Do Mormons Eat Pork?

Restrictions in diet can be a religion’s way of keeping the body pure or showing devotion. 

Yes, Mormons can eat pork. The Mormons have a code of health that prohibits them from drinking wine, coffee, or tea and encourage them to use cigarettes and other narcotics, but it does not mention eating pork.

Let’s discover why Mormons may avoid certain foods, what foods are forbidden, and what the Bible says about whether people should or shouldn’t eat pork.

Can Mormons Eat Pork?

The Mormons have a code of health, but it doesn’t include eating pork. Instead, it forbids them from consuming alcohol, coffee, or tea and encourages them to smoke cigarettes and use other drugs.

You may learn more about this moral code in a book titled Doctrine and Covenants. It is known as the Word of Wisdom.

The Doctrine and Covenants contain insights into what Joseph Smith experienced.

What Foods are Prohibited in Mormonism?

They still possess these fundamental domestic skills, but most people no longer admire them.

However, Mormons genuinely believe it is a vital job since it gives the community and the family solace and nourishment.

A home-cooked family lunch on Sundays is still a tradition, and various gatherings and events include cakes, cookies, and casseroles.

The official beliefs of the LDS do not ban any foods except alcohol, coffee, and tea. Younger chefs frequently include wine in their dishes (if the alcohol has been removed by boiling) and use vinegar in salad dressings.

Dietary customs have not developed much since Mormonism barely emerged in the 1830s.

Its cuisine is not unique to any ethnic group or geographical region, except the Wasatch Front, the sparsely inhabited regions of Utah and Idaho, where religious institutions first established roots in the 1840s.

Later, when Salt Lake City’s rural colonies grew to the north and south, many crops were grown there. There is still a Mormon corridor running from Idaho to Mexico. 

What Does the Bible Say About Eating Pork?

Muslims, Jews, and Christians have had a special affection for pigs throughout history. How is it that Christians happily offer ham for Easter, yet Jews are prohibited to eat pig?

The biblical prohibitions against Jews eating pork may not represent the whole story.

According to French cultural anthropologist Claudine Fabre-Vassas, if you appreciate the importance of the pig, you might be able to realize the difficulty and perhaps the torturous relationship between Christians and Jews. 

Fabre-Vassas portray the pig as a prized pet and delicious food source for Christian families in both modern and medieval times and as an icon of the Jew. This exact group despises it as unsanitary. 

Fabre-Vassas claims that the disparity in cultural attitudes between those who eat pork and those who don’t contribute to the rise of violent anti-Semitism.

The Old Testament is where the Jewish taboo on pigs is first addressed. God outlawed eating pigs because they eat their cud but not their hoofs, according to Leviticus 11:27.

The ban further states that you are not allowed to ingest their flesh or handle their corpses since they are unsanitary to you. 

The book of Deuteronomy then supports this idea, and mosaic law was used to transmit the prohibition to Muslims.

Many explanations for the Old Testament commandment have been advanced over time. Rabbi Moses Maimonides, a court doctor to the Muslim conqueror and warrior Saladin in the 12th century, outlawed the consumption of pig meat out of concern for the welfare of his patients.

For whatever reason, the restrictions against eating pig meat evolved into a distinguishing quality of being Jewish.

This is why Christians consume pig and celebrate it by eating it on particular occasions, claims Alan Dundes, an anthropology and folklore instructor at the University of California, Berkeley.

By not following suit, you distinguish yourself from others.

In the first century of the early Christian era, there was a dramatic division between those who consumed pork and people who did not.

Early Christians struggled to distinguish themselves since they were just a Jewish minority at the time.

Final Thoughts

Dietary restrictions can be a religion’s method of maintaining the purity of the body or demonstrating commitment.

The Mormons have a code of health, but it doesn’t include eating pigs. Instead, it forbids them from consuming alcohol, coffee, or tea and encourages them to smoke cigarettes and use other drugs.