This guy here with another episode of the History Unplugged Podcast.

Religious beliefs have been the source of food rules, basically since the beginning

of religion.

The Old Testament allowed the eating of an animal that had a split hoof and chew the

cut, but not if it didn't do both of those things, meaning that you can eat a cow,

but you can't eat a pig or a rabbit.

Centuries later, Pythagoras told his followers not to eat beans because they contained souls,

and kosher and halal rules forbade the shrimp cocktail.

Later, the Catholic Church forbade eating meat on Fridays to fast to its own for committing

sins.

And now, pork is nearly impossible to find throughout the Muslim world, and I speak from personal

experience here, where non-Kosher food didn't heavily do as serious.

But there are dozens if not hundreds of other ways that religious belief has affected our

diet, even if, and especially we don't realize it.

For example, little Debbie Stack Cakes and Kellogg's cereals are both rooted in the

Seventh Day Adventist movement.

Tofurki was born in Tennessee at the farm commune.

Eastern religion has very outsized influence on the sort of foods you will get at whole

foods in America today.

Today's guest is Christina Ward, author of Holy Food, how cults communes and religious

movements influence what we eat.

We look at the genesis and ongoing evolution of how one small fringe groups had and still

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