Food Taboo

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Food Taboo as a Means of Conservation
Many societies have food taboos. Some dietary regulations and rules governed different phases of human life and associated with specific events like lactation, childbirth, pregnancy and menstrual periods. Different societies practice food taboo for various reasons (Benno, 2009). One food taboo may be unacceptable for one community but acceptable for another. Other than for religious reasons, many cultures practice food taboo as a means of conservation. The natural resources from the ecosystem are essential for humans. The society harnesses food, raw materials, habitat, water, and other natural resources that ensure the survival of people. Due to the knowledge of how dependent human is on the environment, many communities have instilled food taboos. Food taboos are therefore used as means of protection of individual plants from exploitation (Angsongna, Armah, and Boamah, 2016). Many societies have included the use of informal institutions to govern the use of specific species. These institutions are aimed at conserving natural resources (Jones, Andiamoravololona, and Hockley, 2008).
Though there are many reasons for practicing food taboo, in the modern society, the main reason is for conservation. This is because many religious and cultural beliefs have lost their significance in the community (Christopher and Jean, 2015). In history, there are many religious and cultural reasons that societies have incl…