What food taboos exist across different cultures?

The answer

Food taboos are among the most deeply held cultural norms. Pork is forbidden in Islam and Judaism, with explanations ranging from theological to ecological (pigs compete with humans for grain and water in arid climates). Hindu reverence for cattle prohibits beef consumption for most Hindus. Eating insects is taboo in most Western cultures but is a nutritious staple for roughly 2 billion people worldwide. Horse meat is a delicacy in Kazakhstan and parts of Europe but taboo in the United States and United Kingdom. The Jain religion's principle of ahimsa leads to avoiding not only all meat but also root vegetables, as harvesting them kills the plant. Anthropologist Marvin Harris argued that most food taboos have practical ecological origins that became encoded into religious law over time.