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Mammals
Animals
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General & History
Who Eat's Sheep & Goat?
Jews are free to eat lamb and goat provided it has been ritually
slaughtered. In the religion's land of origin, the Middle East, lamb
dominates because there is no lush grazing land for cattle and pig is
forbidden, so lamb / mutton is important to Jewish culture worldwide.
Islam adopted much of it's dietary law from Judaism, and
is also predominantly a religion of less fertile regions. While beef is
not forbidden, it can't be economically raised in most Islamic regions, so
lamb / mutton is the meat of choice and goat is allowed.
Southeast Asia: Muslim areas including the far south of Thailand,
most of Malaysia and Indonesia, favor lamb, but it's more expensive there
so buffalo predominates.
India: In areas of India that were under Muslim occupation
for some time, such as the Punjab and Hyderabad, lamb is preferred, but goat
is the most common meat in India. Recipes can confuse you because during the
Raj the British were pleased to call goat "mutton" to make it taste better.
Christians, largely recruited from the Pagans, brought a whole lot
of Paganism with them. Rejecting the religious prohibitions of Judaism they
eat whatever is economical in the region where they live. In the Middle East
and other less fertile areas that will be sheep and goat, but cow and pig
are preferred if economical.
North Americans are predominantly Christians, Pagans, Atheists
or "Mix and Match". Lamb is not that popular here because it's too
expensive compared to cow and pig, and some don't like the smell while it's
cooking.
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Sheep