Soothing Taiwan s Sweet Tooth: Stories of Local Pastries | Taiwan News taiwannews.com.tw - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from taiwannews.com.tw Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The divine bovine
Even though beef is widely consumed in Taiwan, oxen and buffalo are still animals with spiritual significance and certain taboos
By Han Cheung / Staff reporter
Eating beef was once so taboo in Taiwanese society that a traditional idiom warned that doing so would damn one’s soul to hell. Old people also warned children that consuming beef would make them stupid.
The prohibition made sense when Taiwan was a predominantly agricultural society since oxen and buffalo were integral to farming, and people refrained from eating them out of respect just like they do with dogs today.
Some farmers still feel this way. In 2019, photographer Tsai Meng-hsing (蔡孟興) captured a tear-jerking moment when an old man kissed his long-time ox companion goodbye. The man had turned down multiple offers to sell the animal for meat, and finally decided to send him to a “retirement home” for bovines to live out its life peacefully.