I notice when I order combo pizza at Costco the clerk always say the pizza contains beef and if it’s ok. Does anyone know why they ask this question? Are there Taiwanese who don’t eat beef?
Buddhists maybe? Not sure about Taiwanese Buddhists beliefs though.
In traditional rural society, cows/water buffalo were valued for their ability to plow fields, and there was a taboo against eating them.
Seems odd that they do that but don’t tell you what goes into their NT$50 hotdogs.
I think on the umbrellas it says “100% pork hot dogs”, so no need to say anything.
^ This. These people eat anything that moves except beef… The taboo against eating them seems to come from the fact that they were considered kind of helping friends or companions like your dog and you don’t eat your dog.
2 reasons
- Some old farmers respect cattle’s that help them work the fields. (My grandma was a farmer and she said steak is tasty, so it’s not all farmers)
- 文昌星 beliefs. Supposedly the god 文昌君’s mount is a Buffalo. So some believers consider it disrespectful to eat beef. 文昌君 is the god that governs books, knowledge, tests, grades… and since tests and grades is super important here, some Taiwanese think If they stop eating beef they’ll get a better grade, little did they know it doesn’t work that way LOL
Taiwan News frenzy about Mad cow years ago?
A cheese pizza has beef then i got a problem
So would they be against eating buffalo wings?
I notice Indians (as in native Americans) had a respect for buffalo and one reason the US government was killing them for sport was to piss the Indians off)
You know there was a fiasco a while back about a lot of “beef” at supermarkets were in fact horse…
So would Taiwanese be against eating horse? Because sometimes I’m so hungry I could eat a…
Why don’t you just say native Americans then…
They’re against the meat not the name so I guess it’s okay?
It’s said that basashi (horse sashimi) is good. Well personally I wouldn’t mind eating it but I don’t like to be cheated. I don’t know about others but I think they won’t reallh give much thought about it since most people are not familiar with horses.
But a lot of people are against eating bunnies, cuz they’re cute. I think it’s dumb. Bunnies are delicious.
Actually if you eat nothing but rabbits it’s not good for you because rabbits are too lean, and can cause protein poisoning.
And I heard cats are called “roof rabbits” because in time of famine they would catch them and then cut off the head and paws, and it tastes exactly like rabbits. Maybe that’s why they won’t eat rabbits?
I think it’s unhealthy to eat nothing but one thing, no matter what it is. And, no, I don’t think not eating rabbits have anything to do with how they tastes like cats. Eating rabbit was common in the past. There’s 三杯兔 everywhere when I was a kid. It’s until recently when some people starts to regard rabbits as “too cute to eat”. I think it has more to do with pet industry.
So how come they shape fish cakes like hello kitty? You know it’s cute and tasty…
But it’s not actual cat…is it? I think I just had a new product idea.
For a minute there I thought fish cake was 三牲… I really can’t get used to the translation thing here… I’d prefer to just call it yuban.
Well you can’t really kill hello kitty can you?
How would you know? It’s all made in a factory behind closed doors… maybe a few stray cats got caught up in it.