Eating Beef

[torrenova]

My missus and baby love steak, as do I. I don't think there is anything she won't eat on religious grounds, though I've not seen her eating dog and she wasn't keen on my tales of eating raw and cooked horse in Japan.

[mizzi39]

In general, it's supposed to be karmically worse to kill a big animal than a small one, so some Thais don't feel right about eating beef. This is Buddhist tradition rather than scripture. I read somewhere it's origin was in the fact that large animals - elephants and horses - were royal animals in India.

There are also (mostly ethnic Chinese) devotees of the Mahayana bodhisattva/Chinese goddess known as Jao Mae Guan-im. According to her legend, in atonement for his sins her father vowed to come back in his next life as a cow. So devotees don't eat beef.

On Buddhist holy days, some vendors will sell only food from small animals, not beef.

My wife doesn't eat beef out of respect for the goddess Quan-im. This does not hold me back from eating a good rib-eye when I have the chance. Not a big fan of Thai beef, but the beef imported from Australia-New Zealand is of good quality

Edited January 16, 2010 by mizzi39

[canuckamuck]

Of course the low quality of Thai beef might be a contributing factor.

When my wife got her first taste of top quality t-bone in Canada, she was convinced I was tricking her because it didn't taste like beef.

The Canadian version is definitely high on her list now, but she still doesn't eat beef here.

[bonobo]

One Thai girl told me that the reason that she did not eat beef was because she observed cattle "crying" as they were led to the slaughter house. 

I have heard this , too.    My companion swears cow cry when they are being led to the slaughterhouse.  She also won't eat beef because a cow is bigger than her.  When I point out that most pigs are bigger than her, too, she falls back on the fact that her mother told her not to eat beef.

She had a Hebrew National hotdog in the US, and she will eat that now because it doesn't look like meat.

She is also allergic to seafood and doesn't care for chicken, so cooking food pretty much means pork.

[TheJoker12]

Thais have a very hard time disobeying rules that they were taught. Those who taught them all these silly rules did so in order to keep them subservient.

Edited January 16, 2010 by 7by7
Derogatory comment about religious beliefs deleted.

[RakJungTorlae]

As Hinduism is the oldest religion and they believe Buddha was born in a Hindu family ( but that's up to different groups augments.) there are a few different stories/beliefs about Buddha out of india but I don't care. But all took with them the belief not to eat the cow because it is sacred, later on Buddhist started to look at a cow is a pet. Just like in the west they will not eat their pets, the hole cows is "bigger "then us story is just a new load of crap to feed as they just lost touch with the hole don't eat the cow story.

As one cow said to the other cow. We should be careful of MadCow. The other cow said not to worry, I'm a PIG.

In my book Pigs are smarter!!!

Edited January 16, 2010 by RakJungTorlae

[Birdman]

I have seen smarter posts

[7by7]

There are also (mostly ethnic Chinese) devotees of the Mahayana bodhisattva/Chinese goddess known as Jao Mae Guan-im. According to her legend, in atonement for his sins her father vowed to come back in his next life as a cow. So devotees don't eat beef.

My wife is not ethnic Chinese, but does have a devotion to this goddess, whom she calls She Chinese. During a particularly hard time following the end of her first marriage she made a vow that she would not eat beef again if She Chinese helped her. Shortly after this her life took an upturn.

She has not eaten beef since, but does cook it for me occasionally; making sure that anything which has touched the beef doesn't touch anything she is going to eat (which is good hygiene anyway!) and if I've eaten beef she wont let me kiss her, even on the hand or cheek, until after I've cleaned my teeth (no halitosis jokes, please!).

My step-daughter also rarely eats beef as she says she doesn't like it, but has been known to have the odd McDonalds!.

The rest of her family do eat it.

[RakJungTorlae]

I have seen smarter posts

come on! i stood up for you the other day in an email! someone told me that you where not worth Sh!t, But i told them you where

[paulh1978]

thx for all the replies

this is what i think she dont want to eat beef because its a working animal

would a falang eat horse

same same

[RakJungTorlae]

thx for all the replies

this is what i think she dont want to eat beef because its a working animal

would a falang eat horse

same same

but they eat working girls

[Birdman]

I have seen smarter posts

come on! i stood up for you the other day in an email! someone told me that you where not worth Sh!t, But i told them you where

That must have been the pilot of that zeppelin.

