Food taboo is a prohitbition against certain kind of food in a particular area, during a phase of life(pregnancy, childbirth, menstral period), on the basis of religion (Christianity, Islam), violation of which is belived to be punishable automatically by spiritual means. Food taboo are well known from virtually all human society. Some religions and traditions declare some food as unfit for human consumptions based on respective reasons.
Generally it is a taboo to eat the flesh of some kind of animals e.g snails, tortoise, elephant, monkey, donkey, e.tc. especially by pregannt women it could lead to death of the mother and child and spiritual consequences to those involved.
Firstly in indigenous yourubaland, yam must not be kicked by anyone, the culprit would become lame. Famous yourba legend saw yam to be once a man and as such must be respected.
Also, salt must not be troden underfoot. the sole of the offenders feet will ooze water. In acient youruba times salt was so scarce that it was exchanged for slaves as such it is forbidden to waste them. In addition,Yam must also not be peeled inside the house, it would cause the inmates to quarrel.
In Igbo society, women are forbidden to cook at night it is said that evil spirit would put a spell inside the food. A woman must also not eat lots of kolanuts, in reference to the Igbo legend she would give birth to an 'ogbange' while in youruba the woman woukd give birth to an 'abiku' causing the mother lots of misrey.
Also, common among the Hausa, a man may not eat it he home of his wife parent and they may not eat in his home. Penelaty is that the wife would be barren.
A woman must not allow her husband to see her eating , she must first cook his meal and retire back to her room to eat with her daughters and young sons. Children also shouldn't be giving chicken gizzard to eat or else he or she would not grow. This taboo is common among the Edo, youruba, and igbo community. Meat and egg are usually not giving to children because parent belive it would make the children steal.
Coconut milk and liver are Also taboo for children it is belived that the milk renders the children unintelligent whereas liver causes abcess in their lungs.
Eating egg is also a taboo for pregnant women in traditional homes , some also forbid yam to. To avoid egg is to avoid making the unborn baby behave like a chicken. Eating yam woukd avoid making the baby fat. Alcohol is generally forbidden to. In youruba land, pregnant women are forbidden from eating plantain or oranges to avoid difficulties during child bbirth. Another report states that pregnant woman should not eat straight from the pot otherwise the baby would have a dark butrocks or not drink straight from a bottle or the baby would be drunk.
In islam there is the halaal which is the Islamic rule of eating it forbids Muslims from eaten ominivores or carnivore animals especially alcohol to.
In Africa, most people adhere to this taboo while others feel it's mere myth and are unrealistic. The truth be told, most of this so called taboos obviously helps protect the human race. its a wise choice to learn from history.
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