Austrian tourist brochure advises Arabs not to haggle or eat on the floor

[Valmy]

I refuse to believe that someone can "not like" pork. Tamas likes pork, he just hasn't had the right pork yet.

Don't be that guy. We don't need another food asshole on this planet.

Chili doesn't have beans damnit!  I WILL NOT HAVE MY GLORIOUS CULTURE DISRESPECTED SO!!11

[derspiess]

Chili without beans is kind of boring.

[Valmy]

Chili without beans is kind of boring.

What is so exciting about beans?

[Crazy_Ivan80]

In the third world, though ...

that goes for about everything doesn't it :-/

The issue though is "why scarfing down raw pork is associated with bad stuff". The reason: until recently, it was strongly associated with dying of diseases, even in the first world, and it still is in the third world. It still isn't a great idea though even in the first world, as the medical website points out:

Ignore recipes which call for pork to be lightly cooked or undercooked.

I'm not disputing the general stupidity of eating pork (or most other meats) raw. far from it.
But calling the animal "unclean" because people can't be 'bothered' to prepare it correctly is just so typically... human.

[derspiess]

Chili without beans is kind of boring.

What is so exciting about beans?

By themselves, very little.  They add a lot to chili, though.

[Valmy]

Chili without beans is kind of boring.

What is so exciting about beans?

By themselves, very little.  They add a lot to chili, though.

Maybe your shit Ohio chili.

[derspiess]

Chili without beans is kind of boring.

What is so exciting about beans?

By themselves, very little.  They add a lot to chili, though.

Maybe your shit Ohio chili.

No.  Cincinnati chili is better without beans.  Though by itself it is basically just hot dog sauce (like regular chili without beans).  So you need to pour it over spaghetti and add shredded cheese and maybe onions to make it a proper dish.

[Malthus]

I'm not disputing the general stupidity of eating pork (or most other meats) raw. far from it.
But calling the animal "unclean" because people can't be 'bothered' to prepare it correctly is just so typically... human.

It is a matter of prejudices reinforcing themselves.

Pigs were (and are) often used, essentially, as garbage disposal. That associates them in people's minds with garbage and filth.

Then, people in a pre-scientific age noticed that people who ate pork got sick more often than people who did not - because in an era without refrigeration and with spotty culinary habits, this was likely true.

So, the prejudice developed that eating pig was gross. In some places, this allegedly hardened into a religious prohibition. But even removing the religion, the prejudice can remain.

[crazy canuck]

So, the prejudice developed that eating pig was gross. In some places, this allegedly hardened into a religious prohibition. But even removing the religion, the prejudice can remain.

allegedly?

[Iormlund]

. It still isn't a great idea though even in the first world, as the medical website points out:

Ignore recipes which call for pork to be lightly cooked or undercooked.

Millions of Spaniards eat uncooked pork in abundance without dropping like flies. The few cases of Trichinosis are due to eating wild boars and other uncontrolled animals. Don't you have food & health inspections across the Pond?

[Caliga]

So you need to pour it over spaghetti and add shredded cheese and maybe onions to make it a proper dish.

btw before I came down here I never had chili that way and quite frankly thought it sounded insane.  However I have since grown quite fond of it.

[Caliga]

Millions of Spaniards eat uncooked pork in abundance without dropping like flies. The few cases of Trichinosis are due to eating wild boars and other uncontrolled animals. Don't you have food & health inspections across the Pond?

Ha, it's like my mother in law refusing to eat sushi because "IT'S DANGEROUS LOL".  Interesting, then I guess the Japanese must be immortal or something?

[Malthus]

So, the prejudice developed that eating pig was gross. In some places, this allegedly hardened into a religious prohibition. But even removing the religion, the prejudice can remain.

allegedly?

It isn't certain that the religious prohibition came from the practical issues. After all, the Jewish Kosher laws contain other items that make no practical sense at all.

[Malthus]

. It still isn't a great idea though even in the first world, as the medical website points out:

Ignore recipes which call for pork to be lightly cooked or undercooked.

Millions of Spaniards eat uncooked pork in abundance without dropping like flies. The few cases of Trichinosis are due to eating wild boars and other uncontrolled animals. Don't you have food & health inspections across the Pond?

As I already said in this thread, and more than once, in the first world that actual danger is slight.

[derspiess]

So you need to pour it over spaghetti and add shredded cheese and maybe onions to make it a proper dish.

btw before I came down here I never had chili that way and quite frankly thought it sounded insane.  However I have since grown quite fond of it.

I've always been pretty fond of it, but to the uninitiated I basically say not to think of it as chili.  It's closer to Greek food than to anything else.