Edited January 16, 2010 by Birdman

[ourmanflint]

Ask your wives if she ever made a promise to a monk in return for good fortune? Beef seems to be the thing most choose to give up... only a fool would give up pork or chicken.

[khundon]

It's funny how even buddhists differ on this. The Dalai Lama says its better to take one life (a cows) as opposed to the souls of many small animals.

Many cannibals(common with early mankind) thru history had funny beliefs to conform to their flavor of cannibalisim. Some cannabals for example who had very scarce sources of protein believed they had to eat all of their enemies so that they could not come back and haunt them. Some less starving ones only believed they needed to eat the eyes, brain and heart.

I think the way it works is you decide what you can/will and can/will not eat and then make up some spiritual rules afterward to make it okay.

Strange, as my wife will eat all other meats and fish but will not eat beef. She says that "it is too big a soul to kill"

[khundon]

thx for all the replies

this is what i think she dont want to eat beef because its a working animal

would a falang eat horse

same same

Try going to France, they will eat the horse, hooves and the saddle.

[Birdman]

Salami is popular in France, Italy, Hungary, Germany, Austria and Spain. It is made from one or more of the following meats:

pork, chopped beef (particularly veal), venison, poultry (especially turkey), and horse, so Wiki.

[canuckamuck]

I could never understand the objections to eating horse. They taste pretty good.

Must be all of those Disney movies.

[Meridian007]

Thankfully, my girlfriend eats beef, but she is allergic to shellfish.

Neither of us would eat dog because of the higher chance of internal parasites, but I think we'd both be willing to try horse. I always point to the intelligence tests done on animals that show that a pig is smarter than a dog, and both are miles ahead of cows. That combined with the fact that I generally don't like the taste of pork, makes me keep away from it, but I still eat it.

I eat less beef here for the same reason as others have said, it just isn't good here. Even the imports don't taste "right". After you've had good Canadian beef, every other type of beef lacks flavour. I wish we could get moose and deer here, I miss game meats!

I stick with sea food and chicken, with the occasional steak mixed in.

[Tod Daniels]

That the thais are brainwashed at quite a young age; should come as no surprise to anyone whose spent any time here in the glorious "Land 'O Thais" or who has a thai wife or (in)significant thai other.

That this brainwashing has gone on for generations should not be a surprise either. What I do find surprising is that some of these alleged ‘cultural traits’ have gone on so long they can't even remember WHY they do or don't do things. If anything this shows just how much critical thinking is NOT encouraged here in the slightest degree.

I always say, not only do thais NOT think outside the box, they have no idea there is even a box to begin with.

When I was a boy in rural Ohio, we ate horse on many occasions when the farm was having a tough time financially. It's not bad, and after living here almost 5 years, I've tried the gamut of foods; bugz, various and sundry species of seafood, dogz, rice ratz, snakez, barking deer, buffaloez, and even an alleged 'wild cat', (although I think it was just a tabby that ran amok) .

Most thai dishes can be prepared so the eater would be hard pressed indeed to ascertain the species of the meat that went into it. I think it’d be good to make a nice spicy beef dish, yet pawn it off as pork and watch the thais scarf it down, then disclose the mystery meat and see how many get sick.

The mind wobbles at the things thais will or will not do based solely on something pounded into their heads for generations and generations.

It certainly doesn’t appear thais have ANY reticence in clubbing, stabbing and or torturing any animal in their slaughterhouses; a simple you tube search of thai slaughter houses shows quite a different story compared to the thais professing the buddhist tenant that all “life is sacred”. It is more along the lines of Animal House "All life is sacred but some is more sacred than others.."

[PoorSucker]

I eat beaver.

[hawthorne]

Ditto regarding my wife and also a female friend who stayed with us recently. My wife also mentions size and added that rural people believe that they shouldn't kill the animals that helped work the land (though actually in our village a large number do eat beef). She says that this is not religion but I think the posters above are right, and that there are ideas about Kharma and the higher level of big animals mixed in here somewhere. P.S. In answer to an earlier post, you can buy frozen New Zealand lamb in Makro - at a price.

