At 08:01 1999-08-06 +0200, Cecilia wrote:

>There have been some interesting discussions on this within
>anthropology. One theory is that meat-eating follows the same sexual
>taboos as kinship. Animals that are close (pets) are treated as
>siblings - not to be eaten. Animals that are farther out, but within
>human control (tame animals) are treated as cousins. They can be
>eaten, but only following certain rules - males eaten before sexual
>maturity or de-sexualised for example (in many cultures cousins are ok
>to play around with, but not to marry). Farthest out are wild animals,
>treated as un-related persons.

The !Kung regard elephant flesh as something doubtful to eat because
it is too similar to human flesh, it is kind of close to cannibalism.
(Megan Biesele: "Women like meat")

- Hans