing to meet demand in niche markets.
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Some younger generations express more openness, trying it in cities.
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Viewed as an alternative protein amidst rising meat costs.
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Government initiatives to modernize pig farming to curb imports.
So while still minimal, pork enjoys a slow but steady growth in modern India, signaling changing attitudes.
Regional and Ethnic Differences
While many Indians avoid pork nationally, some regional and ethnic communities integrate it more freely:
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Northeastern states like Nagaland and Mizoram have majority Christian populations who consume pork.
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Goan Catholic cuisine displays Portuguese influence in pork dishes like vindaloo.
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Angami tribe practices pig husbandry traditionally in Nagaland state.
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Pork dishes like spicy Naga pork feature in Naga tribe cuisine.
So while taboo across much of India, niche ethnic and regional spaces allow for pork consumption, keeping its presence alive.
India’s complex religious, cultural, environmental landscape ensured pork never took hold mainstream. But evolving attitudes and regional nuances reveal a country loosening its historically rigid aversion to pig meat, even if the pace is very gradual. The reasons Indians don’t eat pork remain multifaceted.
India’s pork lovers rejoice at news of US imports as taboos over once-maligned meat start to shift
- Most Indian food doesn’t have pork in it, but long-held beliefs about not eating pork are beginning to change in the country of 1. 4 billion.
- India will be able to import pork from the US for the first time ever, trade officials said this week. This made Indian pork lovers very happy.
In Coorg, a hilly part of Karnataka state where the Kodava people live, a pork dish called pandi curry is highly valued for its “piquant taste and the trademark dark color,” according to Priya Ganapathy, a travel writer and food show host. Pandi curry is made with bird’s eye chili, green masala paste, ground spices, and a dark, thick vinegar made from the garcinia gummi-gutta fruit.
Evidence of Indians eating pork can be found in various ancient texts, as the late food historian K. T. Achaya pointed out in his Indian Food: A Historical Companion. A book from the 1200s called Manasollasa has instructions on how to prepare pig bodies and turn them into sunthakas, which are roasted pork steaks.
According to food anthropologist Kurush Dalal, eating the meat became frowned upon in Indian society after the country was taken over by the Muslim Mughal Empire in the 16th century.
Hindus, who make up about 80 per cent of India’s 1. 4 billion people are not forbidden to eat pork, but many think it is dirty, which is why restaurants are hesitant to put it on their menus. Muslims, who account for about 14. 6 per cent of the population, are forbidden from eating pork by their religion.
“People in Indian cities now avoid pigs because they are thought to be scavengers and are linked to disease,” Dalal said.
There are many stories about how hard it was for the British to find cooks who would make bacon for breakfast from 1858 to 1947, when they had direct colonial rule.
There were rumors that pork or beef fat had been used to grease the ammunition given to Muslim and Hindu soldiers. To open the paper cartridges, the soldiers would have had to put them in their mouths. This led to the Indian Rebellion of 1857, which was a big uprising against the British East India Company, which had ruled most of the subcontinent before direct crown rule.
However, there is now a cult following for pork in India, thanks to the rise of online “fan clubs” and new ways of making the meat. Today, you can find modern pig farms all over the states of Punjab and Haryana. There are also more online sales of processed pork like bacon and ham.
Why billions of people won’t eat pork (or why we don’t know)
FAQ
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