My wife uses the same reason for not eating beef, Although she eats beef now outside of Thailand. She says the cows we eat are breed to be eaten where in Thailand the Beef is the Buffalo cow ( not sure the real name) and it gives goodness for the farmers and are only eaten after they are old. She feels this is unfair treatment for the service the animal has given to the families that used it for farming.

By the way my wife is Thai Chineese and she says the reason for large animals is because they are used for farming not becuase of the size. Horses, elephants, camels, buffalo etc.

[Stephen Cleary]

Not eating beef is typically a Thai-Chinese trait; traditionally out of respect for Jao Mae Guan Im (Guan Yin in Chinese).

In English, she is commonly known as the Goddess of Mercy.

[dttk0009]

I think in Thai culture it is still not ingrained that cows are bred for slaughter as bovine animals here traditionally were domesticated for labor. They played (or still play) important parts in rural life here and in a lot of cases are also used for things sporting events and companionship. In the same light I'd imagine every poster here to become squeamish when they see a Korean dog kennel where dogs are bred to be slaughtered and eaten.

[camerata]

a simple you tube search of thai slaughter houses shows quite a different story compared to the thais professing the buddhist tenant that all “life is sacred”.

It's a practical matter. There are karmic consequences from killing, but not from eating meat. People have to eat, so there are always some people willing to do the killing for money. Until a couple of decades ago, in Thailand slaughterhouse workers were all ethnic Chinese because ethnic Thais didn't want the karmic consequences that they'd reap from so much killing. In India and Japan, slaughterhouse workers became an "Untouchable" caste shunned by society.

[camerata]

Apart from the fact that Thai beef is poor quality, I can't think of many Thai dishes that include beef. Phanaeng neua must be the most famous, and there are some southern curries. Not much else that I can think of.

[Birdman]

Yam nua is popular, one of the hotest dishes available in this country.

[camerata]

Yam nua is popular, one of the hotest dishes available in this country.

Ah, right, I'd forgotten that one because I never eat it.

[a2396]

In general, it's supposed to be karmically worse to kill a big animal than a small one, so some Thais don't feel right about eating beef. This is Buddhist tradition rather than scripture. I read somewhere it's origin was in the fact that large animals - elephants and horses - were royal animals in India.

There are also (mostly ethnic Chinese) devotees of the Mahayana bodhisattva/Chinese goddess known as Jao Mae Guan-im. According to her legend, in atonement for his sins her father vowed to come back in his next life as a cow. So devotees don't eat beef.

On Buddhist holy days, some vendors will sell only food from small animals, not beef.

Another hocus pocus nonsense based on superstition. Moslem's - no pork, Indians - no beef, some others - only vegetables. I don't let other people dictate what I eat. However, most Thai beef is like eating shoe leather. Could be one reason why it is not so popular. What does big & small have to do with anything? My friend's Thai wife will not kill an ant or spider. Makes sense to me ????

[camerata]

What does big & small have to do with anything? My friend's Thai wife will not kill an ant or spider. Makes sense to me ????

According to Buddhist scripture one shouldn't kill any sentient being. But it seems to be more of a traditional belief (not explicitly supported in the scriptures) that the karmic consequences are worse for killing a bigger animal. It seems that a related traditional belief is that one shouldn't eat a bigger animal. However, eating is not killing, and a lot of posters have said their wives didn't eat beef simply because cows have made a major contribution to human life. Perhaps they include cows with buffalo as beasts of burden.

[bkkjames]

What does big & small have to do with anything? My friend's Thai wife will not kill an ant or spider. Makes sense to me ????

According to Buddhist scripture one shouldn't kill any sentient being. But it seems to be more of a traditional belief (not explicitly supported in the scriptures) that the karmic consequences are worse for killing a bigger animal. It seems that a related traditional belief is that one shouldn't eat a bigger animal. However, eating is not killing, and a lot of posters have said their wives didn't eat beef simply because cows have made a major contribution to human life. Perhaps they include cows with buffalo as beasts of burden.

This is what I like about religeon, it's so convenient. Can't kill it but can eat it. "Well it's dead now, so it would be bad to waste it."

So in summary it's ok to for me to kill that mossie that has been sucking on my arse all night correct? No fear of coming back as one if I do? I feel relieved now.

BTW, My wife eats beef anytime I cook it up. A good rib eye on the bbq is hard to say no to.