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dietary law
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dietary law

religion
Written by
Yehudi A. Cohen
Professor of Anthropology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. Editor of Man in Adaptation.
Yehudi A. CohenAll
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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dietary law, any of the rules and customs concerning what may or may not be eaten under particular conditions. These prescriptions and proscriptions are sometimes religious, often they are secular, and frequently they are both. This article surveys the variety of laws and customs pertaining to food materials and the art of eating in human societies from earliest times to the present. It will demonstrate that behavior with respect to food—whether religious, secular, or both—is...

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