Meat consumption culture in Ethiopia

Abstract

The consumption of animal flesh food in Ethiopia has associated with cultural practices. Meat plays pivotal and vital parts in special occasions and its cultural symbolic weight is markedly greater than that accorded to most other food. Processing and cooking of poultry is a gender based duty and has socio-cultural roles. Ethiopians are dependent on limited types of animals for meats due to the taboo associated culturally. Moreover, the consumption of meat and meat products has a very tidy association with religious beliefs, and are influenced by religions. The main religions of Ethiopia have their own peculiar doctrines of setting the feeding habits and customs of their followers. They influence meat products consumption through dictating the source animals that should be used or not be used for food, and scheduling the days of the years in periodical permeation and restriction of consumptions which in turn influences the pattern of meat consumption in the country. In Ethiopia, a cow or an ox is commonly butchered for the sole purpose of selling within the community. In special occasions, people have a cultural ceremony of slaughtering cow or ox and sharing among the group, called Kircha, which is a very common option of the people in rural area where access of meat is challenging frequently.