# Why do Hindus eat butter if they wont eat beef? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 18, 2008, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316 "2008-06-18T08:35:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/21 "2008-06-18T17:34:07Z")
[QUOTE=Dr. Lao] Don’t many Christians eat the blood and flesh of Jesus on a weekly basis? [/QUOTE] Yeah, but he had it coming. Repeatedly. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/22 "2008-06-18T17:36:50Z")
**Anaamika** , **Johanna** : You’re _killing_ me over here! 😃 Do the Hindu eat beef blood, like some Africans do? You can bleed the beev without killing it. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/23 "2008-06-18T17:43:15Z")
[QUOTE=Derleth] Do the Hindu eat beef blood, like some Africans do? You can bleed the beev without killing it. [/QUOTE] Why is my mind blanking on this? I have two competing thoughts … (1) No freaking way. (2) Isn’t blood one of the “fluids” that comes from a cow? Anyway, there are some blood sacrifices in Hinduism (e.g., Kali worship in Calcutta), but they definitely don’t use cow blood. Usually it’s goats. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/24 "2008-06-18T18:42:08Z")
I have met several types of Hindu “vegetarians”: True vegetarians. Fish only. Generally in port cities. Chicken only. Fish and chicken only. But IME even Hindus\* like me who joyfully eat beef (shutup) do not like beef blood. I only recently started asking for my meat “medium”; rare is an impossibility to me. (And no Hindus I know at all will eat organs!) I suppose there is a cadre of Hindus out there that will slurp down the blood quite happily but if so I haven’t met them. \*Yeah, so I’m atheist. I’m still Hindu. It’s like being Jewish! ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/25 "2008-06-18T19:16:29Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] Yes, but you don’t have a _church_. I’m taking this thang to the big time. [/QUOTE] I am the Bacon Pope, and I deny your efforts at schism. Be careful, or you shall be excobaconated. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/26 "2008-06-18T19:23:18Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] I am the Bacon Pope, and I deny your efforts at schism. Be careful, or you shall be excobaconated. [/QUOTE] I denounce thee, bacon Papists, and all thy creeds! Hie thee to McDonalds’, where dwells the beefy Devil! ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/27 "2008-06-18T19:35:19Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] I am the Bacon Pope, and I deny your efforts at schism. Be careful, or you shall be excobaconated. [/QUOTE] You could have Francis Bacon as your patron. Our Pork, which art like heaven Hallowed be thy taste Thy serving to come, be well done on our plate as it is in the kitchen Give us this day our daily ham as we partake of that which tastes great to us deliver us the bacon… And so on. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/28 "2008-06-18T19:45:39Z")
…and deliver us from trichinosis. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/29 "2008-06-18T19:54:04Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] Yes, but you don’t have a _church_. [/QUOTE] [Au contraire](http://churchofbacon.org/), _mon frère!_ ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/30 "2008-06-18T19:56:28Z")
I’ll take “hijacks nobody saw coming” for $400, Alex. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2008, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/31 "2008-06-19T00:37:12Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] I am the Bacon Pope, and I deny your efforts at schism. Be careful, or you shall be excobaconated. [/QUOTE] 😕 I thought **Asimovian** was [Bacon Pope](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=8802702&postcount=123). ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2008, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/32 "2008-06-19T00:41:53Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] Yeah, but he had it coming. Repeatedly. [/QUOTE] Heck of a thing to say about a nice, Jewish boy. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2008, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/33 "2008-06-19T14:25:57Z")
[QUOTE=Kat] I thought **Asimovian** was [Bacon Pope](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=8802702&postcount=123). [/QUOTE] Some people call me a usurper. Some people say **Asimovian** was lax in his duties and a new strong hand was welcomed. All I know is, I’m the Bacon Pope now, baby. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2008, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/34 "2008-06-19T14:28:47Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] Some people call me a usurper. Some people say **Asimovian** was lax in his duties and a new strong hand was welcomed. All I know is, I’m the Bacon Pope now, baby. [/QUOTE] Perhaps somebody ate him. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2008, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/35 "2008-06-19T21:47:25Z")
And when they did, [they washed him down with this](http://www.browniepointsblog.com/2008/01/20/homemade-bacon-vodka). That’s right, your Bacon Pope is takin’ care of you… ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2008, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/36 "2008-06-19T23:49:43Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] they washed him down with this [/QUOTE] Jesus Christ. I wouldn’t drink that if I were Goyisch. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2008, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/37 "2008-06-20T01:50:22Z")
Actually the five cow products of the _pañcagavya_ are: 1. Milk 2. Ghee 3. Yogurt 4. Urine 5. Dung each of which serves some useful purpose. Although I don’t know what the usefulness of cowpiss might be. The dried cow-pies are essential to building fires in a land where wood can be scarce. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2008, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/38 "2008-06-20T02:07:22Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] Some people call me a usurper. [/QUOTE] Some people call you the gangster of pork? ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2008, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/39 "2008-06-20T02:08:02Z")
[QUOTE=Johanna] Actually the five cow products of the _pañcagavya_ are: 1. Milk 2. Ghee 3. Yogurt 4. Urine 5. Dung each of which serves some useful purpose. Although I don’t know what the usefulness of cowpiss might be. The dried cow-pies are essential to building fires in a land where wood can be scarce. [/QUOTE] Cowpiss is used in Ayurvedic medicine, as is dung. Dung has also been used as fertilizer, and as a building material, to plaster walls. I’m sure there are more uses of Cow dung that I’m not aware of yet. and some I probably wouldn’t want to know about. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2008, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316/40 "2008-06-20T11:42:13Z")
> [@](#): > > Dung has also been used as fertilizer, and as a building material, to plaster walls. I’m sure there are more uses of Cow dung that I’m not aware of yet. > and some I probably wouldn’t want to know about. I understand that cow dung is also used to make hard and resistant floors. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-hindus-eat-butter-if-they-wont-eat-beef/453316.md?page=3)